A few days ago, my grandma was telling us a story about my dad and how he ate an entire box of macaroni and cheese shortly before he was due to meet my mom’s parents for the first time.
My grandma asked my dad why he was eating all that macaroni and cheese right before he was supposed to have dinner with my mom and her parents soon. My dad replied, “because you don’t know how much food there will be.”
And in that instant, any conflicting thoughts of me possibly being adopted dissipated into thin air because OHMAHGOSH that’s SO me.
Have you ever been invited to someone’s house and they’re like, “there’ll be food!” so you’re like “sweet, I will save my precious calories for this party promised with lots of yummy food!” and you get there and there’s like, NOTHING but a bag of chips and you’re like …. oh my god, these are non-food people.
Non-food people are people who don’t really like food or think about food the way food people do. It’s quite simple. You either love food and think about it constantly, or you don’t. And non-food folk scare the living jeebus out of me because they never have anything to eat at their house, parties which there is supposed to be food means the food will always be scarce because they actually think a box of macaroni and cheese is supposed to serve four people which is absolutely HILARIOUSLY silly, and where if you get more than seconds at their house, you’ll look like you haven’t eaten in six weeks and you’re a glutton. It’s a lose-lose, people.
And for some reason, I have the uncanny ability of choosing friends who are non-food people. So I’ll go to their house and I’m feeling rather peckish, and they’ll be like, “we have some Raisin Bran” and I’m like OH MY GOD HOW ARE YOU LIVING RIGHT NOW because there’s nary a box of crackers or a granola bar or a banana in sight and obviously people don’t choose to keep Raisin Bran on hand for guests who like food. I mean, Raisin Bran? I thought we were friends. What the hell.
Anyway, just so we’re clear, I am always a food person, so if you ever come to my house, you’re welcome to my pantry which is always stocked with stuff in preparation for a future apocalypse in which none of the nearby grocery stores carry cereal, chips or cake mix. Seriously — it appears at first glance that is all my family eats. And well, it’s basically true.
And if you come over, I’ll be sure to tempt you foodies with some delightful cookies. Together, we’ll eat cookies, shun Raisin Bran forever, and then go out to Red Robin and proceed to eat six baskets of extra crispy fries together because that’s what foodie friends do, dangit.
And I am your foodie friend for life.
Chocolate Peanut Butter Heart Chip Cookies *adapted from the Rainbow M&M Cookies recipe
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ⅓ cup smooth peanut butter
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- ½ tsp salt
- ⅓ cup peanut butter chips
- ⅓ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- About 28 chocolate peanut butter heart candies (I found mine by Palmer's at the Dollar Tree--holla)
- First, make yo' dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together the butter, peanut butter and sugars until creamy. Add in the egg and vanilla and beat to combine. Pour in the flour, soda, cornstarch and salt and gently beat until a soft dough comes together. Stir in the peanut butter + chocolate chips evenly. Chill the dough approx. 30 min-1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with silicone liners or mist lightly with cooking spray. Drop heaping Tablespoonfuls of dough about 1-2" apart on the baking sheets. Bake for approx. 8-10 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time, until set and golden. Remove from oven.
- A minute after taking the cookies out, gently press an unwrapped peanut butter heart candy in the center of the cookie. Allow the cookies to set on the cookie sheets about 10 minutes before transferring carefully to a wire rack to cool completely. Store the cookies airtight, at room temperature, up to a week.
ERMAHGERD, GUYS. These cookies rock my socks! The peanut butter/chocolate chip cookie base is my favorite basic cookie recipe because it’s chewy, soft, and totally luscious. I love how the edges crisp up as it bakes, giving that nice texture along the outer rim of each bite. And the pockets of melty peanut butter + semi sweet chips are positively irresistible. Then, of course, you have that huge chocolate peanut butter heart pressed smack-dab in the middle, providing a gooey, warm center for these tasty treats! If you want to be super fancy, sprinkle some sea salt on top just after pressing the candy in the middle. Or substitute caramel-filled candies for a fun sweet-and-salty twist.
