Peanut Butter Chubbies

This is one of my favorite recipes (mainly because of their name) from my Joy of Cooking: All About Cookies cookbook. They're sweet little peanut butter shortbread "chubbies" that are just so cute and and delicious! Their texture is definitely like a shortbread, very tender and crumbly, but they're flavor is more like a chocolate chip peanut butter cookie. They're easy to make and melt in your mouth perfectly.

Peanut Butter Chubbies

1 Cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
5 1/2 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3 Tbsp peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
11 ounces of chopped peanut butter cups
(optional: 2/3 Cups finely chopped unsalted peanuts)

1) Preheat oven to 350F and grease two cookie sheets (or one very large cookie sheet)
2) Stir together flour and salt in bowl, then add in butter, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat on low speed until mixture just begins to hold together
3) Add peanut butter cups (and peanuts) and beat until well blended
4) Form dough into 1in. balls and place on cookie sheet 1 1/4in. apart
5) Bake for 15-18min (mine took 18min) just until "chubbies" are lightly tinged brown (rotate cookie sheet halfway through for even browning
6) Cool "chubbies" on cookie sheet until completely cooled and firm (cookies will be too crumbly to move before completely cooled) and enjoy!