Homemade Tagalong Cookies bring the nostalgic joy of Girl Scout treats right to your kitchen. These cookies feature a buttery shortbread base, a creamy peanut butter filling, and a smooth chocolate coating for a perfect balance of textures. With just 15 minutes of prep and a quick bake, you’ll have a batch of irresistible cookies ready to share or savor. The combination of crunchy, creamy, and melt-in-your-mouth layers makes every bite a delightful experience.
These cookies are not only delicious but also surprisingly simple to make, even for beginner bakers. The 25-minute chilling time ensures the dough holds its shape, while the 12-minute bake creates a golden, crisp base. Each cookie is a decadent treat, blending rich chocolate, nutty peanut butter, and a hint of sweetness. Perfect for parties, gifts, or a cozy night in, these Tagalongs will quickly become a family favorite.
Ingredients for Homemade Tagalong Cookies
- Cookie Dough:
- ▢ 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
- ▢ ¾ cups sugar
- ▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ▢ ½ tsp salt
- ▢ 1 large egg yolk
- ▢ 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- Peanut Butter Filling:
- ▢ 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
- ▢ 3 Tbsp butter (softened to room temperature)
- ▢ 1 cup powdered sugar
- ▢ ½ tsp vanilla extract
- Chocolate Coating:
- ▢ 1 ½ packages (12 oz) milk chocolate melting wafers (recommended for ease and cleanliness)
- ▢ ½ cup dark chocolate chips or melting wafers (optional, for drizzling)
Step-by-Step Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Make the cookie dough: In a KitchenAid mixer or with an electric hand mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Add sugar and beat until well-creamed. Mix in vanilla extract and salt, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg yolk and beat until combined. Gradually add flour on medium-low speed until the dough clumps together. Scrape the bowl frequently to ensure even mixing.
- Shape and chill the dough: Transfer the dough to a clean surface and form it into a ball. Flatten into a 1-inch thick disk, wrap in clear wrap, and chill for 10 minutes.
- Roll and cut the cookies: Roll the dough to ¼-inch thickness on a lightly floured surface. Use a 2 ¼-inch round cookie cutter to cut out cookies, transferring them to an ungreased cookie sheet. Re-roll scraps to maximize the number of cookies.
- Bake: Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Let the cookies cool completely before adding the peanut butter filling.
- Prepare the peanut butter filling: Cream together peanut butter and butter in a mixer. Stir in vanilla extract. Gradually add powdered sugar, scraping the bowl as needed. Transfer the mixture to a Ziploc bag with a corner snipped off.
- Assemble the cookies: Pipe about 1 ½ Tbsp of peanut butter filling onto each cookie, spreading it evenly to nearly cover the surface. Freeze the cookies for 10-15 minutes while preparing the chocolate coating.
- Melt the chocolate: Place milk chocolate melting wafers in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave in 15-second increments, stirring between each, until melted. Repeat with dark chocolate chips (if using) in a separate bowl.
- Coat the cookies: Remove the cookies from the freezer. Balance each cookie on the tines of a fork and pour melted milk chocolate over the top until coated (avoid coating the bottom). Transfer to a cooling rack with wax paper underneath.
- Drizzle and set: Immediately drizzle with melted dark chocolate. Allow the chocolate to set and harden before serving.
Storage and Reheating Tips
Store your Homemade Tagalong Cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. For longer storage, place them in the freezer for up to 2 months. To enjoy, simply let them thaw at room temperature for about 10 minutes. Pro tip: Avoid stacking them directly on top of each other to prevent the chocolate from smudging.
Recipe Variations to Try
Feel free to get creative with this recipe! Swap the creamy peanut butter for crunchy peanut butter for added texture. You can also use white chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate for the coating instead of milk chocolate. For a nut-free version, try using sunflower seed butter as a substitute for the peanut butter.
Time-Saving Hacks
To save time, prepare the cookie dough a day in advance and refrigerate it overnight. You can also use pre-made cookie dough as a shortcut. When melting the chocolate, use a double boiler for a smoother and quicker melting process. Remember: Chilling the cookies before coating them with chocolate helps the peanut butter set faster.
Equipment Guidance
For best results, use a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar. A rolling pin with adjustable thickness rings ensures even cookie dough. A piping bag or a Ziploc bag with a corner snipped off works perfectly for the peanut butter filling. Note: A cooling rack with wax paper underneath makes cleanup a breeze.
Common Questions Answered
Can I use salted butter?
Yes, but reduce the added salt by half.
What if I don’t have a cookie cutter?
Use the rim of a glass to cut out the cookies.
Can I skip the chilling step?
Chilling helps the dough hold its shape, so it’s recommended. Tip: If you’re in a hurry, pop the dough in the freezer for 5 minutes instead.
Homemade Tagalong Cookies
Ingredients
Cookie
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened
- ¾ cups sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
Peanut Butter Filling
- 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter
- 3 Tbsp butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
Chocolate coating
- 1 ½ packages 12 oz milk chocolate melting wafers I do not recommend using chocolate chips/shortening here — it is quite messy and melting wafers are the easiest cleanest option
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips or melting wafers to drizzle optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In KitchenAid mixer or with electric hand-mixer, cream the butter until it is smooth.
- Add sugar and beat with the butter until well-creamed.
- Add vanilla extract and salt, stirring until well-combined, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl using a rubber spatula to ensure ingredients are well-incorporated.
- Add egg yolk and beat until combined.
- With mixer on medium-low speed, gradually add flour until well-incorporated (you will definitely need to scrape down the sides and the bottom of the bowl several times for this, as the mixture is fairly dry and crumbs tend to settle at the bottom of the bowl) and dough begins to clump together.
- Transfer dough to clean surface and use your hands to form it into a cohesive ball.
- Flatten into a disk (about 1″ thick), cover with clear wrap, and chill for 10 minutes.
- Once dough has chilled, transfer it to a clean, lightly floured surface and use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll out to about ¼” thickness.
- Lightly flour 2 ¼” diameter round cookie cutters and cut out your cookies, transferring them to ungreased cookie sheet.
- Once you have cut out all of the cookies that you can, be sure to re-combine the scraps and roll out and cut out again to get the maximum number of cookies from your dough.
- Bake cookies on 350F for 10-12 minutes and allow cookies to cool completely before topping with peanut butter.
- Prepare peanut butter filling by creaming together peanut butter and butter in KitchenAid or with electric hand mixer. Stir in vanilla extract.
- Gradually add powdered sugar until well-combined, pausing to scrape down sides of bowl.
- Transfer peanut butter mixture into a Ziploc bag with one corner snipped and pipe peanut butter evenly on top of each cookie (about 1 ½ Tbsp of filling per cookie).
- Gently spread evenly with a knife so that the filling nearly touches the edges of each cookie.
- Transfer cookies with peanut butter to freezer and chill for 10-15 minutes while you prepare the chocolate topping.
- Prep chocolate by placing melting wafers in microwave-safe bowl and microwaving at 15 second increments and stirring in between. Repeat with your dark chocolate chips (if using) in separate, small bowl until melted.
- Once chocolate is melted, remove cookies from freezer and balance each cookie on the tines of a fork while you pour melted chocolate overtop, until cookies are coated (I do not coat the bottoms of the cookies, I think it makes the chocolate overwhelming to do this).
- Transfer to cooling rack (place wax paper beneath for easy clean up) and immediately drizzle with dark chocolate. Allow to set and harden before serving (the dark chocolate will take a bit longer to set if you use chocolate chips and not wafers).