By: Hannah Chimal
During the Halloween season, many people go out trick-or-treating and get loads of candy, sometimes even the big bars of chocolate. The one candy that I have always looked forward to is Reese’s, a sweet that I love to eat and could never get tired of. My perfect opportunity to make cookies out of Reese’s came when my family decided to host a Halloween party this year. I chose a recipe by Bellewood Cottage, which is actually a recreation of the Reese’s Crumbl Cookies that was once made. Even though this recipe only had Reese’s pieces incorporated, I decided to add mini Reese’s cups as well and cut them into thin pieces. Other than the candy itself, all ingredients can be found inside the home such as unsalted butter, peanut butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, eggs, flour, baking soda, and salt!
When I first tasted the cookies, they were still a little warm and were very yummy. The peanut butter had a huge impact on the taste of the cookie and I feel that the chunky peanut butter that I used (because I didn’t have creamy) gave it a more nutty flavor. The outer shell of Reese’s pieces gave the cookie a crunchy texture that was nice and the chocolate from the mini cups could be tasted as well. The cookie itself might’ve been overpowering the taste of the candy though, so I think next time I should add more. The colors of the candy - which were orange, yellow, and brown - perfectly matched the colors of autumn and Halloween too. In the end, these cookies were a success as everyone loved them and they were gone by the end of the night. Here’s the recipe that I used if you would like to try them: https://bellewoodcottage.com/reeses-pieces-cookies/#recipe
Ingredients:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter room temp, 4 ounces
½ cup packed light brown sugar 3.5 ounces
⅓ cup granulated sugar 2.5 ounces
½ cup smooth peanut butter 4.5 ounces
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg at room temperature
1 ¼ cup flour 6.25 ounces
½ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon salt
¾ cup reese's pieces 6 ounces (have more on hand if you want to stud the scoops of dough with more pieces before baking)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, use a hand mixer with beaters to cream together softened butter and the sugars. Beat until totally combined and smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
Add peanut butter and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Add egg and beat until just combined.
Sprinkle the flour, baking soda, and salt over the mixture and use a spatula to fold everything together until combined and no streaks of flour remain. The dough will be soft and a bit sticky. Gently incorporate the candy pieces with the spatula.
I used a 3-tablespoon scoop to scoop the dough into about 16 cookies. Stud the scoops with additional candy pieces if desired. Note that the 3-tablespoon scoop makes smaller cookies than the 4" Crumbl cookies. For larger Crumbl-size cookies use a 1/3 cup scoop and bake the cookies longer (about 14-16 minutes).
Bake cookies one sheet at a time until the cookies are very lightly cracked on top and the edges are turning golden, about 10-12 minutes. Don’t overbake.
Cool on the cookie sheets for about 10 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.