It's hard to improve on a classic chocolate chip cookie. But for a peanut butter and chocolate lover like me, this cookie makes plain old chocolate chip look boring. I clipped the recipe from Real Simple magazine two months ago and have been anxious to make them since.And looky here...Reese's decided to come out with a dark peanut butter cup just in time! I love dark chocolate, and even though most mainstream candy that says "dark" is really just semi-sweet, I don't seem to have a problem eating it. :) I mixed half dark, half regular mini peanut butter cups for this recipe.
Mmmm...I could just eat that with a spoon. For breakfast.Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Recipe courtesy Real Simple magazine
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 12-ounce package small peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped
Recipe courtesy Real Simple magazine
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 12-ounce package small peanut butter cups, coarsely chopped
- Heat oven to 375° F.
- Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.*
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter and sugars until creamy.
- Add the egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
- Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated.
- Fold in the peanut butter cups.
- Drop tablespoon-size mounds of dough 2 inches apart onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake until light brown around the edges, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Transfer to a baking rack to cool.
*Notes: I used a Silpat instead of parchment paper. My cookies were a bit flat and I could see little pools of cooked butter in them. Now, I wasn't all that careful when measuring my flour (Hubs is laughing at that, I bet), so maybe if my flour was more accurate, I wouldn't have flat cookies. Or maybe the parchment paper is used to soak up some of the butter. You try parchment paper and tell me how it goes.
Being that it's just two weeks after Halloween, and the end of a treat-filled treat week for me, I baked just 12 cookies and froze the rest of the dough. But I made it easy on myself--I froze the dough in cookie-size balls so I can just thaw them and bake them when I'm ready for more. (Just make sure the balls aren't touching when you freeze them. I laid mine on a plate while they froze so they'd stay in position in the freezer bag. Also, write the baking directions on the bag so you don't have to look it up when you're ready to bake.) I suppose you could also flatten the dough in a big rectangle and score it in little squares, freeze it, then break the squares apart to bake, like that prepared dough you can get at the grocery store. Except these will taste a whole lot better! :)
In case you need more peanut butter and chocolate, check these out. These peanut butter cup brownies from Real Simple are on my list for next month.
