Trick or Treat Cookies

October kicks off my favorite time of year. From now until xmas I bake, bake, and bake some more. There are endless recipes to make and endless excuses to make them. Today's excuse: it's Tuesday! :) These chocolate cookies are egg-free, easy on the sugar, and have a hidden treat inside.

You will need:

3/4 cup butter (I used Smart Balance)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour (I used King Arthur white whole wheat)
1 square unsweetened baking chocolate, melted
24 mini Reese's peanut butter cups
icing (your choice of flavor and color)



I used my stand mixer and beat the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla and beat again.



Now add the flour...



and beat until well blended.



I melted the chocolate in the microwave on power 4 for 45 seconds, stirring after 30 seconds.



Add the chocolate to the cookie batter...



and mix until combined.



Wrap the cookie dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate for one hour. This step makes it easier to form the dough around the peanut butter cups.



For each cookie you will need two tablespoons of dough. Form one tablespoon into a little cup.



Place the peanut butter cup inside and form the dough around the sides of it.



Use the second tablespoon to form a top and form around the candy.



Place the cookies two inches apart and a parchment-lined or lightly greased cookie sheet.



Bake at 325 for 17 minutes.



I topped the cookies with orange icing from my new decorating pens from Williams Sonoma. I found them difficult to use and think I'll stick to my decorating bags from now on. But the icing tasted great! These cookies are light on the sugar because of the peanut butter cups. They are great with no icing at all, but the kids like them with the added pop of the sugary icing.



Enjoy!