Mini Chocolate Chip Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

I’ll let you in on a little secret—I kind of cheated this week for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies.  I offered to help a friend with cookies for her daughter’s wedding reception that is tonight.  She was going to make hundreds of cookies herself (four different kinds).  I offered to help and so did some others.  These cookies are the ones I’m making 100 cookies for her.  So while I didn’t come up with this week’s cookie, I did use my own chocolate chip cookie recipe, but with mini chocolate chips.  These Mini Chocolate Chip Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies are made simply by putting some cookie dough in mini muffin tin cups and baking them until they are almost done.  Then when they have 1-2 minutes left, put a frozen mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup in the center then finish baking.  That’s it!

What I really like while making these and deciding this would be what I’d post for the 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies is that they really would be perfect to add to your holiday baking/sharing.  A few of these added to a plateful of other goodies would make a perfect addition.  Or if you know someone who is a real chocolate/peanut butter lover, a nice tin full of these would be a great holiday gift!

I adapted my favorite chocolate chip cookies recipe for these.  Those cookies are made especially good by using some cake flour and bread flour instead of just all purpose flour.  I really believe that is one of the things that sets my chocolate chip cookies apart from others.  But for these mini muffin cookies today, I went ahead and just used all purpose flour, which does work just fine for the chocolate chip cookie recipe if you don’t have cake and/or bread flour. 

Mini Chocolate Chip Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

17 ounces all purpose flour (3  2/3 cups minus 2 tablespoons) (lightly spooned into the measuring cup and swept level with a knife—kitchen scales are best!)

1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

1 ½ teaspoons coarse salt

2 ½ sticks (1 ¼ cups or 10 ounces) unsalted butter, room temperature

10 ounces (1 ¼ cups, packed tightly) light brown sugar

8 ounces (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

about 15 ounces mini chocolate chips (1 package is 12 ounces and would probably be fine)

Miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, about 50-60, unwrapped and frozen

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Have mini muffin tins ready.  No need to grease.

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl with a wire whisk. Set aside.

In bowl of electric mixer, cream together butter and sugars until very light, about five minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. With mixer on low, add dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips with rubber spatula.

Fill each muffin cup about half full, about a tablespoon of dough per cup.  Bake for 8-9 minutes.  Remove from oven and place a mini Reese’s cup in the center of each one and push down slightly.  Return to oven for 1-2 minutes.  Let cool in muffin tin on wire rack until they are set and cool, you can even set the tin in the fridge for 15 minutes or so after they have cooled about 10 minutes.  With a sharp knife, pry each cookie out of their cup—they come out quite easily, just be careful as the peanut butter cup is still soft.  This recipe makes a lot—4-5 dozen.

 This is week 8 of 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies!  Need I say more?