Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

These are little pieces of peanut butter heaven. I'm just telling you upfront: You've been warned.

This recipe appears right on the side of the bag of Reese's Peanut Butter Cups (well, it's at least on the holiday bag--I can't vouch for the others). When I was searching Google, I found the recipe on this blog, with slightly adapted instructions. I liked the way her cookies looked in comparison to the other ones I have seen, where the peanut butter cup sticks out more from the top of the cookie. She also altered the amount of ingredients, just slightly. So I tried her method, and it worked really well. Delicious and really good looking cookies.

Two things: 1) Make sure you build in enough time to be able to refrigerate your dough for at least couple of hours. 2) Refrigerate your Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, too. You'll want to keep them in the fridge right up until you have to use them.

Peanut Butter Temptations (aka Peanut Butter Cup Cookies)

(Source: http://www.hersheys.com/, adapted by Love and Cooking)

Ingredients:

- 1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened (I actually used I Can't Believe It's Not Butter Light, and it worked out just fine for these. I don't usually substitute it for real butter, but did this time.)

- 1/2 cup granulated sugar

- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp. vanilla extract

- 1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

- 1 tsp. baking soda

- a pinch of salt, or a little more if you used unsalted butter

- 2 bags Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Miniatures (you'll likely have some leftovers)

Directions:

1. Combine butter and sugars in mixing bowl. Beat with mixer until light and fluffy.

2. Add peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Mix until combined well.

3. Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, and salt). Mix on low speed at first, then medium speed for a minute or so (or until combined). Batter will be fairly loose. Chill batter for at least two hours. (Remember to put the peanut butter cups in the fridge, too!)

4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

5. Bring dough out of the refrigerator. Using a tablespoon or a cookie scoop, scoop one level tablespoon of dough into each cup of a mini muffin pan.

6. With the pads of your fingers (or thumb), make an indent in the center of each cookie. (See pic below.)

7. Bake for 6-7 minutes, or until the cookies get slightly brown around the edges. During baking, remove peanut butter cups from the refrigerator and unwrap.

8. When the timer goes off, remove pans from the oven. The cookies will have puffed up. Push a peanut butter cup down into the center of each cookie. Cookie edges should be even or above the top of the peanut butter cup.

9. Place pans back in the oven and bake for an additional 45 seconds - 1 minute (no longer!). Remove and cool on wire racks for quite a while. The chocolate takes forever to reset. If you rush it, you will smoosh the cookies, or they will fall apart.

Once the peanut butter cookie part is stable (cooled), you can remove the cookies to a cookie sheet to finish cooling, and move on to the next batch!

Makes about 4 dozen cookies.