Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies

We used to make these occasionally when I was a kid.....and recently I realized it had been years since I had tasted one, and these are seriously one of my very favorite cookies, EVER.
The recipe is just on the back of the package of peanut butter chips and I don't change it at all, except for replacing some of the white flour with whole wheat and maybe adding some chocolate chips, if I'm feeling naughty.
I made these on a Thursday, with the intention of taking them on a picnic at the beach on Friday night with friends. Well, most of them made it to Friday, were transported in a ziplock bag, and were brought out of our stash of stuff as a grand finale to our picnic.
Oops.
I failed to realize that these do NOT travel well, they crumble ridiculously, and....well......our friends got to sample handfulls of crumbs instead of nice cookies. That being said, everyone enjoyed the chunky crumbs immensely.....but it just wasn't the same as biting into a full cookie.
Later in the weekend, Grant stirred some of the remaining crumbs into a milkshake and declared that a winner....so you really can't go wrong with these cookies, just don't transport them in a ziplock bag in a beach bag with a lot of other junk.


Recipe:

1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 t. vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (part whole wheat)
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 t. baking soda
1/2 t. salt
10 oz package Reese's peanut butter chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)


Preheat oven to 350°.

Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well.

In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add to butter mixture, combining well. Stir in peanut butter chips and chocolate chips, if desired.

Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-9 minutes (8 minutes exactly in my oven). Do NOT overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling. Cool slightly; remocve from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. Makes 4-5 dozen cookies.