Gurgi’s Magical Wallet: Chocolate Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies

Posted May 2, 2019 by Alison's Wonderland Recipes in Book of the Month Recipes / 2 Comments

In The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, Gurgi receives a magical wallet as a reward for his faithfulness to his companions. The little leather coin purse may look unassuming, but it provides its owner with unlimited food for as long as there is enchantment in the land of Prydain! Pretty darn awesome. I’ve had several readers request a recipe from the Prydain books, so I decided to make cookies inspired by Gurgi’s wallet. After all, a coin purse with the power of unlimited snacks is SO my thing. 😉

Let’s talk inspiration. Have you ever seen on Pinterest or Instagram those cookies with the hidden pocket inside filled with candy, sprinkles, sugary cereal, etc.? I’ve heard them called surprise cookies, pocket cookies, and confetti cookies, but whatever you call them, I think they look SO COOL. Since wallets are for holding things, now seemed like a great time to make my own surprise cookie recipe. So I got to work!

I used a chocolate version of the sugar cookie recipe from my cookbook, A Literary Tea Party. Chocolate cookies made the most sense, since a leather bag would be brown. But I also wanted detailed decorations inspired by medieval leather tooling, so I broke out my favorite royal icing recipe (developed by Julie M. Usher), which would allow me to make more delicate shapes than buttercream would. As for the filling, I went with Reese’s Pieces to get that unbeatable chocolate peanut butter combo.

I was more than pleased with the results. The wallets looked so darling with their tidy little icing swirls and yellow Reese’s piece clasps. I can’t tell you how fun it was to give them a little shake and hear the candy rattling around inside. Now hurry up and go make your own! 😀

P.S. If it’s your first time using royal icing, I recommend Julia Usher’s how-to Youtube video. She has a lot of good tips to make it easier.
P.P.S. I’m taking reader requests for blog recipes, so email me here if there’s a classic book you’d like to see featured on the blog!

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Chronicles of Prydain: Gurgi’s Wallet

“To faithful and valiant Gurgi shall be given a wallet of food which shall always be full. Guard it well; it is one of the treasures of Prydain.”

— The Book of Three

INGREDIENTS:

For the Cookies
- 1¼ cups flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp butter, softened
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tbsp milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp Reese’s Pieces candy
- 3-inch round cookie cutter
- 2.5-inch round cookie cutter
For the Icing
- 1 lb powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp cream of tartar
- 5½ tbsp pasteurized egg whites
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- water
- brown gel food coloring
- 10 yellow Reese’s Pieces candy

Makes 10 cookies

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. FOR THE COOKIES: In a medium bowl, whisk together your flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and sugar on medium speed. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla until combined.
3. Gradually beat in the flour mix on low speed. Increase to high speed and beat just until evenly combined. Divide the dough in half and shape into two balls. Flatten the balls into 4-inch disks, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and chill for 1 hour.
4. Preheat oven to 325°. On a well-floured surface, roll out 1 disk until it reaches 1/8-inch thickness. Cut 10 circles from the dough using a 3-inch cookie cutter and place them evenly apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Shape the scraps into another 4-inch disk. Rewrap the disk and place it in the fridge.
5. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes or until the center is set. Gently transfer to a wire rack to cool using an offset spatula (do this immediately, since the cookies can begin to stick to the sheet as they cool).
6. Repeat Steps 4 and 5 with your 2nd disk of dough.
7. Roll out your first set of scraps and cut out 10 more circles (rerolling the dough if necessary). Transfer to a baking sheet. Using a 2.5-inch cutter, cut out the center from each circle so you are left with a hollow ring. Bake for 6 minutes. Gently transfer to a wire rack to cool using an offset spatula.
8. Repeat Step 7 with your 2nd set of scraps. When you’re finished, you should have 20 circle cookies and 20 ring cookies.

