Recipe: Reese’s Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Alright, world. It’s the weekend, and that means it’s time for a little baking. And while it’s become unseasonably warm in Austin – we had snow earlier this week and it’s about 70 degrees right now – it’s still pretty darn chilly throughout most of the country. Luckily, this cookie recipe inspired by Delish is just what the doctor ordered. Assuming the doctor is a fan of prescribing delicious treats, of course.
Astute fans of Phat Phoodies will probably recognize I kind of have a penchant for Reese’s peanut butter cups. I mean, how could you not? They’re SO GOOD. This recipe utilizes the standard cups’ baby brethren, but it’s still just as tasty. And though the ingredient list looks like a beast, this isn’t hard to put together at all. Let’s reach into the cookie jar!
The Key to This Cookie Recipe
Look at me rhyming with this header…wasn’t even trying. There are two main things to remember with this cookie recipe. Number one: these cookies come out better and more evenly if you add in the core ingredients – peanut butter, eggs, vanilla, peanut butter cups, and chips – one at a time. It’ll also save your arm an extra long session of whisking if you don’t have an electric mixer.
The second thing to remember is to cut the Reese’s peanut butter cups in half, or into quarters if you want to get really granular. As much as I like my Reese’s, having an entire cup – even a mini one – in your cookie is unwieldy. Plus a halved or quartered cup will allow for a much more thorough distribution of PB cups per bite. You don’t want to diminish your cookie recipe just because you were feeling a bit of hubris.
I actually used an ice cream scoop for placing the dough on my baking sheet because I’m a monster. Two sheets were needed, in fact. But the end result of 24 amazing cookies was worth it. If you use a cookie scoop you’ll probably end up closer to 36 to 48 cookies. That’s enough to feed an entire office or one very hungry cookie aficionado. Have at it!
Ingredients (makes 24 cookies):
2 ¼ cups of flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
½ teaspoon of salt
1 ½ sticks of butter, softened
¾ cup of brown sugar
¾ cup of granulated sugar
½ cup of peanut butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 cup of Reese’s mini peanut butter cups, halved
¾ cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
¾ cup of peanut butter chips
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 350º. Optional: line a baking sheet with parchment paper. That’ll help a bit with cleanup but these taste great baking directly on the sheet itself.
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl. Once it’s fluffed a bit, set it aside.
- IT’S TIME TO USE SOME MUSCLE. Unless you have an electric mixer, then just use that. But if not, soften your butter in the microwave for 5-10 seconds, then combine it with the sugars in a separate large bowl. Use your whisk to beat everything together until it has a light, fluffy texture.
- Add in the peanut butter, then one egg at a time, then vanilla, ensuring the texture returns to that light, fluffy, cloud-like state before adding the next ingredient.
- Grab the flour, baking soda, and salt bowl and combine it with your main bowl. In order to give your arms a bit of a break, do this gradually, in a series of three or four pours. The mixture will be dry when it’s ready.
- Fold in the chocolate and peanut butter chips – a rubber spatula works super well for this. Then add the halved Reese’s peanut butter cups.
- Use a cookie scoop (or an ice cream scoop, if you prefer your cookies gargantuan, like I do) to place the dough onto your baking sheet. Ideally, each scoop will have a halved peanut butter cup and a few each of chocolate and peanut butter chips, but this isn’t rocket science so don’t worry about being super precise. Bake for 10-12 minutes (smaller cookies) or 14-16 minutes (larger ones). When they’re golden brown, let them cool for a few minutes and then dig in.
