Muddy buddy cookies made with a soft brown butter peanut butter cookie, piled high with ganache and topped with some muddy buddies.
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muddy buddy cookies
Hello hello! Today I’m here with some muddy buddy inspired cookies. If you haven’t heard of muddy buddies that probably sounds a little weird, but I promise they’re delicious – muddy buddies are a little treat made from chex cereal, peanut butter, chocolate, and powdered sugar. These cookies are made with a soft and flavorful peanut butter cookie (which is also made with brown butter, of course) and are topped with chocolate ganache and some muddy buddies.
Like a lot of other recipes you’ll find on this blog, these cookies are small batch – yielding 8 medium sized cookies. However, you can easily double or triple the recipe if you need more. So let’s get into it! 🙂
why you’ll love these muddy buddy cookies:
- Brown butter. It’s so delicious and such an easy way to add even more flavor into a cookie.
- One bowl, no mixer required. The cookies come together in one bowl and there’s no need for a stand mixer or hand mixer – just another reason that melted butter > creamed butter in a ccc. You’ll also just need one bowl and no mixer for the ganache topping.
- Chocolate & peanut butter. truly just a classic and delicious combo.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
Mix the dough carefully:
When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.
chill the cookies prior to baking
I know, I know – it’s frustrating to have to wait! However, because we’re using melted brown butter in the dough, we want to give the dough time to firm up. We’re going to give the cookies a quick chill before baking them to ensure that they don’t spread out too thin. This also gives the flavors a little bit of time to meld together.
Under bake for perfect cookies:
Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
The secret to perfectly round cookies:
Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for muddy buddy cookies:
peanut butter cookies:
- All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
- Baking soda & baking powder: helps the cookies rise and the edges crisp up.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
- Peanut butter: for flavor, texture & sweetness. I’m a big fan of natural peanut butter, but unfortunately that won’t work in this recipe. For baking, you’re going to want to make sure you have thick creamy peanut butter like Jif or Skippy’s.
- Granulated sugar & dark brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers. You can use light brown sugar in place of the dark brown sugar in a pinch.
- Egg: for binding and for moisture.
- Vanilla: for flavor.
ganache:
- Milk chocolate: you can use chocolate chips or a chocolate baking bar here. I recommend milk chocolate here since that’s where all the sweetness will come from in the ganache – but you can use semi-sweet or dark chocolate here if you prefer a more bitter contrast to the cookie!
- Heavy whipping cream: for thinning out the ganache.
- Muddy buddies: for garnishing the cookies. I used Chex’s pre-made muddy buddies here.
how to make muddy buddy cookies:
Here are the basic steps to follow to make these cookies. You can find the complete recipe at the end of this blog post.
- Brown the butter, then mix it with the peanut butter and chill the mixture for 5 minutes.
- Whisk in both sugars, followed by the egg and vanilla.
- Fold in the dry ingredients, then chill the dough.
- Scoop out the dough, bake, top with ganache & muddy buddies, and enjoy!
muddy buddy cookies recipe q&a
What is brown butter?
Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.
What are muddy buddies?
Muddy buddies are (aka puppy chow) is a little treat made with chex cereal, peanut butter, chocolate and powdered sugar. You can make your own – or just buy the pre-made muddy buddies that Chex sells (which is what I did!)
can I double this recipe?
Definitely – I’ve tested this recipe up to quadrupling it with no problem. Please be sure to use grams for the best results.
can I make these cookies ahead of time?
Definitely – cookie dough really only gets better with time. If you want to keep the dough frozen for over 30 minutes, I’d recommend that you scoop it out, then freeze the individual cookie dough balls. Keep them stored in an airtight container to prevent them from drying out. When you want to bake them, let the dough balls sit at room temperature for 10-20 minutes until they warm up a bit before baking them off as normal.
How to store muddy buddy cookies
You can keep the frosted cookies out at room temperature but I’d recommend keeping them stored in an airtight container in the fridge, especially if you’re going to have them for over 2 days.
muddy buddy cookies troubleshooting
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Muddy Buddy Cookies
Ingredients
Peanut Butter Cookies
- 100 g unsalted butter (7 tbsp.)
- 60 g peanut butter (¼ c.)
- 100 g dark brown sugar (½ c.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- 1 egg room temperature
- ½ tsp. vanilla
- 160 g all purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. salt
Ganache
- 130 g milk chocolate chips or baking bar, chopped (¾ c.)
- 130 g heavy whipping cream (4 ½ oz.)
- 24 muddy buddies for topping
Instructions
Peanut Butter Cookies
- In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
- Pour the brown butter into a medium sized mixing bowl. You should be left with at least 80g of brown butter (but not more than 85g.) If you have a little less than 80g, you can add in a few grams of water until you reach 80g.
- Mix the peanut butter into the hot brown butter until the mixture is smooth, then set the mixture in the freezer for 5 minutes.
- Once the brown butter has chilled a little bit, whisk in both sugars, then whisk in the egg and vanilla.
- Add in the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain.
- Cover the bowl tightly with a lid or with plastic wrap, and set the dough to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 days.*
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of dough and evenly space them out on the cookie sheet to allow room for spreading.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown.
- Immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, take a bowl that is slightly larger than the cookies and swirl it around over the cookies to make them a little more uniform and circular.
Ganache
- While the cookies cool to room temperature, make the ganache. Add the chocolate to a small mixing bowl. Heat the heavy whipping cream in a microwave until it starts to bubble up.
- Pour the heavy cream over the chocolate and stir the mixture until the chocolate has all melted and the mixture is cohesive.
- Place the ganache in the freezer for 10-20 minutes to allow it to firm up.
- Once the ganache has firmed up and the cookies have cooled to room temperature, place heaping scoops of ganache onto each cookie. Spread the ganache around, then top each cookie with a couple of muddy buddies. Serve and enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.
Hi! I’m wondering how the whipped ganache sets up. Will the cookies be stackable, or “baggable”?
Hi! The ganache will form a little bit of a crust on it but unfortunately I would recommend against stacking them to avoid smushing the ganache. They could be bagged in a flat layer, I’d just recommend keeping them cold if you’re transporting them so that the ganache doesn’t melt in the bag.