Bite Size Peanut Blossom Cookies

Bite Size Peanut Blossom Cookies

I'm not sure what made me think of these, but I think it was my recent discovery that I could refrigerate cookie dough in a pan and cut it into chunks to bake, instead of scooping with a cookie scoop (see Crisp Mini Chocolate Chip Cookies Made Easy). When thinking about the chips, I remembered that Ghirardelli makes relatively large chocolate baking chips, so their milk chocolate version seemed perfect for this application. And they ARE. Absolutely perfect. 
I was a little concerned that the cookies would get too crisp because they are so small, but a 5-minute bake time got the job done without any over baking. These are a perfect bite-size cookie that make me happy. Sure, they take a little more time than regular size cookies, but they are so worth it. Now I just need to figure out who to give these to before I eat them all.

Bite Size Peanut Blossom Cookies
    --Adapted from King Arthur Flour

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1/4 cup Crisco vegetable shortening
• 3/4 cup smooth/creamy peanut butter
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 large egg
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• granulated sugar
• 1 bag Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Baking Chips

Instructions:
Prepare a metal brownie pan (I used a 7 cm x 11 cm pan) by lining it with parchment or wax paper. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter, peanut butter, and the sugars until fluffy. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix on low until combined. Do not overmix.
Transfer the dough to the paper-lined brownie pan and smooth it out until you have an even layer. Place plastic wrap on top and then gently pack the dough in and leave the plastic wrap on top of the dough. Place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to chill.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit about a half hour before you plan to form the little cookies. Then line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and place about 1/3 cup granulated sugar in a bowl that you will use to coat dough balls with sugar.
Once dough is thoroughly chilled, remove from the refrigerator. Lift the dough out by using the edges of the paper. Cut the dough into about 1 cubic centimeter pieces, so that you end up with about a half teaspoon of dough. Roll each cube into a ball, roll in sugar, and place on the prepared baking sheet. Leave about 1 1/2 inches between dough balls. Once the pan is filled, return the remaining dough to the refrigerator and then bake cookies for about 5 minutes at 375 degrees, or until they are puffed and slightly cracked.
Remove from oven and immediately top each cookie with a milk chocolate chip, pressing down to secure the chip. You need to move quickly because you have a lot of cookies and they start to cool pretty quickly.
Move cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. Wait until the chocolate has solidified again before storing or serving.
Makes approximately 150-175 mini cookies