Have a good day!
xo, Hayley
Yum hayley! Everything is better with peanut butter.
These are AWESOME. Non-food people make terrible friends. And hosts. I mean, if you are a non-food person that invites people over, you HAVE to make sure there’s good food, even if none of your friends are food people. It’s a rule I think. A rule that should nevah evah evah be broken.
SERIOUSLY though. Non-food people just need to be alone with a good piece of pizza and some chips and they’ll be converted in no time 🙂
I am totally a food person. A rule for parties or anyone coming over is, I’d rather have too much than not enough. If I end up with lots of leftovers…no cooking for me!!! YAY!
Lori, I want to come to your house. Like, yesterday. YUM.
Ha ha, funny post! I’m a total food person! But I want good food! I hate when I am at someone’s house and they serve a really lame dessert. I hate wasting calories on a crappy dessert! Good think I can come to your house for some REAL dessert!
I am (and have been for quite some time) DATING a non-food person. It is THE worst. I actually used to bring snacks with me to go see him and his parents were all like “that’s sort of weird” and I wanted to be like “NO having one lone bagel or some chex mix is NOT the same as having cheez its or actual food”. Ahem. So I’m so glad you get me! I feel less insane now. Also, please send some cookies to my non-food boyfriend so that I can eat them ALL when I visit 😉
OMG I am not alone! Seriously, Jess, I am SO that way, too! I always bring snacks because you never know what the situation is at someone else’s house where they have like, a lone can of Beefaroni and some bread IN THE FRIDGE which I’M SORRY BUT THAT’S WEIRD OMG. Lol, sorry–rant 🙂 let’s eat together!!
You just told the story of my life. AND the story of marrying into my husband’s family, a group of people who are seriously non-food lovin’ folk. I’m sorry, but you can’t put out a bag of frittos and some baby carrots and call that a party. You just CAN’T.
AMEN. A bag of Fritos and baby carrots sounds like the worst party ever. Thankfully your hubby has you to spice things up with some yumminess!!
I’m totally a food person and I HATE going to parties where there’s nothing to eat!!! (ok…to be fair…there aren’t usually a ton of snacks around here but that’s because I’d rather eat a full meal or like…cookies….than chips. Plus ya know, if they’re around…I’ll eat em. Then get fatter)
On another note OMG THESE COOKIES LOOK SO CHOCOLATEY PEANUT BUTTERY GOOD YUM YUM YUMMMMMMMMMM!
1. These are too cute!
2. YES!?! How do people live with only rice, coffee and canned fruit in their cupboards?! C’mon! Throw a Fig Newton in there or something! I feel it is my duty on earth to always bring baked treats when I visit these types of homes.
3. Bonus points for use of the word “peckish.”
4. Have I mentioned I love the redesign?
These are so, so cute!! Great price too for the hearts.
Yum, these look delightful, Hayley! Nothing beats chocolate and peanut butter, in my opinion 😀
And omg what a nightmare! My friend and I threw a party a few weeks ago and we were the ones that ended up cooking for like 100 people, when there were only 15 girls coming. Lol. But on the bright side, there was more food for us! Hehe…
Love the redesign, by the way!
These are adorable, Hayley! Seriously pumped with flavor!
You can never go wrong with chocolate and peanut butter. And I love the addition of cornstarch…it’s my new favorite trick!
And you poor, poor thing. Come to DC and I’ll feed you lots of food. One solution that I always use is to offer to bring food. That way I know there will be food and it’s delicious. Because ya just never know….
These sound delicious. Like I need to make these in my near future, fo sho. And I love those chocolate hearts, it’s like a match made in heaven.
I think I have even numbers of non-foodie friends and foodie friends…although when I make plans to see my non-foodie friends, I try to schedule it for a non-meal time (after lunch, before dinner or after dinner), to try to avoid the awkward, “Well I have cereal or a frozen pizza?” O_o Um, no, thank you.
