Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs)
If you’re a fan of the iconic chocolate peanut butter girl scout cookies, then you’ll love this recipe for Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs) made with just 7 ingredients! Skip the boxed treats this girl scout cookies season and make your own instead!
If you’re looking for more nostalgic cookies, try some if my other favorites like Organic Thin Mint Cookies, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies With Sourdough Discard, or Homemade Vanilla Oreo Cookies.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs)
- Ready In: 38 minutes
- Makes: 24 cookies
- Main Ingredients: salted butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter, dark chocolate
- Flavor Profile: creamy peanut butter meets dark chocolate
- Dietary Info: eggless, no seed oils, gluten free swap available
- Difficulty: Medium
- Why You’ll Love It: better than classic Girl Scout Tagalong Cookies!
Summarize & Save This Content On
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Homemade Tagalongs: This recipe tastes just like the girl scout Tagalong cookies, but even better!
- 7 Ingredients: I use only 7 organic ingredients, while the girl scout recipe has more than double that!
- Chocolate + Peanut Butter: If you love chocolate and peanut butter, you will love these Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies. You get the best of both worlds.
- Chocolate Covered Cookies: I'm obsessed with chocolate covered cookies as you get the perfect ratio of chocolate in every single bite!
- Eggless: These homemade Tagalong cookies are naturally eggless! This buttery shortbread cookie does not need eggs, making this butter cookie recipe perfect for anyone with an egg allergy or even if you just ran out.
Jump to:
- A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- What are Tagalong Cookies?
- Ingredients
- Baker’s Tips for Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs)
- How to Make Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs)
- Recipe FAQ’s
- More Chocolate Peanut Butter Desserts
- Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs)
- The Bake Shop
What are Tagalong Cookies?
Tagalongs are a flavor of Girl Scout cookies that was always in an orange box. They are a crunchy vanilla sugar cookie with a peanut butter topping that is coated completely in chocolate. The traditional Tagalongs have a poor choice of ingredients that include seed oils, soy, corn syrup and other things I don’t believe are needed to make these delicious cookies!
So, I’m sharing my homemade Tagalong Cookies recipe from scratch with just 7 simple ingredients. While the Girl Scout cookies original has almost 20 ingredients that include artificial flavors, enriched flour, and more — this recipe has just 7 organic ingredients that you can trust. Plus, you’ll get to enjoy better tasting cookies with quality ingredients. You'll probably want to make a double batch!
If you love chocolate and peanut butter as much as I do, you'll also love these other desserts! Check out Eggless Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding, Healthy Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, Chocolate Peanut Butter Florentine Sandwich Cookies, or Vegan Gluten Free Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies for more chocolate peanut butter treats.
Ingredients
- Butter: I use salted butter, but if you want to use unsalted butter you can too. You can use your favorite, just be sure it’s very soft. This is key for these cookies. Check out my top picks for organic butter for shortbreads in Best Salted Butter for Baking.
- Powdered Sugar: I use organic powdered sugar in the cookies and for the peanut butter frosting. Be sure it’s sifted for both.
- Peanut Butter: I use organic creamy peanut butter for the peanut butter layer. My favorite is Costco, this is a natural peanut butter with only 2 ingredients: organic peanuts and salt. This is so much better than Skippy or Jif as it's free of seed oils and unnecessary ingredients!
- Dark Chocolate: I use organic mini dark chocolate chips or ease for the chocolate coating. These specific ones have no stabilizers so they’re perfect for melting, and you don’t have to chop chocolate. You can use a dark chocolate bar as well, just be sure to chop it up into small pieces so it melts easily.
- Vanilla Extract: I use organic pure vanilla extract, for the best flavor. I love Simply Organic, just don't use imitation.
*For a full list of ingredients and measurements, visit the recipe card below.
Baker’s Tips for Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs)
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
- Make sure your butter is soft; this is super important. If your butter is not soft enough the cookies can have an off texture, you’ll notice small holes in the bottom of the cookies when baked if this happens. This means the butter was cold, therefore didn’t mix in well enough and will cause this.
- Always sift powdered sugar for smooth and creamy frosting.
- You can melt the chocolate using a double boiler or in 30 second intervals in the microwave, whichever you prefer.
- I don’t temper the chocolate because there’s milk in the frosting, so these should be stored in the fridge anyways.
- Gluten Free — Replace the flour with 226 grams (scant 1 ½ cups) gluten free flour blend and 57 grams (½ cup plus 1 tablespoons) coconut flour.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
How to Make Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract.
- Mix on low until combined and you don’t see powdered sugar anymore, there will still be a few chunks of butter but that is okay because it’s very soft.
- Add the flour into the butter mixture.
- Mix on low until combined and smooth. The dough should feel like play dough in your hands.
- Using your hands, form the dough into 30 balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each one slightly so they are about 1 ¾-inch in diameter.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool completely on the cookie sheets.
- To make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla extract.
