giant chocolate peanut butter cup cookies
Please tell me we’re not the only people who stumbled into Target a few days after Halloween, noticed that the gianormous bags of candy were now 70% off, and bought ten dollars worth of candy. I seem to have developed an obsession with Almond Joys lately, so it was imperative that I buy the huge bag with a mix of Almond Joy, Reese’s, Milk Duds, and Hershey’s, right? And considering I could get two of them at only $3 each, I would have been a fool not to buy two. In any case, this means that we have an abundance of candy at our house. As I was eating my third Almond Joy of the day, I started pondering how I could combine my two favorite things, candy and cookies, and then I got on the internet and saw that one of my favorite recipe blogs had just posted a recipe for that very thing. I made them that very day, and they were everything the recipe said they would be… amazing! I used an ice cream scoop instead of my usual cookie scoop, and they were gianormous and delicious. We had them with hot chocolate while watching The Walking Dead, and it was an awesome night.
Giant Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Annie’s Eats
1½ cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
6 tbsp. Dutch-process cocoa
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. coarse salt
¾ stick (6 tbsp.) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup plus 2 tbsp. creamy peanut butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk
2 cups coarsely chopped peanut butter cups, divided
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter, peanut butter, and sugars. Beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes. Add in the egg, vanilla extract, and milk. Blend until smooth. With the mixer on low speed, mix in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Add in 1½ cups of the chopped peanut butter cups and fold in gently with a spatula.
Use a large dough scoop (about 3 tablespoons) to drop rounds of dough onto the baking sheets, spacing 2-3 inches apart. Gently press a few pieces of the reserved peanut butter cups into the top of each of the dough balls. Bake 12-14 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through baking. (The cookies may seem too soft immediately after coming out of the oven but they will set as they cool. You don’t want to overbake them.) Let cool on the baking sheets about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container.
