Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Cookies

These cookies are fantastic! They are rich, so you can't eat but one or two at a time, but they are so delicious. I've made them for work a couple of times and gotten rave reviews and recipe requests. I highly recommend trying these, you won't regret it...especially if you love peanut butter and chocolate! It's kind of like a peanut butter smore! I definitely recommend using a tart shaper if you have one to make the cookie cups...it makes it super easy. Luckily I got a Pampered Chef one for Christmas! Enough about my tart shaper though...go make these cookies NOW!

Peanut Butter Cup Surprise Cookies

Yield: 24 cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups creamy peanut butter

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

24 mini Reeses peanut butter cups, unwrapped

mini marshmallows (I used 5 per cookie)

4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/2 cup heavy cream

2 tbsp. sugar

2 tbsp. water

mini M&Ms

Directions: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Combine peanut butter, sugar and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat until well combined. Divide the dough evenly between 24 wells of a mini-muffin pan (I usually have a bit left over, but do so to leave room for the candy). Make an indentation in the center of each dough ball. Bake for 13-15 minutes, until almost done. Remove from the oven and press a peanut butter cup into the center of each cookie until it is flush with the top of the dough. Top each cookie with 3-4 mini marshmallows. Return the pan to the oven and bake 2-3 minutes more, until the marshmallows have puffed up. Transfer the pans to a wire cooling rack and allow the cookies to cool completely in the pan before removing them. (This is important! I tried removing them while still slightly warm – not a good idea.)
Once the cookies are completely cooled, transfer them to a wire rack over a sheet of wax paper or aluminum foil. Place the chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Bring the cream, sugar and water to a boil, then pour the liquid over the chocolate and let sit for 30 seconds. Gently whisk the mixture together until smooth. Leave the glaze to sit until it thickens a bit to your desired consistency, then drizzle over the tops of the cookies. Sprinkle with mini M&Ms before the glaze hardens.

Source: from Annie's Eats, who says cookies adapted from Picky Palate, ganache from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan