Peanut Butter Shortbread |Cooking With Amanda

These peanut butter shortbread diamonds are a really elegant cookie. They are pretty, and elegant, and not over-the-top. They also happen to be delightfully delicious.

I was so tempted to take these over-the-top and scatter them with Reese's pieces or chocolate chips, but I refrained. It was difficult, but I was able to reign myself in. My temptation is to always take things to the very utmost level, but in a rare moment of restraint, I decided that not EVERYTHING always has to be excessive.

Instead, I gave them a simple drizzle of semi-sweet chocolate, and stopped myself there. The semi-sweet chocolate is a nice addition to a peanut butter shortbread cookie because it ramps up the indulgence of the cookie, but without making it tooooo crazy.

These peanut butter shortbread diamonds are lovely. They are sweet and buttery, and they are crumbly and flaky, like the best shortbread, but they are not cloyingly sweet.

They are so nice with tea or coffee. These peanut butter shortbread diamonds were an especially big hit with my S.O. He tends to like things more understated, and doesn't necessarily want every single dessert to be over-the-top, oozing with chocolate or caramel, or loaded up with sky-high frosting.

I know you're wondering why I'm with him at all. Right??? I mean, he doesn't even really like cupcakes. Isn't that strange? He's into over-the-top desserts on occasion, but only sometimes. I'm into them pretty much always. But whatever.

One of his favorite things is a cookie that he can dunk into coffee. He likes cookies with his coffee, and especially one that's dunkable. This fit the bill perfectly. Shortbread is a sturdy and crunchy enough that you can dunk it into coffee and it doesn't fall apart, but is porous enough to absorb a little bit.

The dough is a breeze to whip up, and this recipe makes a large batch. Start your coffee pot – stat!

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Peanut Butter Shortbread Recipe

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Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, peanut butter, and sugar until creamy.
Beat in vanilla.
Gradually add flour, beating until combined.
Press dough evenly into a lightly greased 15x10-inch baking sheet.
Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown, and the center appears set.
Remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cut into diamonds.
Drizzle with melted chocolate.
Allow chocolate to set. Enjoy!