Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Temptations and Hershey's Kisses Drops

Oh how I love fun desserts! But I mean, who doesn't love the taste of childhood? There's something to be said for making desserts that you used to eat, once upon a time before you grew up and mom stopped making them. It doesn't mean that once you hit adulthood, all hope is lost. It just means that it's time for you to take on the responsibility of making those timeless desserts that everyone loves. I was inspired by needing to make desserts to take to the annual School of Ed picnic back in August. I had the Hershey's Kisses Drops recipe sitting in our recipe binder for years and finally decided it was time to do something with it. Never wanting an unbalanced distribution of my love between Hershey's and Reese's, I decided to double up and make the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Temptations as well.



Needless to say, these cookies are always a hit at any kind of party you go to, whether you're four or forty. Something about the delicate balance of peanut butter and chocolate in each of these recipes, speaks to the inner child in all of us. The candy inside the cookie has always inspired a certain amount of wonderment for me and now that I have baked these, I know the tricks. While there really is no major secret to getting these cookies into your life, I do highly recommend freezing the candies in advance of baking. I found that peeling paper/foil off of frozen candies might be a slight pain in the rear, but to have them pre-chilled before plopping chocolate candy into a fresh-out-of-the-oven cookie, seemed to work extremely well. What I did was freeze the candies at least an hour in advance. Then before I started to make my dough, I went ahead and de-foiled/papered them and placed them in a bowl on the top shelf in my fridge. This allowed for them to stay chilled and release built-up condensation from the freezer. From there, they were easy to maneuver when the time came to allow the mating of the candy and the cookie into dessert perfection. Otherwise, there's no real magic to these!

Baking Notes: I read a tip somewhere that freezing the candy in advance helped with placing it in the warm dough later. I did this and highly recommend it as it helps control melting!

Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Temptations (makes ~40; adapted from Hershey's)
40-48 Reese's peanut butter cups, frozen
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt 

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove wrappers from frozen candies and place in a bowl in the fridge, until ready for use. Line small muffin cups with paper bake cups.




In a large bowl, beat the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, peanut butter, egg and vanilla until light and fluffy. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, beating until well blended. Shape dough into 1-inch balls using an ice cream scoops, then place one into each prepped muffin cup. Do not flatten!

Bake 10-12 minutes until puffed and lightly browned. Remove from oven before baking all the way through. Remove chilled candies from refrigerator and immediately press the peanut butter cups onto each cookie. Allow to cool completely in the muffin pan before removing to finish cooling on a wire rack. Enjoy!

Recipe: Hershey's: Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Temptations

Baking Notes: I found this recipe torn out of a magazine and verified it with others online. Again, my big piece of advice is to freeze that candy!

Hershey's Kisses Drops (makes 4 dozen)
4 dozen Hershey's kisses, frozen
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Granulated sugar, for rolling

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Remove foil from the frozen Hershey's kisses and place in a bowl in the fridge, until ready to use.




Beat shortening and peanut butter in a large bowl, until well blended. Add 1/3 cup granulated sugar and the brown sugar, beating until fluffy. Add the egg, milk and vanilla, continuing to beat well. In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt, then gradually beat that mixture into the peanut butter mixture.

Shape the dough into 1-inch balls using an ice cream scoop, then roll them in a small bowl filled with granulated sugar. Place dough balls on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove chilled candies from refrigerator and immediately press the kisses into the center of each cookie - the cookie will crack around the edges. Allow to cool slightly on the tray and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely, then enjoy!