Peanut Butter S’mores Cookies
Chewy fudgy peanut butter cookie made with graham cracker crumbs, topped with a marshmallow filling and a dark chocolate peanut butter cup. It's a peanut butter smores - in cookie form!
Sometimes I love a recipe so much, I find myself making several flavor variations of it. This one started with my brown butter s’mores cookies, two years later I developed chocolate s’mores cookie (the cookie is chocolate!) and now… Well the next one just had to be peanut butter based! I had put peanut butter cups on both the originals so this peanut butter s’mores cookie idea was just begging to happen.
Recipe Origins & Testing Process
This started with a basic recipe for peanut butter cookies that I have in my drafts (it’s a pb m&m cookie and I still have yet to share it with you!). I had to adapt it to incorporate the graham crackers, which made the cookies quite soft, and the extensive spread caused by the marshmallow and chocolate melting on top.
Early recipe tests had a greater amount of brown sugar and a shorter chill period. This yielded a very soft cookie which struggled to hold the filling. In the next two tests I overcorrected by removing the yolk, swapping the sugars, adding more graham crumbs, and more flour. This gave me a very crumbly cookie that did not spread at all and fell apart as soon as it was handled.
I then tried to stick to the original recipe but removed the egg yolk. The cookie was rather pale and while it was fine, it was missing that extra fat that a yolk imparts. Ultimately I settled on swapping the sugar amounts and lengthening the chill time. I also added a heating step to the sugar, like I do in my sourdough chocolate chip cookies. This gave me the perfect texture, somewhere between soft and chewy with a ton of flavor and it holds up the filling well.
Recipe Ingredients
Butter: unsalted butter, cold is fine. If using salted butter, omit the salt from the recipe.
Salt: fine sea salt. If using table salt, halve the amount.
Vanilla: pure vanilla extract.
Brown sugar: light or dark is fine.
Sugar: fine granulated sugar.
Egg: one whole large egg.
Peanut butter: use a commercial brand that does not separate (or stir it very very well). I use Skippy Natural Creamy in mine.
Baking powder & baking soda: to leaven the cookie.
Flour: use all purpose flour of a medium high protein content, around 11%.
Graham cracker crumbs: weigh the crackers then grind them in a food processor.
Peanut butter cups: I use the mini dark chocolate peanut butter cups.
Marshmallow fluff: sometimes called marshmallow creme, this is made with a mix of sugar and egg whites. Whole dried marshmallows won’t work here as they can burn in the oven.
How to Make Peanut Butter S’mores Cookies
Make the cookie dough
This dough needs a long chill time, preferably overnight but at least four hours would work too.
Grind the graham cracker crumbs: in a food processor, until you have fine crumbs. Set aside.
Melt the butter: set the butter in the microwave and heat until melted. Careful not to let any butter sputter out of the bowl.
Whisk in the sugars, salt, and vanilla:
Heat for 30 seconds then whisk again:
Add the egg and whisk until smooth and shiny:
Measure in the peanut butter (if you’re using a scale this will be a breeze.. Hint hint) and whisk to combine:
Add the dry ingredients; the flour, leavening, and graham crumbs: stir until the dough is well mixed.
Cover with plastic wrap and set in the fridge overnight. You can do less, but no less than four hours. A longer chill gives the cookies a chewier texture (rather than soft).
Fill and Bake the Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper (a bit of oil or water between the pan and the paper helps hold the parchment in place).
Portion the cookies into 1.5 tablespoons dough per cookie. Make sure there’s enough space for them to spread because they will!
Use a rounded measuring tablespoon or your thumb to press an indentation into the center of the dough ball; as if you are making a slight well (like a thumbprint cookie).
For the marshmallow fluff, I like to use two teaspoons (tbh they are my daughters’ kid spoons ;p); one to scoop the fluff and one to scrape it off into the middle of the cookie.
Do your best to center the filling. Place a peanut butter cup on top – center this too.
Whatever is off center will slide off the cookie as it melts in the oven.
Bake the cookies for about ten minutes: you’re looking for golden edges. The cookies will have spread quite a bit and the chocolate melted completely.
Straight out of the oven, sprinkle some more graham cracker crumbs on top to finish.
Let cool then enjoy!
FAQ
How do I store these cookies and how long will they last?
In a container and try not to stack them as the marshmallow fluff/chocolate can make them stick together. They’ll keep for about three days then start to dry out and go stale.
Can I use a different nut butter (due to a nut allergy)?
I think anything that has the same consistency as peanut butter should work: cashew butter or sunbutter are great substitutes.
What can I top the cookies with besides the mini peanut butter cup?
A thick square of chocolate: milk or dark!
Peanut Butter S’mores Cookie Recipe
Peanut Butter S'mores Cookies
Ingredients
- 60g or ½ cup graham cracker crumbs plus more for topping
- 113g or ½ cup unsalted butter if using salted butter, omit the salt added
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 67g or ⅓ cup brown sugar light or dark
- 100g or ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 135g or ½ cup creamy or chunky peanut butter commercial brand that does not need to be stirred
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 170g or 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour if using measuring cups, fluff the flour first then shake it over the measuring cup and level the cup - never pack the flour into the cup
Method
- Make the dough the night before baking, or at least 4 hours before. It needs a long chill.
- Grind the graham crackers in a food processor until you have fine crumbs (60g or ½ cup).
- Set the butter in a large heatproof bowl (113g or ½ cup). Set it in the microwave to melt (alternatively melt the butter in a saucepan then transfer to the bowl).
- Add the salt, vanilla, brown sugar (67g or ⅓ cup), fine granulated sugar (100g or ½ cup) to the bowl and whisk very well. Return the bowl to the microwave and heat for another 30 seconds.
- Whisk very well, for about 30 seconds. The mix will turn shiny and begin to become more cohesive. Add the egg and whisk very well, until shiny.
- Measure in the peanut butter (135g or ½ cup) and whisk to combine. Add the baking powder (½ tsp), baking soda (½ tsp), and flour (170g or 1 ¼ cups), and graham cracker crumbs and stir with a rubber spatula until fully combined and no streaks of flour remain.
- Cover the bowl to seal with plastic wrap and set in the fridge overnight, or for at least 4 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 F. Grease then line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a cookie disher to scoop out dough balls that are 1 ½ tablespoons per cookie. Leave enough space for them to spread; at least an inch diameter. Use the bottom of a tablespoon or your thumb to indent the middle of the dough ball to make a little well in the center (this is where you’ll put the filling).
- Add about a heaped teaspoon of marshmallow fluff to the center of the cookie, into the well. On top, place a peanut butter cup. Do your best to center everything or the toppings will slide off in the oven.
- Bake the cookies until they’ve spread, the chocolate is fully melted and the edges are turning golden brown, about 10 minutes. IF you like, sprinkle more graham cracker crumbs on top of the melted chocolate. Let cool on the pan; while hot the cookies are soft but will firm up as they cool.
Notes
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Soft and delicious