Peanut Butter Cookie Cups

Halloween is coming up soon, which means one thing: CANDY. And lots of it. Need ideas on how to convert regular candy into yummy home-baked treats to share with friends? Here's one for the Reese's® lovers. :D

All you need is two things:

2 packages (24 cookies each) refrigerated break-and-bake style peanut butter and milk chocolate chip cookie dough*
24 Reese's® peanut butter cups**

*I like the break-and-bake cookie dough for convenience, but you could also use a tub variety or make your own cookie dough. Just measure out about a tablespoon of cookie dough for each piece of the break-and-bake variety.

**The original recipe calls for full-size Reese's®, but I accidentally bought "snack-size," which are a little smaller; I was more concerned with price comparisons. But I think it may have turned out for the better in the end, because the snack-size ones fit just right in between two pieces of cookie dough.

Prepare the preparations! Line two cupcake pans with paper cupcake liners, unwrap all of your Reese's® completely, preheat the oven to 350°F, and unwrap a package of cookie dough. (You might want to keep one package in the fridge until it's time to use it, because the dough gets really sticky and difficult to work with when it's been sitting out a while.)

Now to put together the cookie cups. =) Simply take one piece of cookie dough and flatten it out a bit into a circle that's just a little bigger than your Reese's® cup.

Then place a Reese's® cup in the middle of your piece of dough and start carefully smooshing the extra bits of dough up the sides of the candy.

Next, place another piece of cookie dough on top of the Reese's® cup and start flattening it out and spreading it to the sides, making sure to encase the entire candy in cookie dough and seal the edges together.

And that's it! Carefully plop your cookie cup into one of the lined cavities of your cupcake pan, and repeat the process until you've made your first dozen.

Then pop it in the oven for about 13 minutes... While you're waiting, you can go ahead and start on the second dozen.

Aren't they pretty? Unfortunately, they do have a tendency to sink quite a bit as they cool, but that doesn't keep them from being yummy. :D Before digging in, you may want to pour yourself a glass of milk.

Want to see what they look like on the inside? I thought so.

Mmmmm, ooey-gooey chocolate-peanut buttery cookie bliss. <3 They're so good and so easy to make that it should be illegal. Of course, there are several different varieties of this recipe you could try with different candies, cookie doughs, and even brownie batters. That's the beauty of it. Use your imagination and enjoy!

Your Cupcake,

~Jesia <3