Homemade Girl Scout Tagalongs

Tagalongs are one of my favorite girl scout cookies.  The crispy shortbread crust is a perfect vehicle for sweet peanut butter and a chocolate coating.  This cookie was 100 times better than any Tagalong I ever bought.  It reminded me of a peanut butter Twix candy bar.  Pretty much the best thing ever.

Unfortunately, I’m dieting, which means I have to get rid of these cookies ASAP!

Girl Scout Cookie Craver?  Check out my homemade Samoas, my homemade Do-Si-Do’s, and my homemade Thin Mints as well.

Here is the simple, simple recipe, which I adapted from Baking Bites:

Ingredients:
1 cup (2 sticks) room temperature butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp milk

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 containers of Dolci dipping chocolate (or 12 oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Mix in flour, baking powder and salt at a low speed, followed by the vanilla and milk. The dough should come together into a soft ball.

Roll out dough into 1/2 inch thickness on a floured surface and cut out small circles with a cookie cutter.  Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough. Cookies will not spread too much, so you can squeeze them in pretty tight.
Bake cookies for about 11 minutes, until bottoms and the edges are lightly browned and cookies are set.

Immediately after removing cookies from the oven, use a measuring spoon to make a depression in the center of each cookie

Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

In a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar, salt and vanilla. When the mixture has come together, heat it in the microwave (again in short intervals, stirring frequently), until it is very, very soft. Working carefully with the hot filling, using a spoon, add a generous dome of the filling into each cookie’s “thumbprint”.

Chill cookies with filling for 20-30 minutes, or until the peanut butter is firm.  Once the peanut butter is firm, you can smooth out your “domes” and make them pretty.

Melt the chocolate in a small, heat-resistant bowl. This can be done in a microwave (with frequent stirring) or on a double boiler, but the bowl of melted chocolate should ultimately be placed above a pan of hot, but not boiling, water to keep it fluid while you work.

Dip chilled cookies into chocolate, let excess drip off, and place on a sheet of parchment paper to let the cookies set up. The setting process can be accelerated by putting the cookies into the refrigerator once they have been coated.

Makes about 3-dozen