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Stuffing cookies full of the best sweets and treats is not new by any means.We have been putting everything we can into chocolate chip cookies since the Tollhouse recipe came out. Everyone who has whipped up their own chocolate chip cookie recipe has tried putting another ingredient in the middle of it.
But every chocolate chip cookie recipe I came across looked like lumps of dough baked around a treat. Which tastes just as great, don’t let me steer you wrong.
But I wanted to create a chocolate chip cookie recipe that hid the goodie inside completely, that kept the “treat” whole instead of melted and looked purty.
I like purty lookin’ cookies. I can’t help it.
If I am going to sit down and eat 1 billion calories in a cookie, it better not look like a lump o’ dirt.
So, no dirt lump lookin’ cookies on this site!
I hope. Let me know if you spot any, ok?
Now, I have looked at a LOT of recipes for stuffed chocolate chip cookies. None of them seem to avoid getting that “lump” sitting on top of the cookie that is just your treat covered in a wee bit o’ cookie. Most are the exact same recipes I have here on my site, there isn’t much change to the basic chocolate chip cookie.
Look at the picture above.
Notice a difference between those and all the other stuffed cookie pictures? NO LUMP! No bump! No weird shaped cookie. They look like large chocolate chip cookies, which is the point. Perhaps I am a little bit of a perfectionist, I will admit. I wanted them to look like cookies, not dough thrown around something and baked.
This recipe will have the cookies cooked all the way around, no gooeyness to be found. Note that doesn’t mean there isn’t a “chewiness” but sometimes it looks like cookies have leaped from ” chewy” to “are these salmonella laced?” The other problem I noticed with other recipes is that the “treat” sinks its way to the bottom of the cookie, almost every single time. If you take a look, you can see that the very large peanut butter cups are completely centered! This is no small feat to achieve in a cookie, as most bakers know.
So not being enticed by anything I saw online or otherwise, I decided that I was just going to have to experiment on my own, with my own recipes.
So to start, I knew that I would need the best chocolate chip cookie recipe possible to do the job. It has to envelop the cookie, stay around that cookie nice and tall, not become thin and chewy nor be a cakey version.
You need to make a thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie! Which I have already mastered as one of my many chocolate chip cookie recipes.
The secret is so simple.
Cut the butter in half.
RIGHT in half.
There’s your secret, ladies and gentlemen. You change your dough. You ignore the rest of the recipes with too much butter in them and embrace less butter. I know. It’s hard. Did I seriously just say less butter? I’ll go put a loonie in the swear jar. Sorry. You WILL forgive me though.
Because this is your secret weapon to stuffed cookie making MASS DESTRUCTION! Or something like that. But it is the only recipe I have tried that works. And I mean it works, I have wrapped chocolate bars and peanut butter cups in this magical dough.
Kitkat.
Give yourself a break. Stuff a cookie with one and have a coffee.
If I stress nothing else about the wonder of these cookies, I would love everyone to know that it’s perfect for baking with your kids. I told my friend when I was describing these that it was “edible playdough wrapped around mini chocolate bars.“
Oh, my daughter had fun! This is something the kids will remember forever, the joy of being crazy bakers with their mom. These did earn me the comment “Mommy can bake ANYTHING!!” from my daughter’s lips to my husband ear when she was describing the day we whipped these up. Priceless.
Tip and Tricks for Making Stuffed Cookies
1. Use fantastic quality chocolate chips
2. Wrap the dough evenly around the bar/cookie/treat/sweet/whatever and trust that it will stay in the middle. It will.
3. If the dough gets too sticky, cool it in the fridge.
4. Go wild with your imagination!
5. Butter only. No margarine. Sorry. They are different from each other and butter works every time in this recipe.
6. Always bake at 350 degrees, they are thick and need to cook longer at a slightly lower temperature.
Have fun with these everyone and remember:
If at first you don’t succeed, eat the ones that didn’t turn out and try again!
Love,
The Stuffed Cookie Crazed Magpie
The Perfect Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup butter
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 12 Your choice of treat: mini chocolate bars, peanut butter
Instructions
- Kick the tires and light the fires to 350 degrees.
- Cream together your butter and sugar until it’s light and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla, mixing thoroughly.
- Beat in the flour, baking soda and salt.
- When that is done, fold in the two cups of chocolate chips by hand, and prepare to put them on some parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
- Making sure there is the same amount of dough on either side of your chosen treat, pinch the top and bottom dough together like a dumpling, then smooth and mold into a pretty dome shaped cookie.
- Place on the parchment paper lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15-17 minutes, depending on how thick your cookies are. They will be golden brown on the bottom and top when done. Enjoy!
CB says
Tried this recipe with left over candy from Christmas stockings (1/2 Reeses Christmas tree, etc.) I thought they were a little cakey, but it may need to be to hold up for the candy center and everyone else thought they were great. I will try again with another 1/4 cup butter so they are a little more moist and use a Kinder Bueno center because yum.
Just a note, the directions say to add salt but it is not listed in the ingredients.
Pierre Poutine says
These turned out perfect! Thanks for sharing this excellent recipe 🙂
Heavenly Delights by Alaina says
Has anyone tried this with Jelly or jam? I’ve tried a few but the jam seeped out a bit. Could I thicken the jam with corn starch? To make it thicker.? Any suggestions are welcomed. I want to make a peanut butter cookie and stuff it with jelly. TIA
ChefShanny says
I see you have changed the page! 🙂 Question- no more chilling the dough for an hour? Still works well without chilling? Let me know, thank you!
