Cookie Success

For the 2 bad baking experiences I had in January, I had 2 really good ones in February! The first I made for Valentine's Day and wow. Excellent, especially for peanut butter fans. The second was a cookie I made during my 52 Cookies experiment and it came out great. Sharing both below! 

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Cookies 

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• 1 cup salted butter, softened
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs (at room temp)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 48 reeses peanut butter cups (hearts for valentines)
• 1/2 cup sugar for rolling the dough into before baking

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. 

Combine butter, peanut butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. Blend until combined. 

Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Next add flour and baking soda. Mix just until combined. 

Place 1/2 cup sugar into a small bowl. Roll cookie dough into one inch balls and then roll into sugar. 

Place balls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes. 

Allow cookies to cool on pan for one minute and then place reeses peanut butter lightly on top of each cookie . Remove cookies from pan and allow to cool. Store cookies in Tupperware to keep soft.

Note: lesson learned: the reese's peanut butter cup will melt into the cookie once you press it into each after it cools on the baking sheet. I had to put mine in the fridge to keep it from melting over the whole cookie, so I would recommend that if you're planning on making these in advance. If not, then try to serve as soon as the cookies settle to room temperature. These are quite delicious with a glass of milk!

White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies 

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2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup salted butter, softened
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 300°F.

In medium bowl combine flour, soda and salt. Mix well, set aside.

In a large bowl with a mixer blend sugars at medium speed. Add butter and mix to until it forms a grainy paste, scraping down the sides of the bowl. 

Add eggs and vanilla, and beat at medium speed until fully combined.

Add the flour mixture, macadamia nuts and white chocolate chips, and blend on low speed until just combined. Do not over mix.

Drop by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes or until edges begin to brown. Move immediately to cooling rack.