Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

The weather is finally starting to turn cooler, school is starting, and I am more than ready for fall. I am fully back at work now after working fewer hours in the summer. I decided I wanted to bring cookies the first full day back, which is a long day full of meetings, and having a treat helps a lot. I couldn’t figure out what to bake, some of the recipes were too Christmassy, others too fussy to make. I had pinned this recipe a while ago, and you can’t go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter.

I thought that I had sprinkles like the original blogger, but I ended up only having purple bat sprinkles or something odd like that. I did have the fall leaves sprinkles, which I figured would work well. You don’t really have to use sprinkles, but they add a nice touch. This recipe as written here is double the original. The original recipe said it had a one dozen cookie yield. If I’d read further I would have realized that their cookies must have been very large. Doubled, this recipe made 4 dozen cookies.

This dough is very soft and fluffy, and don’t even try to bake these before refrigerating. I refrigerated the dough for 6-7 hours, and it was still quite soft. They bake up nicely, and these cookies are better a little underdone rather than over baked. I think that I would prefer these cookies with more peanut butter cups, so next time I would add the entire 8 ounce package of mini peanut butter cups. These were enjoyed at our first day meeting and it was great to be back at work with anyone.

Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

2-1/3 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup butter, room temperature

1/2 cup peanut butter

2/3 cup sugar

1-1/3 cups packed brown sugar

2 eggs

½ teaspoon instant coffee granules

2 teaspoons vanilla

5 ounces Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Minis, cut in half

Seasonal sprinkles

In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the eggs, instant coffee, and vanilla and mix again on medium until combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, stirring until just mixed. Stir in the peanut butter cups with a spatula.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Scoop the dough onto the prepared baking sheet, forming 1-1/2 inch mounds. Sprinkle the cookies with seasonal sprinkles and then slightly press down with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from The PKP Way