Vikings player Trae Waynes unwinds and bakes cookies for the holidays

MOUND, Minn. (KMSP) - As the Vikings near the end of a long, grueling regular season with hopes of making a solid playoff run, their players are taking a little time to unwind. 

“It was a tough loss, but one way some of us get away from the game is, you know, making cookies,” defensive back Trae Waynes said. 

Now in his third season, 25-year-old Waynes has been part of a stingy Vikings defense. And after a tough loss he’s remembering the holidays. 

Wayne, his fiancée Kyra Luther and their daughter Layla invited Fox 9’s Jeff Passolt into their home to unwind and get in the holiday spirit together. 

With holiday tunes playing, they mixed, measured and baked peanut butter cup cookies together. 

Here’s the recipe if you’d like to make the tasty treats, too. 

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies Recipe (from Allrecipes.com)

Ingredients:
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 
½ teaspoon salt 
1 teaspoon baking soda 
½ cup butter, softened 
½ cup white sugar 
½ cup peanut butter 
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg, beaten 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons milk
40 miniature chocolate covered peanut butter cups, unwrapped 

Directions:
1)    Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Sift together the flour, salt and baking soda; set aside. 
2)    Cream together the butter, sugar, peanut butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla and milk. Add the flour mixture; mix well. Shape into 40 balls and place each into an ungreased mini muffin pan. 
3)    Bake at 375 degrees for about 8 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately press a mini peanut butter cup into each ball. Cool and carefully remove from pan.