Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Cookies

Whoever first decided peanut butter and chocolate should go together is brilliant.

This is my sister-in-law Kristi's recipe and one of our favorites that I make over and over again. I'm in charge of bringing a dessert to my work holiday party and decided this was the way to go, since these little bites of goodness are always a huge hit. I made a double batch of dough (to freeze some) and have extras for us to eat at home and to bring to the rest of the holiday events that will arise this month.

I used Kirkland Signature peanut butter cups instead of Reese's. Last year we had a big group of people at my parent's house and did a blind tasting and if I remember correctly, one did not win over the other. But if you ask me personally, I prefer the KS cups and Curtis likes Reese's better - so you really can't go wrong. I do not, however, recommend Trader Joe's version of peanut butter cups (but don't worry, I'm a huge fan of Trader Joe's and love 98% of their products!).

Available at Costco

If you want to make this a super easy, 2-ingredient recipe, then you can use store bought peanut butter cookie dough (or chocolate chip is good too) - but I  like to use Kristi's peanut butter cookie recipe, below!

Peanut Butter Cup Peanut Butter Cookies 

Ingredients: 

Mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped (you'll need lots, some for the cookies, some to pop in your mouth)

Store bought peanut butter cookie dough or the following:
1/2 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup peanut butter (I use Kirkland Signature Organic Creamy PB)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

1. Cream together the butter, peanut butter, white and brown sugar.

2. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until combined.

3. Add flour, baking soda and salt - being careful not to over mix.

4. Chill the dough for a few hours, it will make it easier to roll.

5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Roll the cookie dough into balls and put it in ungreased mini muffin tins. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Push a mini peanut butter cup into each ball as soon as they come out of the oven

Push 'em in like this!

 and let the cookies cool in the muffin tin for at least 20 minutes (I put the dough back in the fridge in between batches).