Double-Delight Peanut Butter Cookies

While I like homemade food as much as possible, sometimes I just like the ease and convenience of pre-packaged mixes- and that includes cookie rolls. I ran across this recipe while perusing Pillsbury's website for some new snack ideas. My DB loves cookies, and I like how these were "doctored" up. You start off with a creamy sweetened peanut butter middle (think Reese's cup interior) nestled in between a peanut & sugar-crusted peanut butter cookie with a hint of cinnamon. I heart Nutella, so I wanted to try one cookie with a Nutella filling. Too much peanutty taste? The Pillsbury Cook-Off judges didn't think so- this was the $1 million dollar recipe in 2008... and we can now see why!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup dry-roasted peanuts, finely chopped
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1 roll (16.5 oz) Pillsbury® refrigerated peanut butter cookies, well chilled

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 375°F. In small bowl, mix chopped peanuts, granulated sugar and cinnamon; set aside.
2. In another small bowl, stir peanut butter and powdered sugar until completely blended. Shape mixture into 24 (1-inch) balls. (To equally divide the peanut butter batter, I scored the mixture into 4 segments. From each segment, I divided it in half and formed 3 balls. Repeat with remaining segments.)

3. Cut roll of cookie dough into 12 slices. Cut each slice in half crosswise to make 24 pieces; flatten slightly.
4. Shape 1 cookie dough piece around 1 peanut butter ball, covering completely.
5. Repeat with remaining dough and balls.
6. Roll each covered ball in peanut mixture; gently pat mixture completely onto balls.
7. On ungreased large cookie sheets, place balls 2 inches apart.
8. Spray bottom of drinking glass with cooking spray; press into remaining peanut mixture. Flatten each ball to 1/2-inch thickness with bottom of glass. (Don't flatten too much- I did and they were flat. Lesson learned.)
9. Sprinkle any remaining peanut mixture evenly on tops of cookies; gently press into dough.
10. Bake 7 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
11. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack.
12. Store tightly covered.



Yields: 24 cookies

Source: Pillsbury