Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies with PB Cups & PB M&M's

My whoopie pie pans were burning a hole in my cupboard.

Just begging me to make something.

You don’t have to have a whoopie pie pan to make these deep dish cookies.

A muffin tin would likely give you similar results.

But I love how the cookies almost look like little pies, partially due to unintentionally overfilling my whoopie pie pans.

A whoops with the whoopie.

But a happy accident of sorts.

If you’re a fan of cookies with slightly crisp edges with really soft centers, then the whoopie-pie-pan cookie-making-method is for you.

It produces lots of nice chewy edge that browns before the centers have a chance to overcook, keeping these cookies super soft and chewy.

Almost raw in the middle. Just the way I like cookies. The only way I like cookies, actually.

Scott proclaimed these the best cookies he’s ever eaten.

He previously said that the Caramel Peanut Butter & Jelly Bars were the best dessert he’s ever had.

But these cookies got the nod for best cookies.

Til next month when he changes his mind.

The diced Reese’s Cups and the Peanut Butter M & M’s helped give the chocolate chip cookie base just a hint of peanut buttery goodness.

Because everything is better with peanut butter.

And a few surprise little candy bits peeking out for good measure.

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Deep Dish Chocolate Chip Cookies with Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Peanut Butter M&M’s

Makes 1 dozen very large deep dish cookies, or 2 dozen traditional medium-sized cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/4 cup Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, diced (2 full-size cups, diced into about 12 pieces each), optional

1/4 cup Peanut Butter M&M’s

Preheat oven to 350F and prepare either 1.) whoopie pie pans or muffin tins by spraying them very well with cooking spray; Or 2.) prepare traditional cookie sheets with Silpat liners, parchment paper, or spray cookie sheets with cooking spray.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix. Add the baking soda and flour and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.

If you are making these deep dish cookies in whoopie pie pans or muffin tins, divide the batter equally among one dozen whoopie pie pan cavities or among muffin tin cavities. Push the dough down into the cavities, flattening it as best you can; it will be sticky so use your hands to push it down but take care not to overfill the cavities more than 3/4 of the way full because these cookies will rise like traditionally cookies. Note: I overfilled my whoopie pie pan and made one dozen cookies that nearly overflowed from the pan. If you have two whoopie pie pans or a muffin tin with more than 12 cavities, I suggest making 15 to 18 deep dish cookies rather than only 12. Watch them closely for signs of overflowing if making only 12. After dough has been placed in the cavities, top the dough with a couple of diced Reese’s Cup chunks and a couple of M&M’s by lighting pressing them into the surface. Bake for 8 to 11 minutes, or until they are or until they are barely browned. The cookies may look pretty raw even at 11 minutes and that’s ok as they will continue to firm up as they cool out of the oven. Allow them to cool in the whoopie pie pans or muffin tins before attempting to remove them and before eating.

If you are making these as traditional cookies on cookie sheets, I recommend chilling the dough for 15-20 minutes in the freezer or 1 hour in the refrigerator before scooping onto cookie sheets as chilled dough creates cookies that spread less when baking. Scoop the chilled cookie dough into 1-inch balls on cookie sheets, about 2 inches apart. I recommend this cookie scoop for perfectly sized cookies. To the top of each mounded ball, lightly press in a couple of diced Reese’s Cup chunks and a couple of M&M’s. Bake cookies for 8 to 10 minutes, or until they are barely browned. The cookies may look pretty raw even at 10 minutes and that’s ok as they will continue to firm up as they cool out of the oven. Allow the baked cookies to remain on the cookie sheets for a few minutes to cool before attempting to move them to racks or eat them.

Store cookies in an airtight container on the countertop or store extras in the freezer for up to 3 months for longer-term storage.

Note: You can add more chocolate chips or other types of chips such as white chocolate chips or butterscotch chips if desired; or increase the quantity of candy added or alter the type of candy used, i.e. diced Snickers, Butterfingers, Milky Way, plain M&Ms, peanut M&M’s, etc.

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These cookies are pretty massive.

They’re wide and they’re deep.

And so soft.

I filled each whoopie pie pan cavity with double the amount of dough I’d use when baking cookies the traditional way on cookie sheets.

As I noted in the recipe, they can be made as traditional cookies on cookie sheets, and I recommend using a more standard amount of dough, which would tone down the hugeness factor.

But sometimes bigger is better.

I’ve previously made cookies in muffin tins:

Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Dark Chocolate Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

And I have Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies which tied for my favorite cookies of 2011

Of course, you don’t have to make these cookies with pink, red, and white Peanut Butter M&M’s or with diced Reese’s Cups.

You could use any kind of diced candy from Snickers to Butterfinger Bars to Milky Way to diced leftover Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day, or Easter Bunny candy.

You could also omit the candy toppings.

But that would seem crazy to me because bites of slightly under-baked, super soft and chewy cookies, with peanut butter M&M’s (which are even better than standard issue traditional peanut M&M’s) make my world go ’round.