Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Chocolate & Peanut Butter. Has a more perfect couple ever existed?

I suppose a (ridiculously strong) case could be made for chocolate and hazelnut, as in, NUTELLA. Oh, and there’s also caramel and sea salt (YUMMM). Peanut butter and banana! Catherine Giudici and Sean Lowe (My obsession with The Bachelor is teetering on insanity right now. Why in the world did ABC nix Bachelor Pad from their summer lineup? Cryyyyy)!!!

Right. What? Yes. Chocolate and peanut butter. It’s a pretty bangin’ combination. Especially because baking something with these two ingredients means that I get to sneak chocolate chips from the bag, dip them stealthily in peanut butter, and pop them one by one (by two by eight) into my mouth. Which. Is. Perfection.

I made this particular brand of perfection for my lovely college roommates, Rachel and Liz! They graciously agreed to host me (I didn’t really give them a choice) this weekend for Rice University’s famed Beer Bike. In return, they will receive two boxes one box half a box (whoops, better get there soon!) of chocolate and peanut butter cookie goodness.

Where’d all those cookies go?? Perhaps I should make another batch…

Chocolate-Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

Yield: Approximately 20 cookies

Ingredients

1)   1/2 cup all-purpose flour

2)   1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3)   1/2 teaspoon baking powder

4)   ¼ teaspoon salt

5)   1/4 cup (half a stick) butter, softened

6)   1 cup peanut butter

7)   ½ cup white sugar

8)   ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar

9)   1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix

10) 2 eggs

11)  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

12)  2 cups semisweet chocolate chips, melted

Instructions

1)   Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

2)   In a mixing bowl, cream butter, peanut butter, and both sugars until fluffy. Mix in instant vanilla pudding mix. Blend in eggs and vanilla extract. Beat in dry mixture a little at a time until just combined. Drop batter by rounded tablespoonful onto ungreased baking sheet.

3)   Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in preheated oven until golden and puffy. Cool completely on wire racks, then dip half of each cookie in the melted chocolate.