Upside Down Buckeye Cookies

December 09, 2019

I love baking up a storm this time of year. My boys and I make all sorts of old family favorite cookie recipe and enjoy trying new ones now and then too. I saw a recipe for Buckeye Brownie Cookies on Andrea's blog and really wanted to try making them... only I didn't have all the ingredients I needed so I took her idea and ran with it; creating something completely new and Oh so delicious!

I thought I'd try a fun spin on her idea and make some Upside Down Buckeye Cookies to share with you all today as part of the Blog Hop Christmas Cookie Challenge.

Meet this month's co-hosts!

Across the Blvd | Coastal Bohemian

This Autoimmune Life | My Slices of Life

Domestic Deadline | Stone Cottage Adventures | Comfort Spring

First we made our chocolate truffles:

8 ounces semi sweet chocolate (the bars found in the baking aisle)
2/3 cup heavy cream
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon butter

Then we made our peanut butter cookies (using the recipe from the jar of Jif):

1 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
1 large egg
3 Tablespoons milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

Then we made our chocolate topping:

1 12 ounce package semi- sweet chocolate morsels
2 teaspoons coconut oil (Crisco would work too but I ran out making the cookies!)

To make the truffles:

First we chopped the chocolate bars into fine pieces.

Then we heated the cream on the stove over low- medium heat stirring constantly until warmed. You don't want to boil the milk just scald it until warm enough to melt the chocolate.

We added in the chocolate, butter and vanilla and turned the stove down to simmer; stirring until all the chocolate was milk and we had a nice thick ganache.

Then we laid a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the warm chocolate and placed it in the refrigerator for an hour - an hour and half to set up a bit.

Then we used a cookie scoop to scoop out little balls of truffle goodness and set them back in the fridge to firm up even more while making up the cookies.

To make the cookies:

First we mixed the brown sugar, peanut butter, shortening, egg, milk and vanilla using our stand mixer on high until nice and smooth and fluffy.

Then in a separate bowl we combined flour, baking soda, & salt. We gradually added the dry mixture to the wet mixture until just mixed.

We used our cookie scoop to scoop out the dough and rolled them in our hands before flattening them slightly onto our cookie sheet. Then we baked them in a 375 degree oven for 8 minutes.

We let the cookies stand for two minutes and then while still warm added one truffle to each cookie-- after putting two or three together I realized our truffle scoops were large enough that they'd be better cut in half so I just used a knife and sort of mushed them onto the cookies. The chocolate mixture will melt slightly but should not melt into a puddle of goo.

You can even see my knife marks.

If you want each truffle ball perfectly round you can roll them quickly in your hands; but be warned that is messy!

We transferred them to a cooling rack and as I noticed a few pieces of chocolate start sliding around I decided to pop them in the fridge on a cookie sheet to really firm up before adding melting chocolate on top of them.

If I were making these cookies again I'd make all the truffles one day and prepare the cookies the next; possibly even add the melted chocolate topping on the third day as they were more work than I was prepared for.

However my family has told me repeatedly they are the best cookies ever made and that I HAVE to make them again.

To make the topping:

I melted 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate morsels in the microwave with just a scant teaspoon of coconut oil mixed in and then gently spooned a bit of melted chocolate onto each cookie; making sure to cover the chocolate but leave parts of the peanut butter cookie sticking out. I had to make up multiple batches to cover all the cookies but it only took 30 seconds or so each time.

We left them to harden and then had to have a taste test!

We ended up with a full 3 dozen cookies (most of which went to work with my husband). I did make the boys set some aside for better pictures the next day and then let them eat another few each.