Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Cup Blossoms

Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Cup Blossoms {Wicked Weekend}

Who doesn’t love chocolate, peanut butter and caramel? Separately they are delicious and truly tempt the pallet; all three combined seriously send the taste buds into overdrive. Remember what I said about my caramel corn….same thing applies to the salted caramel peanut butter cup blossoms.

I made these toward the end of the summer, was heading to a friend’s house for dinner and wanted to bring something different. I don’t remember what I had going on at the time, but I waited till the last-minute to even think about what to bring. *Trust me when I say I am a planner, and do not do well “off the cuff” * To top it all off, I said I was bringing dessert…..so it had to be good. =) Good thing I had a stash of frozen cookie dough balls on hand. Want to read about this great time-saver head on over here.

Anyway….. I remember combining the peanut butter cups with chocolate chip cookies to form sandwiches….and they were super easy….so I thought I would do these again, except drizzle some caramel ice cream sauce and sea salt before smooshing the two cookies together. Intentions are great, until you decide to take a chance (or have mini muffin pans fall on your head while searching for the hidden Reece’s stash) and experiment.

I let the cookie dough balls thaw out for about half an hour, and then placed them into greased (I spray them with canola oil) mini muffin pans. Push your thumb into the center of the ball; filling the sides of the tin and leaving a thumbprint behind…..think Hershey Kiss Cookies. Place an unwrapped mini Reece cup in the thumbprint and drizzle with caramel ice cream syrup and a dash of sea salt. It couldn’t get any easier than this.

As the kids were chomping at the bit to leave, I didn’t get a chance to let them cool completely. I tried getting them out of the pan to place on a plate, and the first couple completely fell apart. I, of course, thought my idea was a total bust and thanked the lord that my friend wouldn’t care if they crumbled out of the pan as long as they tasted great. They did set up a little more by the time they were eaten, but were still a little too soft for my liking.

** Please don’t judge me on the 2 pictures with Reece’s covered in Easter foil….I told you I stocked up on them….who could resist 75% off. Now that is a bargain my friend! You will also see a lack of caramel on these 2 pictures also. PT asked me to do one pan without caramel, and wouldn’t you know that is the pan that I kept at home. See tip below….they came out of the pan beautifully!!!

TIP: My advice, make these a day ahead of your event. I saved one pan for the next day; had no trouble getting them out and they were perfectly set up. Just goes to show you that Proper Preparation Prevents Piss Poor Performance (stole that from the Army)!

Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Cup Blossoms

Ingredients:
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, my favorite is here
Reece mini peanut butter cups, unwrapped
Caramel Ice Cream Topping
Sea Salt

Directions:

Make your favorite chocolate chip cookie dough and form into balls. Chill for at least 30 minutes. If in a pinch you can even use store bought, but I don’t recommend it.
Spray as many mini muffin tins as you will need. A normal chocolate chip cookie recipe will make 3 dozen, but you can adjust accordingly.
Press the balls into each muffin cup with your thumb. Place a Reece cup on top of each ball and drizzle with the caramel sauce and a sprinkling of sea salt. Place muffin tins on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until cookie blossom is lightly browned. You do not want the Reece’s to burn, so watch them carefully.
Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack until completely cool. Run a sharp knife around the edges and carefully lift them out of pan. These can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days. I bet they don’t last that long though!

I hope you enjoy the Salted Caramel Peanut Butter Blossoms. They will certainly be making another appearance in our house.