YumJimmy recently had a birthday, and to help him celebrate, I thought I'd send him off to work with some sweet treats for his co-workers. Last year's treat was an intense labor of love, so this year I decided to take it easy.
I was inspired by the million-dollar winning Pillsbury Bake-Off recipe and used it, along with a delicious peanut butter recipe from Melissa Murphy's new book, to come up with some treats. The cookies are deliciously chewy peanut butter cookies, with chocolate chips and a surprise mini Reese's Peanut Cup in the middle. To make these treats for yourself, read more.
I used the recipe below and made three different types of cookies. First I used 1/3 of the dough and made 
regular peanut butter cookies as instructed. Next I used another 1/3 of the dough and shoved a mini peanut butter cup in the middle. Finally I used the last of the dough, added a few handfuls of chocolate chips, and then shoved a peanut butter cup into that. These were the favorite, although the plain recipe is quite delicious.
The baking time didn't change: It was about 12 minutes for all three types. In total I made 18 cookies. There are captions on all of the photos if you're wondering how to make the variations.
From The Sweet Melissa Baking Book by Melissa Murphy
Ingredients
1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Position a rack in the top and bottom thirds of your oven. Preheat the oven to 325F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the peanut butter with the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Beat in the egg.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and mix until combined. Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl so that everything is combined evenly.
- Scoop dough by the rounded tablespoonful and roll into balls. Place the balls about 2 inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets, and press down slightly. Using a fork dipped in flour, press down on the cookies first one way and then the other to form an "X" pattern, creating the crosshatch effect. (The cookies should now measure approximately 2 inches in diameter.) Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden. Overbaking will cause these chewy cookies to become crunchy, so try to avoid it.
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- The ingredients
- The butter was frozen, so I shredded it in order for it to cream easily, without having to wait for it to defrost.
- Mixing the wet.
- Whisking the dry.
- Set the rounded ball of dough on the cookie sheet and use a flat-bottomed glass to smoosh it out a bit.
- Cookies in the oven.
- Adding the peanut butter cup.
- Surround the cup with dough, this is halfway through. You could bake it like this, but I preferred them hidden.
- There's a peanut butter cup hidden inside!
- Regular cookies.
- Nom nom nom!
- Cross-section of the peanut butter cup.
- With the remaining dough (1/3 of the batch), I threw in a few handfuls of chocolate chip chunks.
- Peanut butter chocolate chip cookies with a hidden pb cup surprise!
- Cookie time!
- Oink!
J Brand
Labour Of Love
Milly
i'm not a huge peanut butter cookie fan, but the ones with the pb cup inside look delish!
1you said overbaking makes them country....what does that mean?
2sonnabobble I think that was a typo and they meant crunchy.
These cookies sound amazing. My hubby would like them and they'd be really rich so I'd only need one for myself.
3ha! it was supposed to be crunchy!
i was using some scanning software and scanned the recipe in from the book, I guess it thought crunchy=country and I didn't notice the typo. thanks for mentioning it.
the only sad part about these cookies, is that i told yumjimmy they were for his work before i made them. translation: i didn't get to eat enough of them!
4Those look really good! My kids would love them.
5omg... they look so good
6Yum! I could have used a few of these last night.
And now....I'm back to craving something sweet again!
7ohmigosh - all my favorite things! i must bake these this weekend!
8I'm totally going to make these today for our movie night tonight! They are perfect and look so yummy! Thanks YumSugar for the great idea!
9Woo-Hoo! Thanks for posting the recipe!! Can't wait to make them!
10~JO~
I absolutely love peanut butter cookies...add chocolate chips to them and I'm even more enticed!!
11The recipe for the pb cookie with the reese's peanut butter cup would be a perfect opportunity to use the leftover east candy that is way on sale right now. my grocery store still has easter candy out!
12I'm in love.
13Ohhh...sounds so yummy! I'll definitely be making these!!!
14wow! reeses are my favorite! "nom nom nom" is right!
15Made these cookies this weekend, just the peanut butter and chocolate chips variation. They were yummy, although a little on the crumbly side and I was wanting for more of a peanut butter taste. Maybe more PB less butter?
16omg i think i was unconscious for a second
17This sounds like the recipe I need...my niece is away at school and is feeling homesick. These look like "the cure".
I might add a teaspoon of golden syrup or honey so they stay chewy.
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