I cannot begin to tell you how happy I am to write this post. It's a blustery day here in Boston (oh, by the way, I moved — I haven't posted in about a year, so just filling you in....reader), and I just got back after a long visit back home for Thanksgiving where I made the most amazing chocolate chip cookies. 

To send it back several months, I moved into a new apartment with an oven that has seen better days, so, of course, I wanted to break it in with a couple chocolate chip cookie recipes. My mom and I have been taking chocolate chip recipes around the block for YEARS (mainly her, but I have witnessed this), and just hadn't really landed on one that met the necessary qualifications: crispy edges, salty/sweet balance, gooey inside, taller structure, and TASTY AF. 

Long story short, I have tried an insane amount of recipes and felt like a failure — too floury, rock solid, too oaty, not enough flavor, takes too much time, etc. BUT THEN, my mom informed me that one of my favorite Instagram food bloggers @hipfoodiemom1 had posted a riff off of Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Table's chocolate chip cookie recipe. So, like the obedient daughter I am, I whipped up a batch of these babies and BY GOLLY, they were amazing.

I made another batch after coming back to the North with a few edits of my own to riff off the actual riff off of the OG. Note that the butter is salted as well. Most people purchase unsalted butter, but trust me, salted butter is necessary. It's cookie season y'all!

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. 
2. In a stand mixer (or a trusty spatula and bowl), blend the cubed, cold butter and the brown sugar on high until the butter is about the size of peas. 
3. Add in one egg at a time until well mixed, then add the vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda, and salt. 
5. Blend the dry mixture with the wet mixture in small increments until fully incorporated.
6. Pour in the chocolate chips and mix!
7. Using a cookie scoop or small ice cream scoop, scoop (oy) six balls of dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet. 
8. Bake for 12 minutes or until slightly puffed up and light brown on the edges. 

*Tip: Add chocolate chips to the top of each cookie dough ball before placing in the oven, then slam the tray on the counter to achieve the "chocolate pool" method.

 Hellooooo and good morning — I'm posting this winner up on the blog because so many people reached out after seeing my Instagram story (featured above) and wanted a recipe! I wasn't intending on posting anything for this, but it got so many responses that I figured I would go on ahead and post the recipe. 

This honestly took less than ten minutes, and all it requires is six ingredients, cupcake liners and a perfectly functional freezer — I'm pretty sure you could use the fridge too, but the freezer is definitely a move. 

Let's be real, fam, who doesn't like chocolate and peanut butter? And yes, some of you have tree nut allergies and whatnot, BUT you could also fill these bad boys with a little dollop of jam or honey or coconut butter or whatever your heart desires. These are gluten free, refined sugar-free, dairy-free....and are super easy to pull off...and to make it even BETTER...surprisingly enough (or maybe not surprising at all) all of these ingredients are from Trader Joe's! The homeland!

LET US BEGIN. *Quick side note, because I hadn't planned on posting this recipe and only made a single serving, I didn't take any other pictures than the one above. Maybe I'll make more in the future...but I was inspired by these almond butter guys over at  Pinch of Yum. 

Here are some quick little buzz words for all of you wondering what they taste like:

A smidge coconutty (three words, sorry not sorry)
Fudgey
Happy
Lovey
REMINISCENT of real peanut butter cups, but they aren't so that's fine. 
Totally guilt-free
Healthy fats, am I right?

You might just want to eyeball some of these to meet your personal taste preferences.

• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/2 cup cacao powder
• 1/4 cup maca powder (optional, you can just supplement with cacao if you want)
• Agave to taste
• 3 Tbsp of flax meal
• 1/2 cup of nut butter of choice — I used Trader Joe's chia and flax peanut butter

1. Gather about 12 cupcake liners (more or less depending on how thick you want yours) and place them in muffin tin. 
2. In a small bowl, melt coconut oil in microwave for about 15-30 seconds until liquid. 
3. In small increments, add cacao and maca powders to the melted coconut oil until blended, and add agave as needed (I found I only needed about a tablespoon). Then once evenly mixed, add flax meal. 
4. Using a glass measuring cup or a spoon, pour a thin layer of the cacao-coconut mixture into the bottom of the liners. 
5. Pop those bad boys in the freezer for about 5 minutes or until mostly hard — coconut oil melts and solidifies fairly easily, so this should not take long.
6. Dollop a small spoonful of nut butter (or jam/coconut butter) into the center of the cupcake liners on top of the already hardened chocolate. 
7. Top off each cup with the remaining chocolate mixture and ensure the nut butter is covered completely. 
8. Place them back in the freezer for 5 minutes or until hard, and they are ready to enjoy!

*I might make more this weekend, so I can take nice photos of them all cute and stacked and whatnot..... :)*

Peace, love, and peanut butter cups.