Chocolate Reese's Pieces Cookies

Happy Halloween! We really don't get any trick-or-treater's where we live (unfortunately), but every once in awhile, a couple of our friends will stop by with their little girl, if they happen to be in the area on Halloween. I like to have a little something ready for her, just in case. I can't imagine what would be worse than stopping by a house for trick-or-treating, only to find that there was nothing there! Last Sunday, I bought a big ol' gummy spider for her, in case she stopped by. But the more I looked at it, the more I thought it might terrify a 3-year old. It gave me the perfect excuse to make cookies. Four dozen of them, in fact. I wanted something that was a bit "Halloween-y", but not too labor intensive. I visited The Sisters' Cafe to see what they'd been up to, and I found this recipe, which I changed up a teensy bit.
The original recipe from The Sisters' Cafe called for Reese's peanut butter chips, but I had mini-Reese's Pieces. Earl and Shirley were cleaning out their pantry and brought me a bag of mini-M&Ms and this bag of mini-Reese's pieces. David and I ate the bag of mini-M&Ms, but I decided to save these for something special. And today I decided they would make the perfect "Halloween-y" cookies! These cookies are wonderful! I have a horrible habit of overbaking cookies. I like a chewy cookie, but when I take cookies out of the oven at the point where they'll be chewy when cool, I convince myself that they're not fully baked. Then I end up with hard, crunchy cookies. Today, I resisted temptation and pulled the cookies from the oven at 9 minutes. They seemed raw, but once they cooled, they were perfectly chewy!
It's almost 9pm, and I'm pretty sure that official trick-or-treating hours are over. We didn't have a single spook, ghost, or goblin show up, so now I've got about 3 1/2 dozen yummy cookies in my kitchen begging to be eaten. Help!

Chocolate Reese's Pieces Cookies

The Sisters' Cafe

2 cups flour

3/4 cups cocoa powder

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/4 cup butter, softened (I used 1 cup)

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (10oz. bag) of Reese's peanut butter chips (or mini-Reese's Pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Whisk together dry ingredients and set aside. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips or Reese's Pieces. Drop by rounded tablespoons onto ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. Cookies will puff up during baking, but will flatten when cooled. Do not overbake! Cool slightly and remove to wire rack.