My new baking-chip smuggler brought back a BIG haul from the US recently, which included multiple bags of Reese's peanut butter chips. I have chronicled many times the love it-hate it feeling Europeans have with peanut butter … and I understand that. Reading the ingredients of the peanut butter chips, I understand even better. I wonder how much these chips actually have in common with peanut butter or peanuts. There are some "partially defatted peanuts" in there but almost everything else sounds questionable. I won't discuss that though since this is not a nutrition blog and I don't have any mandate to caution anyone against the ingredients (apart from my paranoia about serving anything like this to nut-allergy people – though most nut-allergy people are fairly careful about what they eat in the first place).

The recipe to get these for yourself (no idea how they taste; will wait on the verdict at work Monday):

2 cups flour
3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
1 1/4 cups butter, softened
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 2/3 cups peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350F/175C.

Sift dry ingredients together and set aside. Beat butter and sugar together until fluffy, add eggs and vanilla. Beat again. Gradually add the dry mixture in, and beat well. Stir in the peanut butter chips at the end. (I added a little bit more cocoa for a more chocolaty taste.) The dough was still very soft, so I wrapped it in plastic and refrigerated it for a while.

To bake, drop a walnut-sized ball of dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake about 8 or 9 minutes – do not overbake. The cookies should still feel and seem soft. Cool slightly and remove from pan to wire rack.

(You could also make this dough and make bar cookies with it – spreading the dough into a large rectangular jelly roll pan. Bake at 350F/175C for about 20 minutes.)