Take 5 Cookie Bars

I really love Take 5 candy bars, but I will admit that I almost never purchase them at the store. Sometimes, I will come across a little bar around Halloween, but that’s about it. My father would always make Take 5 bars in a fudge version, and honestly those were probably better than the actual candy bars. I don’t see that I have made and posted that recipe, so that will certainly need to be on my list for holiday baking.

Most of the ingredients used in these bars are things I have on hand. The different chips I usually have on hand, usually have pretzels, and sometimes have peanuts. My mom had a big container of peanuts, and she said I could take some, so that’s where my peanuts came from. Thanks Mom! Pretzels I had fancy seasoned ones (not good here) but also little packs of traditional twist pretzels. The small packs keep us from using/eating some of the pretzels and then letting the rest of the bag go stale.

These came together quickly, even though there are lots of ingredients. It makes sense as Take 5 bars combines all sorts of flavors! For the pretzels, I opened up a little bag at a time and stopped when it seemed like the cookie base was covered. (I think I used 2 little bags?) I used just 2 cups of chocolate chips for the topping, and I could have used a little more, but I didn’t want the chocolate to be too thick. These cut wonderfully, even in my kitchen which is on the warm side. Some others noted that the bar cookie separated from the chocolate/pretzel layer, but I didn’t have any issue. These are so good. Do I like the cookies bars or the fudge more? Hmm, I’m not sure…

Take 5 Cookie Bars
½ cup butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla 
½ cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups flour
1 cup chopped peanuts
½ cup peanut butter chips
¾ cup caramel baking bits
2 cups broken pretzels
2-3 cups chocolate chips
1 Tablespoon shortening 

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9”x13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar on medium until fluffy. Add the eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter and beat again on medium. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the dry ingredients until a soft dough forms. Stir in the peanuts, peanut butter chips, and caramel bits by hand. Spread the dough in the prepared pan. 

Bake for about 25 minutes, until browned along the edges. Cool completely.

When the bars are cool, melt the chocolate chips and shortening in a microwave-safe bowl, stirring every 30 seconds to prevent burning. Lay the broken pretzels on top of the cooled bars and spread the melted chocolate on top. Let it set at room temperature before cutting into bars with a hot knife.

Recipe from Inside BruCrew Life

Peanut Butter and Jelly and Nutella Cookies

At work, my friend recently moved from a temporary position to a permanent one, which is reason to celebrate! We all have the favorites that we love to eat, and one day I noticed that she was having peanut butter and jelly. She corrected me and said it was peanut butter and jelly and Nutella. I knew immediately that I wanted to recreate those three items together in a cookie. 

I found a couple of PB&J recipes that I felt I could alter to include Nutella as well. I chose the recipe you see below, but I made a ganache with Nutella, instead of using peanut butter ganache. I also used the Nutella ganache as a drizzle to finish the cookies. I had thought about adding chopped hazelnuts to garnish as well, but perhaps that would have been too much.

These cookies are quite large, and they are a little fussy. The dough is sticky, but I could work with that. The cookies came out of the oven really flat, so I had to shape them a bit (using this method). Make sure the ganache cools a bit before using it, or it will be too runny. I used seedless raspberry jam, but you have lots of options, and heating the jam slightly helps a lot. These cookies, while huge and a bit delicate, are fantastic. They were so enjoyed and I had several people come to me and say they were just the best!!

Peanut Butter and Jelly and Nutella Cookies
1-1/2 cups flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup + 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 egg + 1 yolk at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter 

1 cup Nutella
¾ cup heavy cream
Raspberry Jam

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Beat on medium for 2 minutes. Scrape down the bowl, then add the eggs and vanilla. Mix again on medium to combine. Mix in the peanut butter. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour mixture, until the soft dough comes together. 

Separate the dough into 24 portions. Shape each portion into a flattened bowl, and then make an indentation in each cookies. The dough is quite sticky, so it may help to wet your hands or use nonstick spray . Place on a parchment covered plate or baking sheet and refrigerate for at least one hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
Place 6 cookies on each baking sheet. Bake for 9-10 minutes, until set.

