Crazy, candy-filled, extravagent cookies have never really been my thing. I’m into the classics. Shortbread, chocolate chip, and chocolate are my go-to’s. But, as we near the end of January with an abundance of leftover stocking candy from Christmas, I decided that I needed to find a use for it. Hence, this new creation, peanut butter cup cookies. I absolutely love how the cookie dough came out. It bakes to be crispy at the edges and chewy in the middle, and I think I’ll have to use the base dough recipe for other candy-filled cookies. The peanut butter cups work so perfectly in this cookie to create a rich, developed flavor that will leave you wanting more and more.
How do you get so many peanut butter cups per cookie?
To optimize the peanut butter cup amount per cookie, I stick pieces on the top of the cookie after baking. When the cookie is removed from the oven and is still soft, you want to immediately shove as many peanut butter cup pieces that you can/want to onto these cookies. This will give you the most delightful peanut butter cup cookies possible.
When baking these, I had the Reese’s miniature peanut butter cups on hand, but any nut butter chocolate cup can work! In the recipe, I specify 20-30 peanut butter cups simply because I know everyone has different preferences. If you do not happen to love peanut butter cups, then maybe stick with a lower amount of cups going into your cookie. If you’re on the other side where you love peanut butter cups, up the amount you use, and maybe chop up 30 peanut butter cups and perhaps eat a few while preparing! It’s all up to you.
With the miniature cups, I was able to chop each cup into 6 pieces, giving me a lot of little pieces to work with. You could also opt to use whole peanut butter cups instead of chopping them into little pieces. I am not sure how well they would bake, but I think it would work just fine! If you use a full-size peanut butter cup or a larger nut butter cup, I would recommend still chopping it into smaller pieces in order to get the best distribution of peanut butter cups throughout the cookie.
Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies:
- 1 ½ cups All-Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
- ½ cup Unsalted Butter softened to room temperature
- 1 cup Dark Brown Sugar
- ¼ cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 20-30 Miniature Peanut Butter Cups
Instructions
For the Cookies:
- Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or non-stick spray. Chop the peanut butter cups into pieces, I usually chop one miniature cup into 6 pieces. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl, add the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Whisk together to combine and set aside.
- In a separate, large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer), add the butter and sugars. Using a hand mixer (or the paddle attachment of a stand mixer) cream the butter and sugars together on high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla to the butter and sugar, and again beat on high, this time for about 1-2 minutes, or until the egg is fully incorporated and the batter is very light and fluffy.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing together on low speed until almost all of the flour is incorporated. When there are just a few streaks of flour left, add half of the chopped peanut butter cups, and mix into the batter by hand with a rubber spatula, incorporating the last bit of flour and distributing the peanut butter cup pieces evenly throughout the batter.
- Scoop the cookies and place them on a baking sheet. I used a 1 tablespoon scoop, and I was able to fit 15 cookies on my half sheet pan.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 10-14 minutes, or until golden. When finished cooking, remove and immediately top the cookies with the remaining peanut butter cup pieces. Allow to cool before enjoying!
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