chocolate-coated cookie & peanut butter cup candy bites

• note : you will absolutely need silicone molds for this preparation in order to bake the cookies, to add the filling that will be sandwiched between the pre-baked and cooled cookies and to freeze the assembled pieces and then unmold them before dipping them in the warm chocolate coating; I used 2 molds for the cookies and 1 mold to assemble, freeze and unmold them; each mold measures 30 cm x 17,5 cm in total with 15 round or cylindrical cavities each measuring 4 cm in diameter x 2,5 cm deep each ...

filling :

• prepare the filling by combining all the ingredients until smooth, then chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour or more

cookies :

• cream the soft butter and sugar together and then add the vanilla extract and peanut butter (or simply work the sugar into the soft butter with your fingers for such a small quantity), then combine with the flour, cocoa powder and salt, form and press into a compact ball, wrap up in plastic film and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes 
• separate the chilled dough into 30 equal pieces of 5-6 grams each (about 1 tsp each), press into the silicone molds and flatten, then chill again for 15 minutes
• note: you can also roll out the dough to 3 mm thickness, cut out the circles, and then roll up into a ball and then roll out the dough again, until you have enough but that’s complicated …
• preheat oven to 180°C
• bake the flat cookie disks for 10-12 minutes, then remove from the oven and let cool completely before removing from the molds

assembly :

• place back half (or 15 out of 30) of the cookies in the mold, fill each cavity with the filling (about 1 – 1 ½ tbsp each), then cover with the 2^ndcookie and press down until level and even, then place the whole mold in the freezer for at least 2 hours until the sandwiched assemblies are all frozen solid, then unmold just before dipping in the chocolate-coating
• melt the chocolate in a double-boiler (bain-marie) with the coconut oil, then transfer to a recipient that will be deep enough for dipping twice
• note : each bite will be covered in 10-12 grams of chocolate so you’ll be left with almost 3 tbsp or 45 grams of the melted chocolate but it’s easier to dip cookies in a larger volume; save the rest in a jar for dipping pieces of fruit.
• dip the frozen peanut butter candy bites into the warm melted chocolate once or twice and set aside on a rack with baking paper and immediately sprinkle the tops with the crushed peanuts and the rock sugar
• set aside until completely hardened and reserve in the refrigerator in an air-tight container
• serve chilled from the refrigerator or reserve in the freezer and let them slightly thaw for 15-30 minutes in the refrigerator before serving.