Magic Peanut Butter Middles

I'm captivated by anything that contains a surprise middle - whether it's a cupcake, chicken cord-on-bleu or these little pieces of joy...Magic Peanut Butter Middles. I found the recipe on the internet and after some tweaking, I think I've come up with a gem of a recipe. They are slightly more laborious than say a "drop" cookie but definitely much easier than cut-out cookies. After one bite, you'll agree that the prep was absolutely worth it!

Filling:

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Cookie:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla

2 Tbsp sour cream

3 cups flour

1 cup cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda

For filling, thoroughly mix 1 1/2 cups peanut butter with confectioner's sugar. With floured hands, form 45-50 - 1 1/2-inch balls. Place on wax paper-lined tray and freeze for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, to make cookie dough, beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy; approximately 5 minutes. Stir in eggs, 1/2 cup peanut butter, vanilla and sour cream; mix thoroughly. Combine flour, cocoa powder and baking soda; stir into butter mixture.

To assemble cookies, take approximately 1 1/2 Tbsp chocolate cookie dough and roll into a ball. Using your thumb, make an indentation in the center of each ball and place one peanut butter filling ball. Carefully cover the filling center with chocolate dough and re-roll to make a round shape. Flatten slightly with the bottom of a drinking glass dipped in sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 7 minutes. Do not overbake or cookies will become hard.

Store in a tightly sealed container. Makes 45-50 large cookies.