Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies: A Recipe for a Good Day

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

Chocolate dough with a peanut butter cup set in the middle.

Makes about 36 cookies

For the cookies:

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 squares (2 oz.) unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or shortening
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

For the garnish:
3/4 cup finely chopped peanuts
36 miniature Peanut Butter Cups, frozen and unwrapped
1 cup peanut butter baking chips
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine chocolate in bowl and microwave at 50 percent for about two minutes, stir and repeat until smooth and melted. Cool slightly.

Combine sugar and butter or shortening in large bowl. Beat at medium speed with electric mixer until blended and crumbly. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then salt and vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add chocolate slowly. Mix until well blended.

Stir in flour and soda with spoon until well blended. Shape dough into 1-1/4 inch balls. Roll in chopped peanuts. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until set. Press a frozen peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie immediately upon removing them from the oven. Press cookies up against peanut butter cup if desired for appearance, but do not touch the peanut butter cup again since it is now melted, it must remain intact. Cool completely. Melt the peanut butter chips and drizzle back and forth over the cookies using a parchment pouch or plastic bag with a little snip off the corner. Repeat with the chocolate, only drizzling at another angle from the peanut drizzle.

Note: Adapted from a Blue Ribbon Winner from the Arizona State Fair. Recipe by Maria Baldwin of Mesa, AZ and adapted by "Richard in Cincy."

From ristmas-cookies.com

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