Hello! I hope you are well. I’m excited to share a few easy and delicious valentine’s day recipes with you all this week! First up: Peanut Butter Chocolate Heart cookies. So simple and yet so satisfying.
These cookies take only 30 minutes to come together and I bet they will be eaten twice as quick! I mean, what’s a better combination than peanut butter and chocolate? That’s right, nothing. 😊
I took inspiration for this recipe from the good ‘ol Betty Crocker peanut butter blossom recipe that is the epitome of easy. Plus, it’s a classic for a reason. I made the cookies as prescribed in the recipe, but I used a larger cookie scoop – which increased the cooking time – and I pressed Hershey’s extra creamy milk chocolate hearts into the cookies before they set. Yum!
Here’s what you’ll need for your Peanut Butter Chocolate Heart Cookies:
- Smooth Peanut Butter
- Chocolate Meltaway hearts (I used Hershey’s – linked below!)
- Butter
- Sugar
- Brown Sugar
- Flour
- Baking Soda
- Baking Powder
- Eggs
- Vanilla
Lets get Creaming!
The successful baking of these cookies is determined by the creaming of the peanut butter , butter and sugars together until they are super light and fluffy. This allows air to get trapped in the peanut butter and butter so that they create light airy cookies rather than dense hockey pucks. (and yes, I have made cookies that have come out like hockey pucks before. And no, I don’t want to talk about it).
Once you have beaten your butters together with the sugars, you are ready to level up and add the egg & vanilla, followed by the rest of your ingredients. I typically mix my dry ingredients together separately and then add them to the butter mixture, but you can just add them all to the mixing bowl if you prefer.
Now comes the critical step of forming the cookies. Just kidding, this isn’t all that hard, it’s just about getting the scoop size right. I used a cookie scoop in the size 24 which is equal to about 1.5oz of dough per cookie. If you use something smaller or larger, you will just have to account for that in the baking time (less for smaller cookies, more for larger). I used this size scoop as I wanted these cookies to be substantial but not crazy oversized. I have linked a cookie scoop like the one that I used below just in case you don’t have one of your own.
Let’s talk substitutions.
Whenever there’s peanut butter in a recipe I am inevitably asked if you can sub another nut butter in its place. I know that peanut butter is taboo in schools – as you never know who has allergies and some of you may avoid it for other reasons. I have not tested this recipe with other nut butters, but I would imagine that it would come out with similar results. If you choose to use something like tahini however, that may create a wetter cookie dough which may not be as scoopable. Other nut butters like almond, cashew etc should be just fine to swap out.
Bake it real good!
It is important not to over bake these cookies as you want them to be soft and pillow like, but also retain their shape. They will flatten slightly as they bake, but you will need to move fast to press the chocolate heart (or whatever candy you are using) into the just baked dough.
The Hershey’s hearts come individually wrapped, so I made sure to unwrap all of them and have them ready when the cookies came out so I could move quickly. It’s all about having your mise en place in place! You do not want to be messing around with wrappers while your cookies are cooling!
That’s it my friends, I wish you happy baking and a happy valentine’s day!
XO,
Danielle
More Cookie Recipes!
- S’mores Cookies
- Funfetti Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies with M&Ms
- Chocolate Almond Oatmeal Cookies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Heart Cookies
Peanut Butter Chocolate Heart Cookies are the perfect treat for valentines day or any time you want to say I love you!
Ingredients
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ½ cup butter softened
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 package Hershey’s Extra Creamy Chocolate Hearts
Instructions
- Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, beat 1/2 cup granulated sugar, the brown sugar, peanut butter, butter and egg with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon, until light and fluffy. Stir in flour, baking soda and baking powder until dough forms.
- Using a size 24 cookies scoop or a large tablespoon shape dough into 2-inch balls; roll in additional granulated sugar as desired. Place on cookie sheets lined with parchment, place cookies about 3 inches apart.
- Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Immediately press 1 Hershey heart in center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheets to cooling rack.
- Cool completely, then enjoy!
Recipe Notes
To store: keep in an airtight container at room temp for up to 3 days.
Recipe inspired by Betty Crocker Peanut butter blossom cookies
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