Vegan Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

Recipes. Who owns them? Is your family recipe for oatmeal cookies so unique to your family that you can call it an original? Or have you just grown up eating that oatmeal cookie (which probably came from the recipe on the back of an oatmeal box with a few minor tweaks) for so long that, in your mind, it’s your family’s oatmeal cookie?

I see no problem with the latter scenario. Just like you can’t sing a song that’s never been sung, you also can’t bake a cookie that’s never been baked.

When I saw these vegan peanut butter filled chocolate cookies on Vegan Gal’s blog, I immediately bookmarked them. Vegan Gal admittedly confesses to forgetting where she first spotted the recipe. One of her commenters attributes it to My Sweet Vegan.

I googled the cookie and also found the recipe (vegan and non-vegan versions) in many places. Some trace it back to the classic punk vegan cookbook Soy, Not Oi!, a zine published before the ambitious young author of My Sweet Vegan was probably even born. One even attributed the non-vegan recipe (identical, save for an egg) to Better Homes and Gardens.

I'm not sure anyone can take credit for this recipe. Just like the oatmeal cookie, the peanut butter filled chocolate cookie has probably been floating out there for some time.

All I know is that if everyone’s baking these cookies, they must be good! They are.
Vegan Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies
Makes about 26 cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soy milk
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup chocolate chips

• Mix flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda in a bowl.
• In a separate bowl, cream together the margarine, sugar, and brown sugar. When combined, mix in the soy milk.
• Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix.
• In a separate bowl, mix the powdered sugar and peanut butter with a spoon or your hands.When ingredients are incorporated, add the chocolate chips and knead further with your hands to incorporate the chocolate chips.
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
• Take about a 2 or 3 tablespoons of the chocolate dough in your hand, and roll into a ball.Flatten the ball on the parchment paper to form a disk. Take a pinch or about 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter mixture and place in the center of the disk. Fold the edges of the disk up and over the peanut butter, pressing the seams together. Place the cookie seam-side down on the parchment paper to bake.
• Bake for 8-12 minutes in a preheated 350° oven.