*Disclosure: I only recommend products I would use myself and all opinions expressed here are our own. This post may contain affiliate links that at no additional cost to you, I may earn a small commission. Read full privacy policy here.
Happy Super Bowl and Weekend before Valentine’s day! This week’s recipe and post is short and sweet – emphasis on the sweet. A little valentines day twist on my peanut butter crunch cookies.
Everybody has heard, seen or tried a peanut butter blossom cookie – the peanut butter cookie with the Hershey’s kiss in the middle. This is such a classic recipe. My little twist for Valentine’s day is adding Reese’s Peanut Butter Hearts. The best thing is that, of course, you can find some many other fun things to swap out the peanut butter hearts for. I saw some Lindt Salted Caramel hearts, which I bet are sooo good. You can also use this recipe and use what ever the currently holiday version of Reese’s is out ( eggs, trees, etc.) I will link some alternative options below.
I also chopped up peanut butter M&M’s (because I love them) and rolled the dough edges in the M&M’s before I baked some of the cookies. Totally optional. I made some with and without the M&M’s and both were equally delicious.
These cookies are more of an oversized cookie. I recommend chilling the dough so it will hold its shape a bit more when baking. I also did chill the Reese’s candies so when I put them on the hot cookies, they wouldn’t melt as fast. They will melt a bit once you put them on your cookie, but will still hold their shape. The candy will stiffen back up as the cookie cools, but I would say it takes at least 2 hours minimum for the candy to stiffen back up.
This is the perfect recipe for sharing! I hope you make and enjoy this cookie recipe as much as I do and share it with friends and family. Be sure to share some photos with me on instagram of your creations @emilygetstobaking.
Some of my Favorite Products used:
Alternatives to put in the middle of your cookies:
Peanut Butter Heart Blossom Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Salted butter, room temperature
- 2 cup Brown sugar
- 2 Eggs
- 4-5 tsp Vanilla extract
- 3 ½ cups AP flour
- 1 ½ cup Peanut Butter, smooth or crunch (which ever you prefer)
- 1 ½ tsp Baking soda
- 1 bag Reese's Peanut Butter Hearts, linked above
- 1 ½ cups Peanut butter M&M's, optional
Instructions
- In a mixer on medium – low speed, beat your butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
- Turn your mixer down to low and add in your eggs, vanilla extract and peanut butter. Once combined, turn off your mixer to rest.
- In a separate large bowl, whisk together your flour and baking soda.
- Turn your mixer back on low and slowly add your dry ingredients to your wet ones. Mix until just combined.
- Remove mixing bowl and put in refrigerator for at least an hour to chill. Now it a great time to unwrap all of your Reese's hearts, put them in a bowl and set those in the refrigerator as well.
- Optional – Chop up your M&M's into quarters and place pieces into a bowl.
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Once your dough has chilled, start rolling dough balls about 2 ½ tablespoons worth of dough sized.
- Optional – if you are choosing to roll your cookie edges into M&M's, take each dough ball and flatten it slightly in your hands, roll the edges in the pile of M&M pieces.* Then place on prepare baking sheet.
- I typically fit about 4-6 cookies on a sheet. Remember they will be a bit larger of a cookie.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes, depending on your oven. You want them to still be chewy in the middle so bake until the edges start to turn slightly more brown than the rest of the cookie.
- Let them cool on the baking sheet for 1 minute. Then lightly press 1 Reese's heart candy into the center of each cookie.
- Continue to let the cookies cool on the sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the rack for a few hours, or until the Reese's hearts have stiffen back up. A good indicator is when the hearts are shiny, they are melty consistency still and they will have more of a matte finish again when they have firmed up.
- Store in an airtight container once they are completely cool and the hearts have firmed back up. Serve or enjoy up to 5 days after baking.