These soft peanut butter chocolate ganache cookies combine the perfect degree of chewiness with a pop of delicious chocolate. They're a bougie upgrade to the classic peanut butter thumbprint cookie.

This recipe is a spin off of the "softest frosted sugar cookie" recipe I posted a couple years ago. Remember thumb print cookies? The cookie exchange staple cookie with a Hershey's kiss in the middle. This recipe embodies all the glorious flavor combinations found in those cookies, but is so much more. These cookies stay inexplicably soft and moist for an impressive amount of time too. My cookie batch from 6 days ago is still perfectly soft and chewy. The whipped vanilla buttercream frosting from the original recipe is also an option with these cookies, but the chocolate ganache put a whole different twist on it.

^{Why You’ll Love These Soft Peanut Butter Chocolate Ganache Cookies}

First, this recipe is easy to make and it yields 48-52 cookies per batch, so it's ideal for any cookie exchange. Second, chocolate ganache sounds fancy, so you've successfully dressed up a peanut butter cookie. Last, they're, soft and chewy deliciousness...dipped in chocolate.

This recipe is really simple, but be sure to follow the steps and tips included to keep it that way. Here is the highlight reel with some tips along the way.

softest peanut butter cookie ingredients

Start by blending softened butter, shortening, sugar, eggs and extracts using a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Stand mixers make everything easier.

Next, add in the peanut butter and mix. After the peanut butter is mixed in well, add in the sour cream and mix. Sour cream is super important to this recipe because it plays a huge role in keeping the cookies soft.

Mix flour and the remaining dry ingredients in a separate bowl. Gradually add the flour mixture to the mixed wet ingredients and blend well. The dough will be softer than normal cookie dough, like extra thick cake batter).

*Refrigerate 2 hours or overnight.* Refrigerating the dough is critical. The dough is too soft to scoop and hold its form when you finish mixing it. The dough needs to be cold to prevent the butter from pooling and the cookie flattening out as it bakes.

Baking the Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

The biggest trick to successfully baking these cookies is keeping the dough cold before transferring the cookies to the oven.

Preheat the oven to 375°F before removing the dough from the refrigerator.
Using a small scoop/spoon (I used a 1¼" melon ball for this), place 1” balls of dough on baking sheet about 2" apart. It’s best to scoop quickly and place any remaining dough back in refrigerator to keep it chilled.
Bake at 375°F on the middle rack for about 8 minutes total. Check the cookies and rotate the pan after about 4 minutes. Keep a close eye on them - they cook through and brown quickly (you do not want them to brown), and cook time varies by oven. A trick I learned is double layering the baking sheet with silicone baking mats or parchment paper, which keeps the bottom of the cookie from browning!
Remove the baking sheet from oven and carefully remove cookies from the baking sheet with a spatula. Gently move warm cookies to a cooling rack (this prevents the bottom of the cookie from continuing to cook on the hot cookie sheet).
Allow the soft peanut butter cookies to cool completely before frosting.

Ina Garten's Chocolate Ganache Recipe:

While all chocolate ganache follows a standard ratio guide, I love adding espresso powder to my chocolate recipes. Ganache is basically 2 parts chocolate and 1 part cream, unless you want it thicker or thinner. The coffee/espresso powder isn't prevalent, but it adds depth to the chocolate.

Ina Garten's semi sweet chocolate Ganache ingredients to glaze soft peanut butter cookies

I followed Ina Garten's recipe ratio and I used semisweet Ghirardeli baking chocolate. I also used espresso powder instead of instant coffee (use whichever you prefer). Double boil the ganache ingredients to avoid over cooking the chocolate when melting it. Fill a saucepan with a few inches of water. Place a glass bowl over the saucepan (the bowl should be able to rest on top of the saucepan on its own. Bring the water to a slow boil and lower it to a simmer. Pour the semi sweet chocolate chips in the glass bowl. The temperature of the bowl makes the chocolate melt evenly. Stir as the chocolate melts, and add heavy cream and espresso powder, and mix until melted and smooth.

Ina Garten's semi sweet chocolate Ganache to glaze soft peanut butter cookies

Put the Finishing Touches On the Soft Peanut Butter Cookies

When the chocolate ganache is ready, spoon it on the center of a cooled, soft peanut butter cookie and swirl it back and forth to coat it. Place the cookie back on the cooling rack.

Garnish the soft peanut butter cookie with a quarter of a caramel filled, milk chocolate Ghirardelli square (just crack it and place it). This little trick makes the cookies look that much fancier.

Enjoy being a hit at the next cookie exchange and be sure to save some for yourself!