Blueberry Reese's Cookies

Once upon a time, my dad came to visit. We went to Culver's for lunch, and of course topped off our Butterburgers with Concrete Mixers. I got peanut butter with Reese's, and for some reason, my dad ordered blueberry with Reese's. I immediately guffawed and may or may not have cried, "Ew!" I chortled while we waited, imagining the taste bud cringe-inducing blend my dad was in store for.

It should be said that I do not have an illustrious history with blueberries. They were ruined for me in about 6th grade, when my best friend and I played food dares at a sleepover, and I was dared to eat a blueberry smeared in butter. It may sound relatively harmless... but trust me. It was disgusting. I gagged; it was a struggle to keep it moving the right direction down my throat.

The Concrete Mixers arrived. I dug into my peanut butter/Reese's concoction and was lost for a moment in a heavenly swirl of creamy, chocolatey, sweet nuttiness. Meanwhile, there were no faces being made by the Reese's/blueberry recipient to my left, nor any throat-clearing or gagging or any of many potential nosies of disgust. It turned out... he liked it. And when I asked for a bite to see for myself, wow. So did I.

I didn't think much of the incident afterwards, other than to remember it as an amusing anecdote from a wonderful day. That is, until yesterday, when I was brainstorming something to bake for our recently traditional Wednesday Night Movie & Baked Goods. For whatever reason, I was struck by sudden inspiration. If Reese's and blueberries were delicious in ice cream... why not in something else? Cookies, for example?

I knew right away that I wanted the blueberry to be inherent in the cookie dough itself, not tossed haphazardly in muffin style once the bulk of the dough had already been made. It was just a matter of figuring out how to render them the right consistency without access to a blender. I searched Foodgawker for other blueberry cookie recipes, but it turns out I'm something of a trailblazer in this field. The only ones I could find were basically blueberry muffins disguised as cookies. It wasn't until I looked at a recipe for blueberry ice cream that I settled on my strategy: boil them until they burst and exude their blueberry-ness into a sauce-like substance that could then be mixed into a standard cookie dough and coupled with Reese's.

Boiling blueberries was an adventure. It happens quickly. One minute they're just floating there, all black and wet, the next minute the water's bubbling and they're shedding their skins and exposing their magenta interiors and you get... this.

For the cookie dough, I adapted this chocolate chip cookie recipe, that Joy the Baker swears by for thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies (my fave!). Apparently, the secret to thick, chewy chocolate chip cookies is bread flour. I did not know this. Now I do. And I will not soon forget.

But this is Blueberry Reese's Cookies we're making, not chocolate chip. You should be prepared for the effect blueberries will have on your dough, because at first sight, it may be disconcerting.

At this point, I started to have doubts. I mean, it was blue. And I'd had to add a 1/2 cup extra flour because the boiled blueberries had added so much moisture to the dough. And it was blueberries. With Reese's. I mean, seriously?! But I wasn't too concerned. Delicious or disgusting, I was just excited to experience the results of my experiment! So I stuck the dough in the fridge to chill and went to dinner. When I came back, they turned into balls.

Then they went in the oven. And they came out looking like this:

Those cookies they're canoodling with are classic store-bought chocolate chip cookies my friend Maggie baked as a back-up. 

As for the end result... they were pretty good, but they need a little tweaking. The blueberry flavor is barely detectable, despite their bright blue color and the fact that they contain an entire package of blueberries. Maggie's store-bought cookies were generally preferred; they're all gone, and I have about a dozen leftovers.

I'm not ready to concede defeat, however. I'm already brainstorming ways to intensify the blueberry presence in the recipe. I've thought of maybe just going the muffin route and mixing whole blueberries in with the Reese's, but I don't know if I'm quite ready to give up on my dream of a solid blueberry base cookie. Would blueberry juice be more pungent? Or frozen blueberries? The quest for the perfect Blueberry Reese's Cookie shall continue. In the meantime, here's the recipe I used.

Blueberry Reese's Cookies

1 standard package fresh blueberries

2 sticks unsalted butter

2 ¼ cups bread flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

¼ cup sugar

1 ¼ cups brown sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons milk

1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1 package Reese's minis, crushed

Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium saucepan combine blueberries and butter. Heat over medium high heat until boiling and then reduce heat to medium. Stir occasionally and cook for about 5 minutes until saucy and most of the blueberries have burst. Remove from heat, put in a bowl and let cool in fridge for a few minutes. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda and set aside.

Pour the melted butter and blueberry mixture into bowl. Add the sugar and brown sugar. Cream the butter and sugars on medium speed. Add the egg, yolk, 2 tablespoons milk and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. 

Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in the Reese’s. Chill the dough (4 hours recommended), and then scoop onto parchment-lined baking sheets, 6 cookies per sheet. Bake for 14 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet for even browning. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.