Sumbitches Levain-Style Cookies
“You know what? I don’t care if these are poisoned. There’s chocolate and peanut butter and caramel in these sumbitches”
Inspired by the infamous Sumbitches cookies from HIMYM with an added twist, these levain-style cookies are built from a peanut butter dough and stuffed with bittersweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and salted white miso caramel (both inside and drizzled on top).
I’ve actually never watched the show LOL I got this idea from my boyfriend’s sister who suggested I make a Levain-style cookie version of sumbitches. I’m usually not a big fan of the chocolate and peanut butter combo, but I actually love these! The touch of saltiness and savoriness from the miso round it out as well.
These are also great without putting caramel inside, which I find is not as fickle for the cookie structure and holds together better! I just put caramel inside because I feel it’s cheating to just put caramel on top when the cookies in the show clearly have caramel inside LOL
Ingredients
Makes nine 5.25 oz cookies
For the dough:
8 Tbsp (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup (50g) sugar
1/2 cup (113g) brown sugar
1/4 cup (62g) peanut butter
2 Tbsp (38g) white miso
2 large eggs, cold
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2-1/4 cup (10.5 oz, 283g) all-purpose flour
10 oz bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks
10 oz peanut butter chips
About a little more than 1/2 cup miso caramel
For the miso caramel:
1 cup (200g) sugar
Enough water to cover the sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 Tbsp white miso
Instructions
For the miso caramel:
Place sugar into small sauce pan. Cover with enough water to cover the sugar.
Place on stovetop over high heat.
Cook until the sugar turns amber, keep a close watch as sugar burns quickly.
Take off the heat and pour in the heavy cream, be careful of the hot steam that will rise. Stir and mix well.
Mix in white miso and salt until thoroughly mixed.
Cook further on stove if the caramel isn’t dark enough.
Pour into heat-safe, microwave container and place in the fridge until caramel pours in a thick, slow stream, about an hour.
For the dough:
Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy and lightened.
Beat in peanut butter and miso until incorporated.
Beat in two eggs until incorporated.
Whisk flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together.
Mix in chocolate and pb chips with a spatula.
Divide into 9 balls, about 5.25 oz portions.
Flatten each ball and fill with about a Tbsp of caramel. Enclose caramel with the dough, making sure there are no holes.
Store in fridge in an airtight container for at least 12 hours before baking. The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to a week or frozen for a couple weeks.
Preheat oven to 360F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Bake about 4-6 balls at a time with plenty of space between.
Bake until cookies are lightly browned and firm outside, about 16-18 minutes. The ideal time baked will vary from person to person; you may like it gooier, like Levain Bakery, or a little more baked.
Cool for 5 minutes. Drizzle more of the miso caramel on top. Let cool completely or cool in the freezer on wax paper to make it easy to remove the cookies if the caramel inside escapes and sticks.