Once the cookies come out of the oven, reshape the cookies as needed, and press the center of the cookies to make a deeper indentation. Allow the cookies to set and cool. 

Make the ganache: place the Nutella in a medium bowl. Heat the heavy cream until almost boiling. Pour the hot cream over the Nutella and allow it to sit for two minutes. Slowly whisk the mixture until the ganache is smooth and shiny. Allow to cool slightly before assembling the cookies. 

Assemble the cookies: fill the indentation in the cookie with the cooled Nutella ganache, and then top with a dallop of raspberry jam (heated to make it more viscous). Abstractly drizzle some additional Nutella ganache to finish the cookies. 

Recipe inspired by In Bloom Bakery
Ganache recipe from Sugar & Sparrow

Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies

I, like so many folks out there, have a lot of candy in the house. I do try and find recipes that use candy of different forms, but there are only so many recipes. I see a lot of brownie recipes that call for chopped candy, and they do tend to work best as the caramel in candy bars can spread during the baking process. Still, I wanted to make cookies, so I chose these peanut butter cookies with Snickers.

The original recipe said that you can chop up Snickers bars or use Snickers baking bites- but since I am trying to use up candy that’s in the house, I chopped up the Snickers that I had. To try and minimize the risk of caramel spilling out, I refrigerated the bars before chopping them into pieces. I was hopeful that this would help!

I think that cutting the candy bars straight from the refrigerator was a good idea. I made half a recipe (of the ingredients listed here) and made about three dozen cookies. One batch I shaped the cookies and then refrigerated them for a little over 10 minutes. That worked well, but it wasn’t significantly different than the batches that weren’t chilled at all. A couple of areas of messy caramel, but not bad at all. These smelled wonderful while baking, and the combination of Snickers, in a peanut butter cookie, with crunchy peanuts was excellent!

Peanut Butter Snickers Cookies
1-1/2 cups peanut butter
1 cup butter, room temperature 
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1-3/4 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt 
2 cups chopped Snickers Bars 
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup peanuts

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat on medium the peanut butter, butter, sugar, and brown sugar until creamy. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again to incorporate. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the chopped Snickers, peanut butter chips, and peanuts with a spatula.

Shape the dough into 1 tablespoon balls and place on the prepared baking sheets.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until set and beginning to brown along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Love from the Oven

Brownie Brittle

This week I needed to make something fairly quickly, so I started looking through all of the recipes I have saved. I had one recipe that I wanted to make, but it makes quite a few cookies so I will wait to make those. Bar cookies are usually quick to make, but I like to let them chill for a while before cutting them into bars, so those were off the table. I came across these brittle cookies, and they looked perfect.

I have made a brownie cookie that is similar to this recipe, so I figured that these would also be successful. Those cookies were gluten free, but these cookies have ½ cup flour, so a little bit different. Gluten-free cookies are often sticky, and the original blogger noted that these should be crispy. Mine came out of the oven a tiny bit sticky, but I figured that it would lessen as they cool.

The brittle did become firmer as they cooled, but I wouldn’t call them crispy. The edges are crispy, but the edges tend to fly across the kitchen when I cut them. I topped my brittle with chocolate and peanut butter chips, as I didn’t want to chop nuts. You can honestly top these with anything you’d like, which I love! I cut my brittle with a pizza cutter and that worked great! This makes some very tasty cookie in a short amount of time!

Brownie Brittle
2 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla 
1/2 cup flour
3 tablespoons cocoa powder 
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
 1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the egg whites until frothy. Beat in the sugar and mix well to combine. Add the oil and vanilla and beat to combine. With the mixer running on low, add the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. 

Spread the brownie batter on the parchment paper. Using a metal spatula, spread the batter thinly; when I was finished the batter was about 9”x 12”. Top the batter evenly with the chocolate and peanut butter chips.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until set and firm, but not too dry. Allow the brittle to cool before cutting into random pieces.

