Skip to main content

Peanut Butter Fingers With Salty Milk Chocolate Glaze

Two peanut butter fingers next to a glass of milk.
Photo by Alice Gao

Nut cookies in the shape of "sticks" or "fingers" were kind of a thing back in the day. This finger recipe is inspired by the Peanut Butter Cookies in Cookies Galore (1956) and also the Sugared Almond Sticks in Pillsbury’s Best Butter Cookie Cookbook (1963). I substituted bread flour for the all purpose for chewiness, which is a must for a peanut butter cookie in my opinion. In addition, each finger is dipped in milk chocolate, because a twenty-first-century, super-chewy peanut butter cookie in the shape of a stick deserves a glaze (plus a sprinkling of flaky sea salt never hurts either).

Ingredients

Makes 12 fingers

Cookies:

1 1/3 cups [185 g] bread flour or all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp table salt
1/2 cup [110 g] unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup [100 g] granulated sugar
1 cup [200 g] packed light brown sugar
6 Tbsp [90 ml] vegetable oil
1 cup [260 g] creamy peanut butter (not all-natural)
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract

Glaze:

3 1/2 oz [100 g] milk chocolate
1/8 tsp table salt
1/4 cup [60 ml] heavy cream
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling
  1. Step 1

    Grease an 8-by-8-by-2-in [20-by-20-by-5-cm] pan with nonstick cooking spray or softened butter, line with parchment paper, leaving some overhang on the sides, and grease again.

  2. For the cookies:

    Step 2

    In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes. Add the oil and peanut butter and continue to mix until fully incorporated, scraping down the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

    Step 3

    Decrease the mixer speed to medium-low and add the egg and yolk, one at a time, beating well and scraping the bowl after each addition with a rubber spatula. Add the vanilla and mix to combine. Add the dry ingredients all at once, mixing just to combine.

    Step 4

    Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.

    Step 5

    Preheat the oven to 350°F [180°C].

    Step 6

    Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan, making it as flat and even as possible. Bake for 22 to 27 minutes, until browned and dry to the touch. Let cool.

    Step 7

    Freeze for about 10 minutes (this helps immeasurably with making clean cuts). Alternatively, you can tightly wrap the pan and freeze for up to a week before bringing back to room temperature and cutting and glazing.

    Step 8

    Lift the bar cookie from the pan using the parchment paper sling. Trim off all four edges, then slice the bar in half horizontally and vertically cut each half into 6 slices, creating 12 fingers.

  3. For the glaze:

    Step 9

    Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside. Place the chocolate and salt in a small heatproof bowl. Heat the cream in a small saucepan over medium heat, until just boiling.

    Step 10

    Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and let sit for 1 minute. Mix the chocolate and cream together until the two are combined. If the chocolate is not completely melted, place in a pan set over simmering water and melt on the stove top over low heat.

    Step 11

    Dip the top of each finger in the glaze, double-dipping for a thicker coat if you so desire, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle flaky sea salt over each one. Refrigerate until the chocolate sets, about an hour.

    Step 12

    Serve the fingers cold from the fridge or at room temperature. The cookies will keep in an airtight container on the counter or in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

Image may contain: Advertisement, Poster, Flyer, Paper, Brochure, and Food
From The Vintage Baker: More Than 50 Recipes From Butterscotch Pecan Curls to Sour Cream Jumbles © 2018 by Jessie Sheehan. Published by Chronicle Books. Buy the full book from Amazon.
Sign In or Subscribe
to leave a Rating or Review

How would you rate Peanut Butter Fingers With Salty Milk Chocolate Glaze?

Leave a Review

  • This was way too cake like even after keeping the dough chilled for 36 hours, cooling completely, then freezing. If it were more dense, it wouldn’t have ended up in crumbles when I accidentally dropped the pan from the freezer. I used the crumbled Pieces anyways and put the glaze on top. It was a hot mess all around. I second using semisweet chocolate. I am going to try one more time and will tweak some of the ingredients.

    • K_Mom

    • Dallas, TX

    • 2/11/2020

  • Even though these did take time to make. These were amazing and I would definitely recommend them to friends. I would recommend to use dark chocolate because I thought that it has a better taste than using milk chocolate.

    • saunders_a

    • 12/24/2019

  • This did not work out for me. At all. I have had a lot of success with recipes from Epicurious and these looked amazing so I tried them out and they went very poorly. I baked it for 25 minutes, and the middle was still completely liquid. I think I had to bake it for another 15-20 minutes before it was cooked in the middle, but the thing is that the edges had significantly increased in height and the middle had stayed down. I froze it for 10 minutes and tried cutting it, and it was incredibly dense and I ended up throwing the entire thing away before I could make the chocolate glaze. I really wanted this recipe to work out, so it was really unfortunate.

    • egp6400

    • Kansas City, MO

    • 6/30/2019

See Related Recipes and Cooking Tips

Read More
Jam Muffins
A baked take on the doughnut-shop classic, these jelly-filled muffins make everyone giddy.
Ginger-Stout Layer Cake With Ermine Frosting
This ginger-stout cake from famed pastry chef Claudia Fleming gets generous layers of buttermilk frosting, with the sides of the cake left au naturel.
Daydream Believer Cupcakes
These almond cupcakes are gussied up with a cloud of apricot buttercream. Like sweet with salty, sweet with a little tang (here via sour cream) just works.
Maple Butternut Sheet-Pan Cake
Why does zucchini get all the glory in baking? Bring on the butternut squash.
Easy Hot Cross Muffins
These fruit-laden muffins smell exactly like hot cross buns as they bake and taste just as satisfying, but with a fraction of the effort.
Pan-Banging Ginger Molasses Cookies
The warm spices in this cookie are always welcome in the cool winter months, but still hit the spot in the heat of the summer.
Honey Oat Cookies
Rolled oats and flaked coconut come together to make a soft, chewy cookie with lots of flavor.
Flaky, Buttery Biscuits
For this buttery biscuit recipe, you fold and stack the dough to create the flaky layers.