Thanks to Hershey’s Canada for sponsoring this post and providing me with samples of their new REESE Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread to try! Search the hashtag #DoYouSpoon on Instagram for all kinds of amazing treats whipped up by other Food Bloggers of Canada members with this fun new ingredient.
I’ve started teaching a creative writing class for kids, against my better judgment at the time, but it’s turning out to be a good challenge, not a terrifying one. Now, as I was about to write the word “delicious”, I thought of last week, when I told them they were no longer allowed to use the words “good” or “nice” in their work. We’re working on turning boring writing into descriptive writing, and those have to be some of the blandest, most meaningless words in the English language. If you can think of others I should ban, please do tell, I love a good banning. I’ve heard that food bloggers should self-inflict a similar ban on the word “delicious”, so I shall do by best to learn my own lesson and never use it again.
Having said that, these cookies do need some description, besides telling you there’s a teeny bit of dough chilling involved. Now that that’s out of the way, these are fudgy, chewy, rich, and gooey! Rhymes make everything better – I think that should be the lesson this week :) These cookies have no egg, but get their richness from butter, cocoa, and REESE peanut butter chocolate spread.
The spread isn’t really breakfast fare, in my opinion, with sugar being a star ingredient, but it does make an excellent baking ingredient. I’ve substituted it successfully for both peanut butter and nutella, and it only means reducing the sugar slightly in any of those recipes. The spread on it’s own has a slight gritty texture (likely from all that sugar), which makes it less than ideal for eating from a spoon, but others disagree strongly with me, so you’ll have to try for yourself.
Several people who tried these cookies commented on the background-ness of the peanut butter. Too often, peanut butter is front and centre while the chocolate takes a secondary seat. These cookies, though, are all fudgy chocolate with only a secondary hint of peanut butter. I do like my chocolate to take centre stage.
Look, the ones I hand-rolled into balls are so much smoother than the ones I just pushed out of the spoon and left. What kind of cookie maker are you? I’ll be honest, I usually roll a dozen nicely for pictures and just scoop the rest willy-nilly. Don’t get the impression I’m working hard over here, folks – they all taste the same :)
So tell me, have you tried the new Reese’s spread? Would you eat it for breakfast, or save it for snacks? I’m thinking I’ll have to melt some into a fruit dip next, because how good would this be with bananas and apples?
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup cocoa
- ½ cup butter or margarine, softened to room temperature
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Spread
- ⅓ cup milk
- ½ cup chocolate chips or Reese's pieces (optional)
- Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa, set aside.
- In a separate bowl, beat butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and Reese's spread and mix until batter is smooth.
- Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, stir briefly, then add the milk and mix until everything is well combined. Fold in chocolate chips, if using.
- Chill dough for about 15 minutes before baking (or as long as your oven takes to preheat). You can make the dough a few days in advance, just wrap it in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
- When you are ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or grease lightly. Spoon dough onto cookie sheet, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake cookies for 11-12 minutes, until still soft but starting to set. Remove cookies from the oven and let rest on baking sheets for 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and let cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Want to make your mouth water? Check out even more REESE treats at Hershey Canada :)
These sound super delicious. Thanks for sharing this recipe with us.
Simon