Recipe from Princess Pinky Girl

Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

These cookies were made by my husband, and he doesn’t bake as much as he’d like, so I wanted to highlight these great cookies that he made. They had a cookie extravaganza recently with his colleagues, and these were his choice. People made all sorts of different cookie flavors, but sometimes you just want a classic. This is a classic that can’t be beat!

My husband shared the nuances of making this cookie, but he didn’t change much from the original. The quantities are listed in grams because he said that was an easier measure, and I completely agree. Peanut butter cookies can get dry if there is too much flour, and weighing the ingredients helps. He also noted that he used the Hawaiian sea salt instead of plain salt. The original recipe said to sprinkle the cookies with additional salt, and that step seemed unnecessary.

One thing that I thought was unusual was that these cookies don’t need to be chilled. They are typically too sticky to bake right away, but there was no issue with these. They baked up perfectly and started out puffy but flattened as they cooled. They were soft and they remained soft even after a couple of days! This is a great recipe and my husband is excited to make these again with different mix-ins.

Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup (256 g) smooth peanut butter 
16 tablespoons (226 g) butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 g) sugar
1 1/3 cup (293 g) packed dark brown sugar 
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 1/4 cups (304 g) flour 
Additional sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper (or silicone baking mats).

In a large mixer bowl, combine the peanut butter, butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Beat on medium for 5 minutes, until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt and mix for another minute. 

With the mixer running on low, add the flour, beating for about 20-30 seconds. Do not over mix.

Using a 1 tablespoon scoop, scoop the dough into balls. Roll each dough ball in additional sugar. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes. The cookies will still be soft, but that is what you want. They will be puffy but will deflate as they cool. Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely. 

Recipe from Displaced Housewife 

Crunchy Nut Bars

I often go through recipes looking for items that contain a certain ingredient. I may have a stock of a certain type of chips or a type of cereal, and I want to find recipes that will use those items. While I am pretty good at checking to make sure that I haven’t made a recipe previously, it’s not a perfect science. Names of recipes change, as well as some of the ingredients, and I’m none the wiser that I have made the item before.

This recipe is one that I have basically made before, but enough things changed, so I didn’t recognize it right away. This is a classic Pillsbury Bake Off recipe, which is very tasty, but I did want to make this different. This recipe uses a cake mix base, which is good now that it’s summer and the house is warm. It’s a short-cut I use from time to time. I also changed the nuts; the original called for roasted peanuts, and I ended up using the butter toffee mixed nuts that I had on hand. Ok, it’s a bit of a sweet cookie adding more things that are sweet, but life goes on.

Using the cake mix did save a couple of minutes, so that is an option when you are pressed for time. I don’t struggle that much when making dough, but others have different experiences. Puffing the marshmallows really adds to these bars, giving them that soft but melty texture. I did worry that using butter toffee nuts would be over the top. They are sweet, but not overly so. It’s hard to think of peanut butter chips as a “savory” option, but they do help balance these bars.

Crunchy Nut Bars
1 yellow cake mix
1/3 cup butter, room temperature
1 egg
3 cups mini marshmallows

10 ounces peanut butter chips
2/3 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups butter toffee nuts (or roasted peanuts)

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the cake mix, 1/3 cup butter, and egg. Stir on low until the mixture becomes crumbly and the dough starts to come together. Press the dough into the prepared pan.

Bake for 12-18 minutes, until golden.

Immediately top the bars with 3 cups of mini marshmallows, distributing evenly. Return the pan to the oven to puff the marshmallows, for about 90 seconds. Remove the bars from the oven.

Make the topping: in a medium saucepan, combine the peanut butter chips, corn syrup, butter, and vanilla. Heat on low, stirring frequently, until the mixture is smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the Rice Krispies and the nuts.

Spoon the topping over the puffed marshmallows as evenly as possible. This can be a bit fussy, so don’t try to rush. Refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting into bars.

Recipe from It’s a Keeper

Monster Cookie Cheesecake Bars

I still had Reese’s Pieces left after I made the cute bunny cookies. I wanted to try something different, and I came across these cheesecake bars. Monster Cookies and Monster Cookie Bars are not unusual, but I did a search and I haven’t made anything in this family of baking, which I thought was strange. I knew I could use the Reese’s Pieces in this recipe, as it was already peanut butter-forward.

