Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies with Salted Chocolate

So you've already heard that Mr. Happy Plate LOVES peanut butter.  When I asked him if he wanted any certain type of cookie for Christmas this year - he immediately replied, "peanut butter".  

I found this recipe on Pinterest, which Mr. Happy Plate is surely coming to know and love, and I wanted to try it because the pictures looked amaaaazing! The recipe is from What Meghan's Making and she has some awesome stuff so check it out. We ate some of the shortbread cookies BEFORE they were dipped in chocolate, and just a warning, they do not taste just like your regular old peanut butter cookies... they are denser, like shortbread, hence the name. But once they were dipped in chocolate, oh man are they good!   ZERO complaints from Mike!  I think they'd also be really good dipped in a glass of milk, if you are a dipper.  Everyone should be a dipper.

I doubled the recipe, and was glad I did. Otherwise I think the cookies would have mysteriously disappeared before it was time to share them with friends and coworkers for Christmas!  Made about 4 dozen cookies.

Ingredients:

3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (I used hand-made)
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Topping:
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
2-4 tablespoons unsalted butter, plus additional butter (or shortening) if needed to thin chocolate
Fleur de Sel, for sprinkling  (I didn't have any of this, so I used sea salt.  Tastes just as good!)

Hand-made peanut butter (I pushed the button!)

Beat together the butter and peanut butter with mixer at medium speed until smooth. Gradually add sugar, beating well. Stir in the vanilla. Add the flour and salt, beating at low speed until blended.

Form the dough into balls (mine were about 1 heaping teaspoon each), place them on a cookie sheet & press the tops with a fork. Refrigerate until cold, 15-30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 275˚F. Bake until the bottoms of the cookies are golden, 30 to 35 minutes. Let cool completely.

When the cookies have cooled, melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering water, making sure the bowl does not touch the water. Add butter and/or shortening until the chocolate is a good consistency for dipping. (I used about 3 Tbsp butter, then thinned the chocolate out with shortening - I used about 1/2 cup, and unfortunately I did need the shortening to thin it out so it was dippable). Dip half of each cookie into the melted chocolate and place on a parchment-lined sheet. Sprinkle chocolate immediately with a few grains of Fleur de Sel or sea salt.