Peanut Butter Cookies, Trader Joe’s Style

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

Combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and dry vanilla pudding mix in a medium sized bowl. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed of an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one a time, then add the vanilla nut extract and beat to combine.

Add the flour mixture and beat on low speed just until combined. Carefully stir in the chopped peanut butter cups.

Place the remaining granulated sugar in a small bowl, for coating the cookies.

Shape the cookie dough into 1 to 1 1/4-inch balls and roll in the granulated sugar. Place the dough on un-greased cookie sheets about 2″ apart.

Press a criss-cross pattern onto the top of each cookie with a fork to flatten them slightly.

Bake at 375 F for about 10-12 minutes, or until just golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for 1 minute, then remove from the pan to wire racks to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container. Makes 4-6 dozen cookies, depending on what size cookies you make.

Recipe slightly adapted from Trader Joe’s Fan.