Thanks for sharing..I dated a non-food person..oh my gosh! never again…he was so tight his shoes sqeeeecked.lol…
I am totally a food person. And a fun person
I get very frustrated with my non food friends. WTF? I love food, and I especially love these cookies. Peanut butter makes everything better. Will you send me these for Valentines Day??? Please!!!
Yes, as long as you’re my Valentine 🙂
I just made these and my dough is crumbly….is there something I did wrong or was yours that way too? They came out good, just crumbly! 🙂
Hey Kathy! My dough was a little on the crumbly side, too. That’s okay! Next time, you can try adding a bit more butter to your mix–about 3/4 cup. I’m going to try that variation next time around, too!
What’s a non-food person? I don’t understand this strange terminology you’re using.
I do understand that these cookies need to be in my pie-hole, though. They look so soft and puffy and perfect.
Oh my gosh!! I want to be your foodie friend!!!! 🙂
Yay! Let’s be foodie friends forever <3 <3
Holy crap I love these cookies. I want to marry them. Because obviously they are foodie cookies and I could not live with a non-foodie. 🙂
Yum Hayley! Those peanut butter hearts are my favorite this time of year! And your cookies look so perfect!
I know for sure that I would go straight for the heart shaped chocolate piece! Wouldn’t suffer too much from having to eat that chocolate peanut butter cookie after though… They look awesome!
Can we be foodie friends? Because seriously, all my girlfriends are either on a cleanse or think celery is a food group. It’s not ok! I dont think even a couple of these cookies will change their ways which is a travesty. A travesty, I tell you!
#1, these cookies are adorable! Love the hearts! #2 Cracking up about food people versus nonfood people.
This cracked me up soo much!! It so much confirms my theory about food-lovers and people who are not. Guess where I fit in? If I know there is a gathering at night with pot-luck dinner (and I know who is going to contribute to it) I sometimes catch myself daydreaming about the food I’ll have that night and how delicious it’s going to be. Oh there are going to friends to talk to? A celebration going on? Nevermind, just tell me there is good food (even if its just the dish I am going to bring 😉
OMG Regina! Same here! I get so excited brainstorming food and what I’m going to make or I hope someone makes this kind of dip because I never have it and it sounds good, etc. We’re twins!
These cookies are absolutely adorable!! And I can only imagine how great they taste. I love the peanut butter and chocolate combination :).
These look incredibly awesome.
Oh my gosh! I hate non-food friends or food-friends who decide they want to go on a diet. Why even go on living?! And a party without gluttonous amounts of food is basically a work meeting. That’s my two cents.
I want to go to work meetings with you.
These were love at first sight, so I made’em. http://hungryredhead.com/2013/02/11/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-heart-cookies/ Heaven. And it took me so long to get my blog post together that I had to keep directing all my friends to your site because everyone instantly wanted to make them ASAP. Thanks Hayley!
Made these today and they were heavenly!!! Usually my first time using a recipe I find that it’s not perfect- I need to add more flour next time, less sugar, etc- but this recipe was on point! I was a little impatient and put the peanut butter heart candies on too soon because I was worried they wouldn’t stay on top if the cookie wasn’t soft from the oven, and the candies completely melted since the cookies were still hot ( no one was complaining though, still tasted amazing!). I waited longer to place the candies on top of the second round of cookies and they melted in just enough to become part of the cookie and still keep their heart shape!
Thanks so much for the recipe! Happy Valentine’s Day! xoxo
Hey Veronica, so glad they turned out for you! OMG, you’re not the only one–I, too, get so impatient. I want those candies on the cookies NOW, dangit! But that means it just creates those yummy, gooey puddles of chocolate peanut buttery goodness and who doesn’t like that?! YUM. So happy you enjoyed these!
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe! I made a batch for my fiancee to take to work with him…they were a huge hit! Even if they weren’t quite as “pretty” as yours lol.