Since I was making a peanut butter variation, I decided to use peanut butter chips in place of the traditional chocolate chips. I only had about half a cup (and not the 1 cup that the recipe requested) but that didn’t seem to make a difference. I also substituted Reese’s Pieces for the M&Ms. You can add additional Reese’s Pieces on top of the bars after they have baked, but I tried and all the extra Reese’s Pieces fell off when I cut them into bars.

There are a lot of ingredients in these bars, including 4 eggs! I planned to make these earlier in the week but I didn’t have eggs or aluminum foil. Then I was half-way through making the bars and I realized I had less-fat cream cheese and I don’t use that for baking. A quick trip to the store and I was sorted, and then the bars came together. They are very substantial, but even so they cut very easily. They have a perfect peanut butter flavor, and the cheesecake layer adds a lovely tang.

Monster Cookie Cheesecake Bars
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup oats
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
3/4 cup Reese’s Pieces

16 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” baking pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. On medium, mix in the peanut butter. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix to combine. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and oats. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour/oat mixture and stir until a dough forms. Fold in the chips and Reese’s Pieces.   

Divide the dough into halves. Press half of the dough into the prepared pan. The remaining dough will become the topping.

Bake the bottom crust for 5 minutes. While the bottom crust is baking, prepared the cheesecake layer: in a mixer bowl, combine the cream cheese, sugar, and eggs. Mix until the batter is smooth and any lumps of cream cheese have been incorporated.

Once the cookie base comes out of the oven, pour the cream cheese mixture over the base and smooth the top. Crumble the remaining cookie dough over the cheesecake layer.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the cheesecake is set and the bars are browned along the edges. Chill for several hours before cutting into bars.

Recipe from The Girl Who Ate Everything

The Best Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

I love a good peanut butter cookie and I have made a number of different variations of cookies with peanut butter. I came across this recipe and it is called “The Best.” Well, that is certainly up to discussion, but I thought that these had a good combination of peanut and peanut butter flavors. Whether they are the best ones ever is something that you can decide, but they are really tasty cookies!

I often make a half batch of cookies, in order to have a more reasonable amount of cookies around. (Hmm, I’m not even sure what that means. Oh well.) I did a full batch of these cookies as I was taking them to work, and I perhaps could have made a half batch. This made just over five dozen cookies, which is a lot. The original blogger noted that it would make a much smaller number, so the cookies she made must have been huge.

When I first started making peanut butter cookies, I often struggled getting the texture right. They were usually too dry. That isn’t a problem any more, and I am not exactly sure what makes the difference. These cookies, with the inclusion of honey roasted peanuts, have a nice crunch and overall the cookies are soft. The look extra special with the peanut butter chips on the top- not required but a good thing to add!

The Best Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
1 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
¼ teaspoon almond extract
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
2-⅔ cup flour
1 cup of peanut butter chips
1 cup of honey roasted peanuts
Additional peanut butter chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the melted butter, sugar, and brown sugar. Mix on medium until combined. Add the peanut butter, almond extract, and vanilla and stir again to combine. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the baking soda and salt, and then with the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour. When the flour in the dough is almost completely incorporated, stir in the peanut butter chips and the honey roasted peanuts.

Shape the dough into 1-1/4” rounds and place on the prepared baking sheets. Top each cookie with additional peanut butter chips.

Bake for 11-13 minutes, until the cookies are golden and are just beginning to brown along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Fat Girl Hedonist

Nutter Butter Bars

I did a lot of baking recently for a retirement party, but I still wanted to make cookies to share with folks at work. It’s been really strange baking for work, as we have a big mix of people on campus and off, and all sorts of activities happening as well. I wanted to make something that was popular with lots of folks, and I know that peanut butter is typically a winner.

