Baked's Candy Cookies

I heart Baked. I've never been to the actual bakery in NYC, but I've made a few of their recipes- their brownies and the chocolate cake with salted caramel. Apparently, I have yet to post either of these, since I just searched for them and they're not up.
A couple weeks ago, they posted a link on Facebook for these Candy Cookies- candy bars inside chocolate-dipped chocolate shortbread cookies. Yum, right? I decided to make them for our friends for the holidays. I used Mounds candy bars for the centers, and double dipped the cookies in white and milk chocolate.

Then I finished them with a drizzle of red candy coating for a festive touch.

These little cookies are AMAZING! You have to dip them in chocolate, otherwise they're dry and not that flavorful. They were a huge hit with our friends, and our family! Make them! And then make another batch because you ate all of them!

Candy Cookies

Recipe by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

INGREDIENTS

1. 2 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
3. 1/2 cup sugar
4. 1/8 teaspoon salt
5. 1 stick plus 6 tablespoons (7 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
6. 1 large egg yolk
7. 40 mini peanut butter cups and or 20 fun-size Mounds bars, cut in half
8. 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
9. 4 ounces white chocolate, chopped
10. Sprinkles, dragees or nonpareils, for garnish

11. DIRECTIONS

    1. Preheat the oven to 350° and line 2 large baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper. In a small bowl, whisk the flour with the cocoa powder, sugar and salt.
    2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter at medium speed until creamy. Beat in the egg yolk. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low speed until incorporated. Pat the dough into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes.
    3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough a scant 1/4 inch thick. Using a 2 1/4-inch round cookie cutter, stamp out as many rounds as possible. Reroll the scraps and stamp out more rounds. You should have about 40 rounds. Set a peanut butter cup or halved mounds bar in the center of each round and roll the dough around the candy, pinching any tears. Roll the cookies into balls and arrange on the prepared baking sheets, 1 inch apart.
    4. Bake in the cookies on the upper and middle racks of the oven for about 16 minutes, until the dough is firm and just slightly browned; shift the pans from top to bottom and front to back halfway through baking. Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheets.
    5. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the bittersweet chocolate on high power in 30-second bursts until nearly melted. Remove from the microwave and stir until melted. Repeat with the white chocolate in another microwave-safe bowl. Dip the tops of the cookies in the melted chocolate and decorate with sprinkles, dragees and nonpareils. Transfer the cookies to a parchment paper—lined baking sheet and refrigerate until the chocolate is set, about 10 minutes. Transfer to a platter and serve.