Peanut Butter Cookies with Marshmallows

Happy new year dear readers! I hope the new year is treating you well. I planned to post this weeks ago, but was hit with severe back pain, the flu, a stomach bug, and a stubborn dry cough that makes me feel like I'm retching out my lungs every.single.time. I've finally toughed through it, though there were moments where I cried myself to sleep, the back pain was too much to bear and yet, I'm here! And I brought peanut butter cookies! BIG WHOOPS!!

Sometime last year, I was flipping through Instagram and came across another foodie's afternoon treat: peanut butter cookies dotted with marshmallows and mini chocolate chips. It struck me how beautiful a marriage it was, oozy sweet marshmallows with nutty peanuts and bits of chocolate, really I couldn't think of a better combination. So sometime before The Week When I Thought I Was Going to Die I baked a batch of these lovelies. The first batch came and I struggled to stop myself from each two, three, four cookies all at once. The marshmallows leave a crusty, burnt top and melt into a puddle of sweet pillowyness, adding serious oomph to the cookies. They kind of remind me of s’mores, minus the chocolate, making them ten thousand times better.

To prove my point, here’s a picture of me with a plate of cookies, alone, nibbling away. When I uploaded these photos to my computer, I couldn’t stop laughing at how my nose twists to the side when I eat. It makes me wonder if I’m like that only when I’m dissecting cookie flavours in my head, or is it only a thing I do for the camera. Whatever the reason, I'm sure you'll enjoy these as much as I did.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Marshmallows

Adapted from Martha Stewart

Makes about 36 cookies

I wanted a basic recipe to make these cookies so I turned to Martha’s recipe. I didn’t want to make flourless cookies, I wanted the marshmallows to at least have some structure to melt into. You can use mini marshmallows and could fit more into a cookie, I used whatever I had on hand.

Ingredients

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (I used spelt flour for extra nuttiness)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup peanut butter (not the natural kind)

¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, room temperature

½ cup packed dark-brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

18-20 large marshmallows, snipped in half

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour and baking soda. Using an electric mixer, beat the peanut butter and butter until well combined. Add brown and granulated sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.

Add eggs and vanilla, beat until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture and mix until just combined.

Drop dough by heaping tablespoons onto baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Press down firmly with fingers or back of a spoon. Press down middle with a half marshmallow.

Bake cookies until golden, about 13-15 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer 

cookies to a wire rack and allow to cool. Store cookies in a airtight container.