This year, celebrate Groundhog Day with these festive peanut butter cookies decorated with chocolate, candy eyeballs, and marshmallow teeth. I’m pretty sure you’ll enjoy decorating them just as much as you’ll enjoy eating them. And, as an added bonus, you’ll get to snack on some chocolate candy while making them. Cookies and candy? What a treat.

Have you ever had one of those weekends where you felt like spending some time in the kitchen, making something silly and stupid, and just oh so adorable, for absolutely no reason at all? This weekend was one of those weekends for me. After seeing Groundhog Day cupcakes online, I was obsessed with creating a groundhog-shaped cookie. And after two trips to the market, I finally had all of the right ingredients to make it happen, without it being so difficult that I would pull all of my hair out in the process. So, stock up on some candy, bake a few peanut butter cookies, and then have fun making these cute lil’ guys. I guarantee that it will be time well spent.

Ingredients:

Cookies:

• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
• 1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
• 1 Egg
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt

Decoration:

• 1/2 (10-oz.) Bag Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers
• 1 (7.6-oz.) Bag Hersheys Milk Chocolate Drops
• 1 (10.7-oz.) Bag Milk Chocolate M&M’s (Brown M&M’s Only)
• Candy Eyeballs
• Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together on medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. Add the egg and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
4. Add the vanilla and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the large mixing bowl and mix on slow speed until just incorporated.
6. Use a cookie scoop to measure out even amounts of cookie dough. Roll each scoop between the palms of your hands to make a ball and then place each ball onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Press each cookie down with the palm of your hand.
7. Bake 10 minutes.
8. After removing the cookies from the oven, immediately use the bottom of a glass to lightly press the top of each cookie down, creating a circular well in the middle of each cookie.
9. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.

Decoration:

1. In a small bowl, melt 5-oz. of the dark chocolate melting wafers in a microwave for 1 minute. Stir and then microwave for an additional 15 minutes.
2. Working one cookie at a time, spoon some melted chocolate into the middle of the well of each peanut butter cookie. Use the spoon to carefully spread the chocolate out to create a perfect circle.
3. For the cheeks, place two milk chocolate drops into the middle of each cookie.
4. For a nose, place a brown M&M above the two chocolate drops, leaning it slightly against them.
5. For the eyes, add two candy eyeballs on each side of the M&M, which will also help to hold the nose in place.
6. For the teeth, place two mallow bits below the two milk chocolate drops.
7. Allow the cookies to rest for 2 hours before storing them in an airtight container between pieces of wax paper.

Suggestions:

• If you don’t have a cookie scoop, roll the dough into 1-inch sized balls. I like to use a cookie scoop to ensure that each cookie is approximately the same size and bakes evenly.
• I used Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers for this recipe. They melt fantastically and taste amazing. You will only need about half of the bag for this recipe. If you run out of chocolate, you can always melt more.
• Decorate one cookie at a time so that the chocolate does not set before you add the decorations. If the chocolate begins to seize too quickly, put it back in the microwave for 15 to 30 seconds.
• Use a pair of clean tweezers to help place the decorations onto each cookie. It will especially help with eyeballs and teeth.
• You can place the cookies in a fridge or freezer to help the chocolate set faster.
• This recipe will yield approximately 2 dozen cookies.

Improvements:

• Finely crush a few cookies and then sprinkle a little bit of the cookie crumbs around the outside edge of each groundhog to resemble dirt.
• Replace the brown M&M nose with a pink M&M or a candy heart for Valentine’s Day.
• Use crunchy peanut butter in lieu of creamy peanut butter.
• To decorate, try experimenting with similarly shaped candies.

Print

Yum

Groundhog Day Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookies:
• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Room Temperature
• 1/2 Cup Creamy Peanut Butter
• 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
• 1 Egg
• 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
• 3/4 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/4 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
Decoration:
• 1/2 (10-oz.) Bag Dark Chocolate Melting Wafers
• 1 (7.6-oz.) Bag Hersheys Milk Chocolate Drops
• 1 (10.7-oz.) Bag Milk Chocolate M&M's (Brown M&M's Only)
• Candy Eyeballs
• Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits

Directions:

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugars together on medium speed for 2 minutes.
3. Add the egg and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
4. Add the vanilla and mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
5. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the large mixing bowl and mix on slow speed until just incorporated.
6. Use a cookie scoop to measure out even amounts of cookie dough. Roll each scoop between the palms of your hands to make a ball and then place each ball onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Press each cookie down with the palm of your hand.
7. Bake 10 minutes.
8. After removing the cookies from the oven, immediately use the bottom of a glass to lightly press the top of each cookie down, creating a circular well in the middle of each cookie.
9. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely.
Decoration:
10. In a small bowl, melt 5-oz. of the dark chocolate melting wafers in a microwave for 1 minute. Stir and then microwave for an additional 15 minutes.
11. Working one cookie at a time, spoon some melted chocolate into the middle of the well of each peanut butter cookie. Use the spoon to carefully spread the chocolate out to create a perfect circle.
12. For the cheeks, place two milk chocolate drops into the middle of each cookie.
13. For a nose, place a brown M&M above the two chocolate drops, leaning it slightly against them.
14. For the eyes, add two candy eyeballs on each side of the M&M, which will also help to hold the nose in place.
15. For the teeth, place two mallow bits below the two milk chocolate drops.
16. Allow the cookies to rest for 2 hours before storing them in an airtight container between pieces of wax paper.

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