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Monday, February 28, 2011

Chocolate Chip Reese's Pieces Cookies

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Can you believe that I made these on the first day of February, and here they are showing up on the last day of the month? Yes, I have THAT many recipes to post. Part of it is that I rearrange the order in which I post things, but it's also because I've been busy in the kitchen lately!

I almost feel sorry for waiting so long to post these cookies. I shouldn't have held out on you like this, not for these. These were a hit, a BIG hit. Half the batch was eaten by our community group (you know, because I couldn't share my banana pudding with them...) and when I found myself sticking cookie #7 in my mouth, I knew I had to get the remainder out of my house! Ryan took the rest to work and I gained some serious popularity points with his group that day!

The thing about these is that they have the absolute perfect texture, soft and chew, but still sturdy. They reminded me a lot of the secret ingredient chocolate chip cookies. I loved the Reese's Pieces, peanut butter chip, chocolate chip combination, but this cookie serves as a good base for whatever chips or nuts you want to include.

I got this recipe from the blog Occasional Sugar and she gave very specific instructions on how to make these cookies the best ever. I took her word seriously and I'm convinced these "cookie rules" led to their success, so I suggest doing the following:

1. Do not touch the dough with your hands. At all. Not when mixing the ingredients (use a mixer if you have one, or else work those biceps!) and not when putting the cookies on the cookie sheet. The oil from your hands will cause flat cookies!
2. Line your baking sheets with parchment paper!
3. Use two spoons to drop blobs of dough onto the baking sheets. Again, DON'T touch. Don't roll cookies into a ball or try to shape them with their spoons--messy blobs cook best!

Follow these and I'm quite convinced you'll have perfect little cookies as I did. Try them and report back on how they turned out...I can't wait to hear what else you try putting in them!

Chocolate Chip Reese's Pieces Cookies
adapted from Occasional Sugar


Ingredients:
-3 1/2 cups flour
-3/4 tsp salt
-3/4 tsp baking soda
-1 cup packed brown sugar
-3/4 cup granulated sugar
-1 cup butter, room temperatures
-2 large eggs, room temperatures
-1 tbsp vanilla extract
-2 cups mix-ins (I used a combination of Reese's Pieces, peanut butter chips, and chocolate chips)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Mix together flour, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl and set aside.
2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk brown and white sugars to remove lumps. Add butter, beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until combined.
3. Add flour mixture in three batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a spatula after each addition. Stir in 2 cups of mix-ins by hand.
4. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop dough by the spoonful on cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown.
5. Allow cookies to cool on sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.