Chocolate and peanut butter Hanukkah cookies made with chocolate gelt coins to celebrate the festival of lights. Crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside. They are the perfect peanut butter cookie!
Prep: Place the oven rack in the center, and preheat to 375ºF. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mat.
Mix: Cream butter and peanut butter in a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium high, or use a hand mixer and large bowl, about 2-3 minutes. Beat in sugars on medium high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, then mix well on medium speed until smooth and combined, about 1 minute.
Whisk: Whisk dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt) in a medium bowl and stir to distribute well. In two batches, add dry ingredients to the wet on a slow speed until just combined. Do not over mix.
Shape: Scoop out portions of dough with a spoon or cookie scoop, and shape dough into 1” balls.
Optional: for a sparkle on the finished cookies, place the rolling sugar in a shallow bowl. Roll each dough ball in the sugar so that the ball gets a light coating of sugar on the outside.
Bake: Place each dough ball on the baking sheet about 2” apart. About 12 cookies should fit on a half sheet pan. Bake in a 375ºF oven for 9-11 minutes or until the cookies just start to crackle and are lightly golden brown on the bottom. Remove from oven, and bake remaining batches.
Add chocolate: Once out of the oven, immediately press a chocolate coin on to the surface of each cookie. Press the coin in slightly. The cookies will crack a little when you add the coin, which is normal. The chocolate may melt a little but will firm up when cool.
Cool: Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then carefully move them to a cooling rack to continue cooling. Do not move the cookies from the rack until the chocolate has completely hardened, about 2 hours. Once fully cooled, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-5 days.