the best cookies ever!!!

i love peanut butter. in my mind, pretty much anything that combines peanut butter and chocolate can't be wrong. these cookies are pretty much the epitome of pb chocolate goodness because they have peanut butter, reese's pieces, chocolate chips, AND reese's pb cups. i was tempted to also add some peanut butter chips but i thought that might be overkill. :) seriously though, these are my favorite cookies of all time... whenever i make them i can't keep them in the house because i have no self control - i'll eat the for breakfast, or if i've already had breakfast i'll have them as a breakfast dessert. bad, i know.

i've baked these bad boys quite a few times and kept tweaking the recipe and i think it's finally just right. i made them recently when emily and ramos came down for the day and i think they devoured about a dozen of them... in a very short period of time too. and then after em left she called me to get the recipe and made them at home that night! i think that's a pretty good testament to how delicious they are.



here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar (i use half light and half dark)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup reese's pieces
- about 20 mini reese's peanut butter cups, cut in half

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Unwrap the reese's peanut butter cups, cut them in half, place them on a plate
and put it in the freezer while you make the dough.
3. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, peanut butter, white
sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then
stir in the vanilla.
4. Combine the flour and baking soda in a separate bowl; stir slowly into the peanut
butter mixture. Mix in the chocolate chips and reese's pieces.
5. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and roll into dough balls.
Remove the frozen peanut butter cup halves from the freezer and press a piece onto
the top of each dough ball.
6. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Let cool for 1 or 2
minutes on sheet before removing, or they will fall apart.

It's ok if they seem a little but under-cooked when you take them out - the peanut butter in the dough definitely affects the texture to make it seem that way. Besides, if you take them out when they're still a little mushy, after 2 minutes sitting on the hot tray they'll be perfect. That way, when you go to eat them the next day they'll still be soft and chewy, not crunchy. There's nothing worse than a crunchy cookie.