Peanut Butter Cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield: 48 cookies Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 10 minutes Total time: 30 minutes
A holiday classic, straight from my mom's old recipe card!

INGREDIENTS:
1¼ cups all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
48 miniature Reese's peanut butter cups, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. Beat together the butter, peanut butter and both sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. Add the egg and vanilla and mix for another minute or so to combine. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the dry ingredients, and mix until just combined. Give the dough a final mix with a rubber spatula to ensure all of the flour is incorporated.

4. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls (about 2 teaspoons worth of dough) and place in the cups of a miniature muffin pan (keep the dough in balls - do not press into the pan).

5. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, or until light golden brown and slightly puffy. Remove from the oven and immediately press a miniature peanut butter cup in the middle of each cookie, pressing down so that the top of the peanut butter cup is even with the top of the cookie. Cool for at least 10 minutes before removing from the pans, and let cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

**Be careful not to make the cookies any bigger and spin the cooled cookie in the pan before you lift them out.