- Mix on low and add in the milk as needed. Continue to mix and speed mixer up to high and mix until light and fluffy.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag and pipe a small dollop on top of each cookie. Turn the cookies over and press into the parchment paper to flatten the frosting so it’s the same diameter as the cookie. Transfer the tray to the freezer to let the frosting set, about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Melt the chocolate using a double boiler or in the microwave doing 30 second intervals, stirring brewery each one to prevent burning.
- Remove the cookies from the freezer and dip them into the chocolate to coat them completely. I like to use a fork as a spoon, so excess chocolate can drip off easily. Place the cookies back on the parchment paper lined baking sheets.
- Transfer the cookies to the freezer to set. You can drizzle extra chocolate on top if you like.
Recipe FAQ’s
Tagalong cookies are a Girl Scout cookie that is a vanilla butter or sugar cookie topped with peanut butter and coated in chocolate.
This recipe tastes like a gourmet Tagalong. They're bigger than the traditional ones and they are made using high quality ingredients you can feel good about eating!
I use organic creamy peanut butter. You don't want to use crunchy as you don't want the pieces of nuts in there as we want a smooth texture.
Not measuring properly, adding too much milk, or using the very runny part or the very dry part of the peanut butter can cause inconsistent frosting texture. If your frosting is too dry, add in a little more milk. If it's too runny, add in a little more powdered sugar until you get the desired consistency. Make sure to watch the video so you can see the consistency of the filling.
If your filling is too soft, it will slide off the cookies. Make sure to measure properly and ensure your filling is the right consistency.
Yes, this is essential because it hardens the peanut butter filling so it doesn't melt or slide off the cookies when dipping.
Yes, you can use milk chocolate in place of dark if you prefer.
No, I don't temper the chocolate here as these need to be stored in the fridge because of the milk in the filling anyways. So, I don't think it's necessary.
Make sure to melt chocolate completely. I like to use a fork (like a spoon) so excess chocolate can drip back into the bowl. This helps get a smooth coating without excess chocolate on the cookies.
If you get any moisture (water) in the chocolate bowl or on your spatula as you stir it then it can seize the chocolate. Make sure everything is dried before adding chocolate to the mixing bowl.
Yes, just use the substitution listed in the recipe Notes to make the cookies gluten free.
Because the peanut butter filling has milk, these Tagalong cookies should be stored in the fridge. You can also freeze these in an airtight container for longer if you want.
More Chocolate Peanut Butter Desserts
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Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Cookies (Homemade Tagalongs)
Equipment
- Digital Food Scale
- Stand Mixer
- Half Sheet Pan
- Parchment Paper
- Piping Bag
- Heatproof Mixing Bowl
Ingredients
Dough
- 226 grams salted butter (softened)
- 142 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 255 grams all purpose flour
Peanut Butter Filling
- 113 grams salted butter (softened)
- 226 grams powdered sugar (sifted)
- 57 grams peanut butter
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Coating
- 800 grams mini dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- To make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract. Mix on low until combined and you don’t see powdered sugar anymore, there will still be a few chunks of butter but that is okay because it’s very soft.
- Add the flour into the butter mixture and mix on low until combined and smooth. The dough should feel like play dough in your hands.
- Using your hands, form the dough into 30 balls and place them on the prepared cookie sheets. Flatten each one slightly so they are about 1 ¾-inch in diameter.
- Bake for 15 to 17 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool completely on the cookie sheets.
- To make the filling: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the butter, powdered sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla extract. Mix on low and add in the milk as needed. Continue to mix and speed mixer up to high and mix until light and fluffy.
- Transfer the frosting to a piping bag and pipe a small dollop on top of each cookie.
- Turn the cookies over and press into the parchment paper to flatten the frosting so it’s the same diameter as the cookie.
- Transfer the tray to the freezer to let the frosting set, about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Melt the chocolate using a double boiler or in the microwave doing 30 second intervals, stirring brewery each one to prevent burning.
- Remove the cookies from the freezer and dip them into the chocolate to coat them completely. I like to use a fork as a spoon, so excess chocolate can drip off easily. Place the cookies back on the parchment paper lined baking sheets.
- Transfer the cookies to the freezer to set. You can drizzle extra chocolate on top if you like.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 7 days.
Video
Notes
- Always weigh ingredients for the best results.
- Make sure your butter is soft; this is super important. If your butter is not soft enough the cookies can have an off texture, you’ll notice small holes in the bottom of the cookies when baked if this happens. This means the butter was cold, therefore didn’t mix in well enough and will cause this.
- Always sift powdered sugar for smooth and creamy frosting.
- You can melt the chocolate using a double boiler or in 30 second intervals in the microwave, whichever you prefer.
- I don’t temper the chocolate because there’s milk in the frosting, so these should be stored in the fridge anyways.
- Gluten Free — Replace the flour with 226 grams (scant 1 ½ cups) gluten free flour blend and 57 grams (½ cup plus 1 tablespoons) coconut flour.
- High Altitude — Bake at 350°F for 13 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Nutrition
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So much better than Girl Scout cookies!