Prep the peanut butter centers
Spoon out 17 large teaspoons of creamy peanut butter onto a lined baking tray. Freeze for about 30 minutes, or until each spoonful is firm and frozen. These will form the gooey core.

Make the cookie dough

• In a large mixing bowl, add the room‑temperature butter, vanilla, brown sugar, and caster sugar. Mix with a spatula (or electric mixer on low/medium) until the mixture is creamy and pale.

• Add the egg, and combine until smooth and well incorporated.

Combine dry ingredients

• In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, unsweetened cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. Stir to evenly distribute.

• Add this dry mix to the butter‑sugar mixture in two batches, folding carefully—don’t overmix! Overworking the dough will lead to tougher cookies.

Add chocolate chips
Fold in the chocolate chips evenly.

Chill the cookie dough
Cover and refrigerate for about 30 minutes. (You can also refrigerate up to 24 hours if you want to bake fresh later—this deepens the flavor and helps with texture.)

Shape and stuff

• Use a 5‑cm ice‑cream scoop to portion out cookie dough balls. Slightly flatten each ball.

• Remove a frozen peanut butter spoonful from the freezer and place it in the center of the dough. Fold cookie edges around it to seal thoroughly so peanut butter is completely enclosed. Roll into a smooth ball.

• Repeat until all dough is used (you’ll get roughly 16–17 cookies this way).

Bake

• Preheat your fan‑oven (upper and lower heating) to 180 °C (≈ 350 °F).

• Bake 6 cookie balls at a time on a lined baking sheet for 9 minutes.

Finish off
Immediately after pulling them from the oven (while still hot), press a few extra chocolate chips on top for visual appeal and extra melty chocolate.
Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.