Big & Puffy Triple Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

I'm apparently on a cookie-making fix this week. I came across these puffy peanut butter cookies on Pinterest earlier on in the week and I had all of the ingredients, so it was perfect. Do y'all get on Pinterest as much as I do? I love it. I literally could stay on all day, I mean I don't... but I could. I get so many ideas & recipes from there, it's just great for inspiration. And all the photos are so much fun to search through, I swear I have hundreds of photos on my computer saved up for different things. I'm a nerd... a Pinterest nerd. But if you aren't a Pinterest nerd like me, I suggest you become a member now. Seriously, you will love it. Anyway, back to the cookies. I've been searching for a more substantial peanut butter cookie. Not one of those cookies that is thin and crisp. I mean those are good, but not what I'm looking for. I wanted a big, fluffy, puffy, thick, and chewy peanut butter cookie. These definitely delivered. I adapted the recipe slightly to fit my wants & needs. For instance, instead of melted butter I added browned butter because it's my new favorite ingredient these days. I used mini reese's peanut butter cups and reese's pieces instead of chocolate chips because I just wanted more peanut butter. Also, I'm a sucker for the old fashion peanut butter cookies that are rolled in sugar, giving the cookie a crispy outer shell. So, I tossed them in granulated sugar and then sprinkled them with some fleur del sel. It's kind of a secret hidden in the sugar, but gives you that salty taste that just balances the cookie out so well. I do this on my FAVORITE chocolate chip cookie recipe, and it's amazing. Mountain Man & I loved these cookies, and hopefully you will too! Enjoy :)

Big & Puffy Triple Peanut Butter Chocolate Cookies

For the Cookies:

2C AP Flour

½t Baking Soda

1 Stick of Unsalted Butter, Browned & Cooled

6T Creamy Peanut Butter, Melted & Cooled

1C Brown Sugar

½C Sugar

1t Salt

1 Egg + 1 Egg Yolk, Room Temperature

2t Vanilla Extract

2T Milk

1C Mini Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Roughly Chopped

½C Reese’s Pieces, Crushed

Granulated Sugar (for rolling the cookie dough in)

Fleur de Sel, For Sprinkling

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set them aside.
2. Add the peanut butter and browned butter into a microwave safe bowl, and heat in 30-second increments until just melted. Let the mixture cool completely.
3. To Make the Cookie Dough: Mix the flour and baking soda in a small bowl, and set it aside. In the bowl of a standing mixer, mix the cooled peanut butter-butter mixture with the sugars until they are combined. Add in the egg and egg yolk, one at a time, making sure each one is completely combined before adding the next. Add in the vanilla and milk. Gradually beat in the flour mixture until dough forms; it will look crumbly, but if you press it together, it will come together (using an ice cream scoop works great to make the dough balls, so that's what I would recommend). Beat in the chopped mini peanut butter cups and crushed reese's pieces. Scoop the dough into roughly ¼C balls (or I used a large ice cream scoop), and then roll the cookies into the granulated sugar, so that they have a sugar coating. Then, using your fingers, crimp the tops of the cookies to make them more jagged (this will make them look more homemade). Because the cookies are quite large, I only put 6 cookies per sheet tray, so that when they cook & spread, they will not touch each other. Sprinkle the tops of the cookie dough with a little of fleur de sel.
4. Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes (cook them for 5-6 minutes, then rotate the pan 180 degrees, and cook for another 5-6 minutes), until the edges are slightly brown and the centers are soft and puffy (do not over bake). Once baked, remove from the oven, and let the cookies cool for 5 minutes on the tray before placing them onto a cooling rack.
5. Let the cookies cool completely before eating and enjoy!

source: how sweet it is

*Check out Sweets for a Saturday for this recipe, as well as many others!!*