Peanut Butter Cups Inside Peanut Butter Cookie Cup Cookies

Ok, so really these are just a slightly modified version of a former Pilsbury Bake-Off Contest dessert category winner's recipe, Choco-Peanut Butter Cups. Everyone I know calls them Peanut Butter Cups Inside Peanut Butter Cookie Cup Cookies, though. Why? Probably because I call them that.

I make these all the time. People request them. I give them as gifts. They look super complicated, and they are soooo not. Since they do look super complicated, though, when I give them as gifts, people are super impressed. (FYI - I'm trying to use the word "super" as much as possible.) ...and then when they taste them, they are hooked for life.

Best part? They only require 5 ingredients. Pilsbury peanut butter cookie dough, white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips (you can use semisweet or dark if you are into that sort of thing), Jif peanut butter (yes, it does matter), and cooking spray.

My recipe card actually reflects the original recipe...which I no longer follow. In the original recipe, it says that this recipe will make 24. I can make it make 36...because I'm awesome...and because I do not make a "lip" around the top of the cookie cups. Who the heck has time for such when there is peanut butter and chocolate at stake? Patience is a virtue, not a requirement.

Step One: Very important: Spray three mini muffin trays with cooking spray. 

Step Two: Press cookie dough in the bottom and up the sides of each muffin cup. The dough is easiest to work with when cold, and if it gets too difficult to work with, dip your fingers in cold water. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes.

When they come out of the oven, they will look like this! 

Step Three: Using the back of a wooden spoon, gently press down the middles of the cookie cups so that they actually look like, well, cups. Set aside. 

Here's another picture of Step 3...just in case you need another :).  

Ta-da! All of them look like cups, now.  

Step Four: Melt together white chocolate chips and 3/4 c. peanut butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly as it melts, and melt until smooth. Tip: Spray your measuring cup with cooking spray before filling with peanut butter so that the peanut butter won't stick to your measuring cup. 

I'm not sure what was going on with this picture. This is so not the color the peanut butter and white chocolate chips are when they melt together. The mixture does look this smooth, though... 

Step Five: Fill each cookie cup somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 full of the white chocolate peanut butter mixture. I usually fill them 3/4 full because I like the white chocolate peanut butter mixture better than the chocolate peanut butter one. 

Here's a close up of how full these little cups are of the white chocolate peanut butter mixture...

...I would like all of you to know that it really isn't that hard to avoid making little stripes of white chocolate peanut mixture. I just got super impatient when making these. :) 

Step Six: (Not pictured because I did not want to admit the messy condition of my refrigerator) Place the muffin trays of cookies in the fridge to set up while you do step seven.

Step Seven: Do not wash the saucepan of white chocolate peanut butter mixture. Just add the milk chocolate chips and 3/4 c. peanut butter to that saucepan...

...Melt over low heat, stirring constantly. Melt until smooth...

...like this! Yummmmm. 

Step Eight: Take the muffin trays of cookies back out, and fill them the rest of the way with the chocolate peanut butter mixture. 

I don't know if you can tell, but I heap the chocolate peanut butter stuff up over the top a bit.

Step Nine: (Again, not pictured because of my refrigerator's embarrassing condition) Place the muffin trays of cookies in the fridge to set up for about an hour. (Or however long you are willing to wait. I usually make it about 30 minutes...)

Step Ten: Carefully lift out the cookies using a butter knife.

Usually, as soon as you slip the knife between the cookie and the edge of the muffin tray cup, the cookie lifts out.

I don't usually pile them up like this, but I thought it looked cool. 

I actually usually put these in tiny gift boxes that I find at Big Lots or Hobby Lobby when I give them as gifts, but look how cute this pile o' peanut butter cups inside peanut butter cookie cups looks. 

Hello unassuming little peanut butter cup inside peanut butter cookie cup is. It is sooo cute!

I cut this one in half so you can see the chocolatey-peanut buttery homemade fudge-like goodness. It did not last even five seconds after I took the picture. Mmmmmm.

Peanut Butter Cups inside Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Click here for printable version

1 roll (18 oz.) Pilsbury peanut butter cookie dough
1 c. white chocolate chips
1 c. milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 c. Jif creamy peanut butter, divided
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease 36 mini muffin cups with cooking spray. Press cookie dough in the bottom and up the sides of each muffin cup. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 - 15 minutes. Using the back of a wooden spoon, gently press down the middles of the cookie cups so that they look like cups.

Melt together white chocolate chips and 3/4 c. peanut butter in a saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly as it melts, and melt until smooth. Fill each cookie cup somewhere between 1/2 and 3/4 full of the white chocolate peanut butter mixture. Place the muffin trays of cookies in the fridge to set up.

Meanwhile, do not wash the saucepan of white chocolate peanut butter mixture. Just add the milk chocolate chips and 3/4 c. peanut butter to that saucepan. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly. Melt until smooth. When ready, take the muffin trays of cookies out of the fridge, and fill them the rest of the way with the chocolate peanut butter mixture. Place the muffin trays of cookies in the fridge to set up for about an hour.

Carefully lift out each cookie by slipping a butter knife between the cookie and the edge of the muffin tray cup.