1. FOR THE ICING: Pour your powdered sugar into a standing mixer and stir in the cream of tartar with a spatula. Add your egg whites and give the mix a preliminary stir to let the egg whites moisten the sugar a little (if we start beating with the mixer right away, the powdered sugar will fly everywhere). Beat the mix with a whip attachment on low speed until the eggs are evenly distributed through the sugar. Beat on medium-high speed for 1-2 minutes or until the mix is thick, smooth, and pure white. The final product will be VERY thick and sticky.
  Resist the urge to over-beat the icing. Once you see the desired texture and color, turn off the mixer right away. The more we beat the icing, the more air gets into it, and that can cause air bubbles later while decorating.
2. Beat in your extract on medium-high speed. Scoop half of the icing into a bowl. Add 10-14 drops gel food coloring to this half and stir thoroughly with a spoon or spatula until combined. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and set aside, making sure the plastic is touching the top of the icing in the bowl. Scoop your remaining icing into a bowl and stir in 16-18 drops food coloring until combined.
3. Now we’re going to make 2 different consistencies of the dark brown icing: outlining consistency and flooding consistency. Outlining is for the border, and flooding is for the center. This is where we have to work fast, since the icing begins to harden quickly. Take your uncovered icing and stir in 1/4 tsp water. When you scoop some icing onto your spoon and turn it over, it should fall off in slow glops. If your icing isn’t falling off, stir in more water a dribble or two at a time until it does.
4. Fit a piping bag with a small, round tip (I used a #4 Wilton tip) and fill it with about a quarter of the now-thinned icing. Tightly cover the remaining icing.
5. Pipe a border along the edge of 10 of your circle cookies. Leave the remaining 10 circles and all the rings blank.
6. When those are finished, go back to your covered bowl of icing (the dark one we were just using). Stir in 1 tsp water. This should make your icing reach flooding consistency, which will flow off your spoon in thick lines instead of falling off in glops. When the lines fall off your spoon into the pool of icing below, they will create little tracks (lines of icing still visible on top of the pool). These should disappear in 10 seconds or less. If your icing is still too thick, stir in more water a dribble or two at a time until the desired consistency is reached. If it is too runny, sift in a little more powdered sugar.
7. Fill the center of your outlined cookies with this icing. I’ve found the best way is to use something with a blunted tip (like the back end of a chopstick or a clean, unused craft brush) to lift icing in small mounds from the bowl onto the cookie. Use a tapping or dabbing motion to spread the icing over the cookie, being careful not to go back over any areas you’ve already finished (the icing will have already started to crust on top). Set them aside to harden.
8. Now we want to pipe our decorations. Take the light brown icing you covered earlier and stir in enough water to reach outlining consistency (starting with 1/4 tsp and adding a dribble at time from there). Add the icing to a piping bag fitted with another small, round tip (I used a Wilton #2 tip, but you can clean and reuse your first tip if you want).
9. Pipe another border over the top of your 10 iced circle cookies. Pipe a gently curving line down the middle of your circle. Add a dab of icing to the middle of the curved line and place a yellow Reese’s Piece on top, pressing very gently to adhere.
10. I piped loops and dots on my cookies for further decoration, inspired by the tooling you sometimes see on medieval leatherwork. However, you can decorate however you want!
  Here’s a closeup of a finished cookie as a visual aid for those who want to replicate the exact design.
11. Once your icing has set, it’s time to construct your finished cookies! First, take a blank circle cookie as your base. Pipe a dab of icing on each of the four compass points and gently press a ring in place over the base, wiping away any icing that oozes out with a finger. Pipe four more dabs of icing on the ring and place another ring over it. This will create a pocket. Fill the pocket with 1 tablespoon Reese’s Pieces candy. Apply more icing to the top of the second ring and place a decorated cookie over the top.
  Here’s a cross-section of a finished cookie. Stacking 2 rings instead of 1 has multiple benefits. It means the pocket is tall enough to fit the height of a Reese’s piece, but it also means you can fit extra filling if you go with something smaller like sprinkles, mini M&Ms, or chocolate rice krispies.
12. Repeat Step 11 with all your remaining cookies.
13. Serve to your traveling companions while on a quest through a magical fantasy land!