Preeti says
Can u suggest an alternative to eggs ?
Chef Carla says
how much salt?
thekitchenmagpie says
@Chef Carla I use salted butter, so left salt out of the recipe entirely. If using unsalted, add in 1/2 tsp.
caRie says
Do you always cut the butter in half or is that just for this stuffed cookie recipe?
thekitchenmagpie says
@caRie Only for this recipe, you need a certain type of dough.
ViSta says
lol gonna skip the chips – I am wrapping some filled chocolates with this dough!
Melissa says
Oh My Gosh!!!!! They are so good. I made them for my bff”s daughters birthday party. They where a big hit. I am going to make them for the kids that will be attending my wedding as their “thank you” gifts.
Bridgette H says
Thank you for posting this recipe. I found it through Pinterest and just now made them. I must admit I was skeptical, but after pulling them out of the oven, I was amazed at how professional these look. Cutting the butter in half is indeed the key and the flavor does not suffer for it at all. You rock!
Karlynn says
I am glad to hear it worked out so well for you!
Meaghan says
I just found this while looking for ‘stuffed cookie tips’ – I always have the problem where my cookie stuffings migrate straight to the bottom of the cookie (hmm…I have the same problem when I put things into cupcakes, too!). I made the caramel-stuffed apple cider cookies the other day, and I ended up with (delicious) apple cider cookies with caramel stuck to the bottom. I’ll have to try cutting the butter in half for all my stuffed cookie endeavours – thank you for figuring that out!
Sheri Lynn Larsen says
Yum!!! Chocolate chip dough combined with peanut butter cups….to die for!! Love all things peanut butter and then to combine that with a classic choco-chip cookie…amazing!! I bake both all the time and I have been thinking about stuffing cookies lately. Perfect! 🙂 Thanks!
Karlynn says
I hope you enjoy them!
Mike Johnston says
Now to convince her to cram o’henry’s in them!
Mike Johnston says
Now to convince her to cram o’henry’s in them!
Karlynn Johnston says
You know where the kitchen is….. 😉
Sdrake67 says
I’m just wondering which size of peanut butter cup you used – I’m guessing the smaller ones that come in bags wrapped in foil?
Sdrake67 says
I’m just wondering which size of peanut butter cup you used – I’m guessing the smaller ones that come in bags wrapped in foil?
Karlynn Johnston says
The cups are the normal size, over an inch across. The “snack pack” is a bag of 15 individually wrapped single servings of the large size peanut butter cups. I wanted to make a cookie dough that would work around the large sized treats, not just mini’s!
Noemailforyou says
oh my word, saw these on Foodgawker, could they be more amazing?!I want to bake these up for breakfast right now!
Karlynn Johnston says
MMMmmm bring me some when you’re done!
GigiGalore says
So the dough isn’t dry leaving out half the butter? It sure doesn’t look dry in the pictures, is it easy to work with or crumbly?
GigiGalore says
So the dough isn’t dry leaving out half the butter? It sure doesn’t look dry in the pictures, is it easy to work with or crumbly?
Karlynn Johnston says
I was surprised too that it’s NOT a crumbly dough, but more butter just makes everything spread out, 1/2 cup is just enough to make it pliable, tasty and hold its shape.
The Procrastobaker says
So you have basically cancelled out the addition of a filling by cutting the butter, therefore absolutely no extra guilt needs to be induced! Hurrah! This is such a brilliant go-to recipe to have, thank you! 🙂
The Procrastobaker says
So you have basically cancelled out the addition of a filling by cutting the butter, therefore absolutely no extra guilt needs to be induced! Hurrah! This is such a brilliant go-to recipe to have, thank you! 🙂
Karlynn Johnston says
Now why didn’t I think of that??! You are totally right! Guilt free inner goodies! Thanks for the very lovely compliment too 🙂
Dan says
Saw these on Foodgawker, I’m not into the whole stuffed cookie thing either but man, these look great! How do treats that are more melty do inside?
Karlynn Johnston says
I have stuck to more solid treats, but since the dough is not one that will spread and let out the melty insides, I would give something that melts faster a try.
simplyroxy says
That’s a mini Kitkat that you used, correct? A half or a whole (2 piece) bar?
Karlynn Johnston says
Yes, one single half of the two piece mini bar. Don’t be afraid to try the whole mini bar though!
MaryAnne177 says
Saw these on Twitter and had to come check them out, thanks for the weekend baking project!
Karlynn Johnston says
No problem, enjoy! Let me know how they turn out, I love to hear how my recipes work!
Mary-Anne says
Saw these on Twitter and had to come check them out, thanks for the weekend baking project!
Sam R. says
Hmm, not so sure about the stuffed cookie craze, but this recipe might just change my mind…it does look good!
Sam R. says
Hmm, not so sure about the stuffed cookie craze, but this recipe might just change my mind…it does look good!
Karlynn Johnston says
They taste even better than they look, trust me! I am a peanut butter cup freak though, so this is my nirvana!
carareynolds says
I need to make these NOW! I hate the lump sitting on top of a cookie kind of stuffed cookie, these look ah-mazing! Thanks for figuring out the “secret”!
Karlynn Johnston says
Ooh make them make them! They are so great!! Let me know what you think please!