Peanut Butter Candy Bar Cookies

It's hard to believe that I've posted five savory food posts since the last sugar filled post.  Some people might think that's a good thing but I think it's terrible.  Consider it rectified because there's a lot of sweets coming at you in the next few days.

We live in a neighborhood with a ton of kids.  Last year was our first Halloween in this neighborhood and, luckily, our neighbors warned us that we would get a ton of trick-or-treaters and to stock up on candy.  We bought a ton and gave out every piece of it (aside from the few I set aside for us to eat).  This year I expected the same and bought another ton of candy but the stream of candy hungry kiddos was not as robust as we had last year.  It was a little rainy out so maybe some kids called it quits early (althought I don't remember that stopping me when I was a kid) but regardless of the reason I was left with a crapload of leftover Halloween candy.  Luckily, I noticed that the candy wasn't disappearing as quickly as it did last year and started giving out extra, especially the sugar candy.  I knew that if I could at least get rid of the sugar candy, I would find something to do with all the chocolate.  This is not a house in which chocolate is wasted.

CA has been doing his duty in eating the leftovers.  I've come downstairs a few times in the last week to piles of candy wrappers on the dining room table or in the trash can... primarily of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cup variety (I don't think I'll need to bake anything with Reese's cups!).  However, there's no way anyone can eat all this candy.  Their teeth would rot off before they were done.  Instead of paying into the college fund of our dentist's children, I've baked a lot of it into treats.

The first (and my favorite so far) of the candy treats are these peanut butter cookies with candy centers. 

The peanut butter cookie base is pretty standard - butter, peanut butter, white and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder and baking soda mixed together in the standard cookie making way... cream butter and PB with the sugars, add eggs and vanilla, add dry stuff.  Done.

The original recipe calls for a cup of creamy peanut butter.  Shockingly, I did not have a full cup of peanut butter in my house so I used half PB and half almond butter.  You can substitute nut butters for each other pretty consistently in recipes - it will taste differently but they all react the same during the baking process.  In addition to the peanut butter shortage, I also only had crunchy PB, not creamy.  If you don't mind a little crunch in your cookie you can always make this substitution as well.

The fun part of these cookies comes in the form of the candy surprise inside each one.  I had an assortment of mini candy bar options so I used both Milky Way and Snickers bars.  Once they're wrapped up you have no way of knowing which is inside so not only does the presence of the bar surprise you but which bar is also a surprise. 

These bake up really nicely with a little mound in the middle that hints to a surprise inside (except for the ones I did a terrible job of covering and the surprise is a bit prematurely revealed).

I love these little guys.  They remind me of peanut butter blossoms (those peanut butter cookies with the Hershey Kiss on top) except that the chocolate is hidden and has a little extra oomph from the extra ingredients inside the candy bar.  The cookies is soft and chewy, just like I like 'em.

Peanut Butter Candy Bar Cookies

adapted from Your Homebased Mom

Ingredients
1 cup Butter, at room temperature
1 cup Peanut Butter or other Nut Butter (I used 1/2 PB and 1/2 Almond Butter
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Baking Powder
45-50 Miniature Candy Bars (the smallest, bite sized ones, not the fun size)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter, peanut or nut butter, sugar and brown sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix on low speed until just combined.  Add the flour, baking soda and baking powder and mix on low speed until just combined.

Take a small scoop of dough and flatten it in the palm of your hand.  Place a candy bar in the center and fold the dough around it.  Roll it in between your hands to form a smooth ball with the candy totally covered by the dough. 

Place on a sheet pan and bake for 10-12 minutes until golden brown and set.  Let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Enjoy!
Julie