Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

These cookies are more like tiny cakes with a dollop of fluffy peanut butter frosting on top. The frosting alone is worth making as a topping for other baked goods  

(You can use a regular chocolate cake mix cookie. I've included this alternate recipe as it has a few extra ingredients that make it even richer.)

Chocolate Cookies

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/3 cup butter, softened to nearly melted

2 large eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 (18.25 ounce) box chocolate cake mix, any kind

1 recipe Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting, below

1 (12 ounce) bag Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures, cut in half

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

2. Place all the ingredients except the cake mix in a mixing bowl and beat well to combine. Add the cake mix and mix just until incorporated. Scoop with a cookie scoop 2 inches apart onto greased cookie sheets.  

Bake for 9 to 10 minutes or until no longer wet looking. Rest on the cookie sheet for a couple minutes and then move to a cooling rack. 

3. Once cool pipe with Peanut Butter Frosting, garnish top with half a peanut butter cup.

Fluffy Peanut Butter Frosting

This stuff is so good you might as well just skip the cookies and dig into the frosting.

3/4 cup Jiff Creamy Peanut Butter

1 stick (1/2 cup) butter, softened

1/3 and up to 1/2 cup whole milk

½ teaspoon real vanilla extract

1 pound powdered sugar

Beat the ingredients together with a mixer starting with 1/3 cup milk. Mix well and add more milk if needed. Beat on high speed for 4 more minutes until fluffy. 

Scoop into a plastic sandwich bag. Twist top of bag closed and push the frosting down to one corner. Snip off a tiny tip of the corner to pipe (squeeze) the frosting out in a swirl around the cookie. Top with half a peanut butter cup.

Makes about 52 cookies

Recipe Source: http://www.disboards.com/showthread.php?p=38883273