Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

When I was in Hershey, PA this past summer, I found these awesome Reese's Premier Baking Pieces. They are like little mini Reese's peanut butter cups just for baking. How cool is that?

I quickly snatched up a few bags, and then held on to them, refusing to use them because they were so special and I hadn't seen them being sold anywhere else.

I don't know why, but I have been wanting chocolate, chocolate, chocolate for the past month or so. Every time I think of a treat that sounds good, it inevitably has chocolate in it. So when I got the urge to make some cookies, and I saw these Reese's baking pieces in the pantry, I decided to take the plunge and make some CHOCOLATE peanut butter cookies. It just sounded so good to me!

I decided to use a tried and true chocolate chip cookie recipe, but just substituted a little bit of the flour with some high quality cocoa. The trick to these cookies is to underbake them. That way you get a nice chewy texture. These cookies turned out nicely, and just for a little more emphasis on the chocolate, I added in some semi-sweet chips. Yum!


Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 pkg Reese's premier baking pieces
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 365 degrees.

Cream together the shortening, brown sugar, and white sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, mixing until just combined.

Combing the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda in a small bowl. Add to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined. Stir in the Reese's premier baking pieces and semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Roll into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Underbake.