Ohmigosh! Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I made peanut butter cookies yesterday. Whatev.
I stuffed them with creamy peanut butter and melty chocolate. No biggie.

So hey, you know...just cookies, right?

WRONG.

When you pull apart the soft peanut butter cookie, the warm, gooey center says, "Hi there. I love you." These cookies have serious mojo. And also? They're sorta magical.

I think these need no further introduction.




I started with the usual suspects--sweet cream butter, creamy peanut butter, sugar, and vanilla.

Whip it all up until fluffy and smooth.





Then we invite the leaveners and binders to the party and whip them silly. Because it's that kind of party. That's how we roll.



Add your flour, and make your 8 year old niece mix it well until her little arms get tired, because child labor rules uh, ahem. Excuse me. ...Because kids are awesome little kitchen helpers.

...what? They are! Ahem.



Young little hands are also really good at peeling tiny wrappers, so put them to good work and peel the wrappers off 12-15 bite-sized peanut butter cups.



Now, here's where it gets fun. And slightly messy. And this is where the magic happens.

Taking a golf ball-sized roll of dough in one hand, use the heel of your other hand to flatten it out to the size of your palm (note: I have tiny hobbit hands. Scale accordingly)
Place a peanut butter cup in the center of the dough disc and wrap the dough around it, pinching off any major excess. Roll it up pretty.








Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake until set, about 8-10 minutes. Don't wait for them to be golden. They'll be a soft butter color, and extremely fragile. Keep in mind, these cookies are now being held together by nothing but liquid peanut butter and miracles. I recommend not even trying to remove them from the parchment. Just slide the whole thing off onto a cooling rack. They'll become a lot sturdier once cool.



When cool, keep them in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

...haha! I can't even say that with a straight face! Right, like they could ever last two weeks. Yeah. Okay.

And you know what's really fun? On the outside, these look like boring ol' plain cookies. Don't tell people they're filled with all kinds of mad crazy awesome. Wee! I'm so excited for you!

This is what they'll look like if you try to eat them when warm.



And if you let them cool properly, the centers will set up nicely, and they're much easier to eat.



So, you want the recipe? Of course you do.

I started with my own adaptation of Smitten Kitchen's peanut butter cookie recipe, which you can find here.

1/2 cup unsalted sweet cream butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter at room temperature
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 tablespoon milk
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
10-15 bite sized peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Cream together butters, sugar, and vanilla until fluffy. Add salt, powder, soda, milk, and egg. Blend well. Stir in flour.

Roll dough into golf-ball sized balls and flatten in your palm. Place a mini peanut butter cup in the center of the dough-disc and wrap the dough around it.

[Note - if you wanted to make these caramel filled, you could use Rolos instead of PB cups. Goodness, me. You could make miniature bite-sized versions with those new Reese mini cups, too. Reese's should totally hire me to promote them. Hear that, Reese's? I'm willing to negotiate! Gimme a call.]

Place dough-ball on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 350 about 8-10 minutes until set. Slide parchment off baking sheet onto a cooling rack, cookies and all. Let cool 25 minutes or until cookies are no longer fragile... if you can wait that long. Don't forget a cold glass of milk.

Makes 10-15 cookies, depending on how big you make them.

Enjoy and happy eating!