Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

There weren't any cookies in the freezer! Nor the pantry!! Since that's not acceptable (although it was a deliberate choice to help the calorie counters), it was time to do some baking. I could have made our favorite chocolate chip cookies, but before doing that thought I'd see if there was something interesting in the "recipes to try" folder. We must keep up with our cookie experimenting, because there was only one option. Now there are zero!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies

For the cookies:

• 1/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 package (15-18 oz) chocolate cake mix
• 1/4 flour

For the filling:

• 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• 2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 12 mini peanut butter cups, chopped

To make the cookies, in a large bowl, cream the butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Gradually stir in the cake mix and flour and mix well. Drop by the spoonful on baking sheet; flatten slightly. Bake for 7-8 minutes at 375°. After cooling on the pan for a couple of minutes, cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the filling, beat the peanut butter and cream cheese until fluffy. Mix in the powdered sugar, milk and vanilla until smooth.

Spread on the bottom of half the cookies; sprinkle with the chopped candy. Top with remaining cookies. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes: These made a soft cookie, quite similar to Whoopie Pies. I used my regular cookie scoop (about 1/8 cup) and forgot to flatten the cookies, so when sandwiched together they're on the large side. This recipe made 16 completed cookies. Also, in order for the top cookie to stick, I had to slather filling on it as well. You might want to consider folding the candy pieces into the peanut butter mixture. Finally, I only used half of the filling, and I thought I was being generous. No problem, though, there should be the perfect amount left to frost a small chocolate cake to give to the missionaries!

Recipe credit goes to Amy Williams from Fort Worth, Texas via some magazine article - most likely from either Taste of Home or All Recipes. 

Since I'm not a fan of using cake mixed to make cookies, I wonder how these would taste with an adaptation of Chewy Chocolate Cookies.