Peanut Butter Snack Cookies

I made this recipe up based on some snacks I had left over from a party and wanted to use up. This was quite a yummy experiment and I may make these again whenever I am craving something a little different than my typical stand-by Peanut Butter cookie recipe.

These cookies have a delicate peanut butter flavor, not overpowering at all. This subtle flavor is a nice backdrop for addition of the variety of snacks I used. In this case I had some pretzel sticks, M&M’s, peanut butter M&Ms and threw in some peanut butter and milk chocolate chips for good measure. I also added a few quick cooking oats which enhanced the chewiness of the cookie without being too detectable (for the oatmeal haters out there, gasp)

I chilled my dough for about 5 hours since I had a house to clean. Even if you don’t have chores to do, I would recommend letting the dough chill for at least an hour or two to allow the flavors to blend and the chilled dough will help the cookies keep their shape while baking.

Make sure not to over bake these, if you do they will be pretty firm out of the oven, I made this mistake with one pan. If you watch them and take them out when they just turn golden you will be very happy!

The end result of this little experiment is a chewy cookie packed with sweet and slightly salty flavors. The outside of these cookies baked up slightly crisp while the interior remained soft and chewy. Fresh out of the oven these were very hard to refuse! After a day or so these did harden up a bit more than I would have liked but I threw a slice of bread in the sealed container with them and they softened right back up. A 10 second jolt in the microwave before eating will produce the same results but also provide you with a warm and gooey treat as well!

I rate this recipe an 8

Peanut Butter Snack Cookies
1 stick (8 TBS butter) softened
½ cup peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
½ TBS milk
2 cups flour
½ cup quick-oats
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
¼ cup peanut butter chips
¼ cup chocolate chips
½ cup broken pretzel sticks
½ cup M&Ms
½ cup peanut butter M&Ms

Preheat oven to 350.

Line baking sheets with parchement paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and peanut butter. Once combined beat in the white sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Beat in the egg, milk, and vanilla.

In a large bowl wisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently add to creamed mixture and mix until almost combined.

Fold in the oatmeal and snack additions just until combined.

Chill dough at least 60 minutes.

With a tablespoon, place balls of dough on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned.

Remove from oven and cool on baking sheets for 5-10 minutes until sturdy enough to be transfered to a wire rack to cool completely.