Bourbon peanut butter cookies, spiked dark chocolate ganache, peanut butter drizzle and flaked sea salt. Let that sink in for a minute.
Friends, I’ve reached a point in my life where I just think it’s silly to create a peanut butter dessert without bourbon. I mean if we’re going to make an over-the-top peanut butter dessert, complete with silky chocolate ganache, there should definitely be booze. End of story.
Or maybe just the beginning.
I came across these little nuggets of love as I like to call them while I was cleaning out/sorting through my cookbooks, recipe files and lists upon lists of ideas. The amount of lists of ideas tucked between books, on notepads and in notebooks actually made me a little dizzy. So many desserts I have to get out of me, I might combust.
But in the frenzy of all these ideas was a recipe I used to make with my nan. My nan and I were always baking, we were forever baking a cake, frosting a cake, making cookies and baking up a batch of cupcakes. I remember baking these little peanut butter cookies with her and when we took them out of the oven we would press a Hershey kiss into the center and then we’d have to wait like FOREVER for them to set up.
Funny how my patience level has remained the same.
Obviously in the midst of my cookbook cleaning out chaos, I had to make a batch, I had to doll them up and I had to reach for the bourbon. It’s what I do.
You’ll notice in the ganache, I say add 2-3 teaspoons of bourbon. This is totally up to your taste. When you add two teaspoons, the bourbon just kind of floats. When you take it up to three teaspoons, it’s the equivalent of me showing up in my favorite sequin pants – ain’t nobody gonna miss that 😉
And that’s the way I like my boozy ganache. And my fancy pants.
Also keep in mind, that even though the bourbon definitely isn’t shy in the ganache, once it canoodles with the cookies and gets zhushed with the peanut butter drizzle and sea salt, it mellows out and all blends together into a lovely state of boozy chocolate peanut butter bliss.
I don’t know about you, but I’d like to find myself in a state of boozy chocolate peanut butter bliss.
These are fantastic for holidays, girls’ night, when you’re in the middle of cleaning out your house, to treat yourself, to say I love you, to say I’m sorry, and any day that ends in y, like today!
Do you think I like them?
I hope you guys love these, thank you for being here and please remember to bake responsibly!
Soft-baked bourbon peanut butter cookies filled with spiked ganache and topped with peanut butter drizzle are perfect for holidays, girls' night, or a weekend treat!
Ingredients
- 1 and 3/4 cups AP flour
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temp.
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste, or extract
- 2 Tbsp. bourbon
- 2 tsp. heavy cream
- 4 ounces dark or semisweet chocolate
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 2-3 tsp. bourbon
- 1/2 cup peanut butter chips
- 1/2 tsp. coconut oil
- Sea salt for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a mini muffin pan with cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.
- Add peanut butter and continue to mix an additional 2-3 minutes, until fully incorporated.
- Add egg followed by vanilla bean paste, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add bourbon and heavy cream.
- Mix in dry ingredients until combined.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for about an hour. This is just to make scooping easier.
- Using a cookie scoop yielding 1/2 ounce portions, scoop dough, roll into balls and place in mini muffin tin.
- Bake for 7-8 minutes (8 was perfect in my oven), remove from the oven and immediately create an indentation in the middle of each cookie cup. I used the back of a melon baller for this. You could also use the handle of a wooden spoon, or the back of a teaspoon.
- Set cookie cups aside to cool.
- Bring heavy cream up to a scant boil.
- Pour over chopped chocolate and stir to combine.
- Stir in bourbon and set aside for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Spoon ganache into cookie cups. I used 1/2 teaspoon to fill them when the ganache was still fluid. If your ganache sets up, or you make it ahead and chill it, simply microwave it in 15 second increments until it's fluid again. You could also let it set up and then pipe it in.
- Pop cookie cups in the fridge for about 10-15 minutes to set up.
- Melt peanut butter chips and coconut oil in the microwave in 30 second increments until melted. Pour into a piping bag and drizzle over cookie cups.
- Immediately sprinkle with sea salt. The peanut butter drizzle sets up quickly so hit them with the salt fast. Please note you only need a pinch of sea salt - I went a bit over board when taking the photos!
Notes
You can use semisweet, dark, or even milk chocolate for the ganache.
You can make, scoop and roll the dough ahead of time. Freeze in an airtight container until ready to bake. Bake time may increase by 1-2 minutes if baking straight from the freezer.
Unfilled cookie cups freeze well. After they've cooled completely, transfer to an airtight container and freeze, unfilled for up to two weeks.
These would be epic topped with honey roasted peanuts!
Karly Campbell says
So I clicked on this just after reading “peanut butter cookie cups,” so naturally when I noticed they were boozy I think I died and went to heaven. What a clever pairing with the bourbon and peanut butter and so perfect for the next girls night in!
bblondie says
Thanks, Karly!
Wendy says
I’m hosting a tequila party and I’m wondering how these would work substituting tequila for the bourbon? Any thoughts?
bblondie says
Hi, Wendy – I wouldn’t recommend using tequila here because I don’t think it would pair well with the peanut butter.
Liz says
These are no ordinary pb cookies! Wow, so much fabulous flavor infused into every bite~~YUM!
bblondie says
Thanks, Liz!