Peanut Butter Cup Cookies

I stumbled upon the recipe several years ago while looking for a new cookie recipe to make for a work Christmas party.  That year, I made several batches but haven't made them for at least two years.  I whipped up a batch of these to take along when we went to visit my parents over Christmas.  There is nothing particularly 'Christmas-y' about these cookies, yet I always seem to need them during Christmas time.  Trust me, this recipe is a keeper!

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Source: allrecipes.com
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped (Reese's)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside
Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Beat in the egg, vanilla, and milk.  Add the flour mixture, mix well.
Shape into 40 balls, either by hand or with a cookie scoop, and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan.
Bake for about 8 minutes.  Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball.  Cool and carefully remove from pan. 

Amy's Notes:
These are a little tricky to make, but totally worth the effort.  Here are the things I've learned.  Always make sure to unwrap the peanut butter cups before the time come to put them into the cookies.  I say this because the first time I made them I thought I could just unwrap them as I went, but trust me, you just can't unwrap them fast enough when you need to.  Also, after the peanut butter cups are in the cookies, I usually pop the whole pan into the freezer for a few minutes to solidify the melted peanut butter cup.  It also helps to get the cookies out of the mini-muffin tin without mangling them.