peanut butter + dark chocolate cookie cups

Have you ever seen a more beautiful site than gooey dark chocolate peanut butter cups melting inside a peanut butter cookie?? I didn't think so!! At last , Traders Joes  finally opened in Oklahoma City back in September and all the loves I discovered before our move were rediscovered and some new loves formed. H E L L O dark chocolate peanut butter cups, where have you been all my life? These little bites were truly addicting. Outside of the fact that once you open the box it is like a black hole until you reach the end - there was only one problem...not enough peanut butter for me. Dark chocolate is sometimes teetering on the verge of too rich for me so every time I eat one of these little cups I think what I can mix it in, or with, or a how can I transform it. I tried mixing them into ice cream, baking them in a brownie and it wasn't until I dunked one into a tub of peanut butter out of pure desperation that the light bulb moment happened. PEANUT BUTTER CUP COOKIES! Take old fashioned peanut butter cups kisses with a Hershey's kiss nestled in the middle while it is all gooey and melty delicious and do a remix! When these peanut butter cup babies come out of the oven while they are piping hot you nestle a dark chocolate peanut butter cup in the middle and magic happens.

Let's gather the ingredients and get started:

3/4 cup AP flour - 1/4 cup butter - 1/4 cup sugar (I used mix of brown and granulated sugar)  - 2/4 cup peanut butter - 1 egg - 1/2 + 1/4 tsp baking soda - 1/4 tsp salt - dark chocolate peanut butter cups.

So close little one..

You want to know the beauty of this entire treat?? Its a one bowl masterpiece! You can throw one ingredient after the other into a bowl and whiz whiz with an electric mixer - stand mixer - or serious tricep muscle engaged  hand mixing.  This is a small batch recipe so it only makes 8 mini cups. To be honest, I have Z E R O self-control and can't afford to have more than 8 of these in my house at a time. Also you only need 1 measuring cup and 1 measuring spoon.  Am I the only one who hates doing dishes?? If I can make something decadent with 1 bowl and 2 measuring utensils its a done deal for this girl.

Once you have all the ingredients mixed together - use a tablespoon scoop and roll each tablespoon into a ball and pop it into a greased mini muffin baking pan. Bake them at 350 for 10 minutes. Once you test with a tooth pick and it comes out clean you want to nestle the unwrapped dark chocolate peanut butter cups into the center of each peanut butter cookie.
Make sure to let them rest for a few minutes to ensure easy removal. I have found that running a knife around the edge of each cup and twisting as I pull them out of the pan makes for the cleanest removal.

I whipped these up for Bachelor Monday (can we talk about the hometown dates for a second?? Holy spending - Corrine!!!) with a glass of wine or tall glass of milk these are perfect for your viewing pleasure.  Salty creamy peanut butter mixed with rich dark chocolate and some more peanut butter, there is not much that can go wrong here.

Happy Baking!
XO
Elizabeth