This bar cookie calls for chopped Nutter Butter bars, both in the dough and sprinkled on top of the bars. I had all of the ingredients except the Nutter Butter cookies, but I knew I’d be stopping next to a grocery store. The grocery store had chocolate covered Nutter Butter cookies and Nutter Butter cookies with twice the filling. No regular Nutter Butter cookies? I figured that the extra filled Nutter Butters would be fine.

This recipe originally called for the Nutter Butter cookies and the addition of milk chocolate chips. I had already decided that I was going to leave out the chocolate chips, as I figured that the Nutter Butter cookies were rich enough. I guess if I would have used the chocolate covered Nutter Butters and done it all in one step! I liked keeping the recipe just with peanut butter flavor. These bars baked up with no fuss and also cut easily. I love the ease of the bars and the peanut butter flavor!

Nutter Butter Bars
½ cup butter
2 cups brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
12 Nutter Butter cookies, chopped
Additional chopped Nutter Butter cookies

Heat the oven to 350. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter and brown sugar and mix until creamy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla, mixing on medium until combined. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Stir until almost combined and then fold in the 12 chopped Nutter Butter cookies with a spatula.

Press the dough into the prepared pan. The dough is sticky, so you may need to use your hands to press the dough in evenly. Top the dough with additional chopped Nutter Butter cookies. (I used 5 chopped Nutter Butter cookies.)

Bake for 28-30 minutes, until the bars begin to brown around the edges. Allow them to cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from Six Sisters’ Stuff

Butterfinger Browned Butter Cookies

I have been coming across recipes recently that call for chopped up Butterfinger candy bars. While I find Butterfingers a little difficult to eat, I think chopped up in a cookie recipe would be lovely. I knew that they now make Butterfinger Bits, which are pre-chopped Butterfingers, which sounded much better than cutting them myself. I guess they aren’t carried by every grocery store, but they weren’t too hard to track down.

These cookies are classic, with the only variation being the inclusion of browned butter. I have made browned butter a number of times, and it isn’t hard but it is important to pay attention as the butter browns. I occasionally get the heat too hot, and I consistently must remind myself to not have the heat on high. I can burn quickly, and if your butter burns that will be all you can taste.

Letting the dough chill with these cookies is important, so take your time making them. If the butter is too warm it can impact other ingredients, which is not good. Once baked, these cookies are a little puffy but they flatten as they cool, making some perfectly round cookies! The Butterfingers add a lovely buttery taste and if you don’t pay attention, you could eat a lot of these in a sitting!

Butterfinger Browned Butter Cookies
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup chopped Butterfingers/Butterfinger Bits

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. The butter will melt and start to foam. Watch as the butter cooks, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter begins to brown and smells nutty. Once the butter is golden brown, remove from the heat and transfer to a small dish. Cool the butter to room temperature.

Once the butter is cool, make the dough. In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. The dough should be glossy. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir until incorporated and then fold in the Butterfinger Bits.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into 1-1/2 tablespoon mounds and place on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until golden. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Grandbaby Cakes

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies

From time to time, in an effort to make something resembling a chocolate chip cookie in order to appease my husband, I try to find something that is close to chocolate chip cookies. When I first came across this recipe, I wasn’t sure how close it would be, with the peanut butter in the dough and the mini marshmallows, but in the end, these were a very interesting take on chocolate chip cookies.

There isn’t anything unusual in these cookies, and the combination of peanut butter and marshmallow is becoming more common. I was sure that I had all of the ingredients for these, and I went to bake them and realized that I didn’t have mini marshmallows. I did have freeze-dried marshmallow bits, which are significantly smaller than mini marshmallows, but I figured they would work. I used all the marshmallow bits I had and now I have to find those again. Oh well!

These cookies come together like a traditional peanut butter cookie, but then you shape them before chilling. I have come across this in a handful of recipes and I think it helps cookies keep their shape, but I honestly haven’t done any sort of real testing to be sure. Chilling the dough did keep these cookies together very well, and I didn’t have an issue with them spreading. The combination of chocolate, peanut butter, and marshmallows was really interesting, and I really liked these cookies. It didn’t make a huge number of cookies, so I guess I will have to make them again!

Peanut Butter Marshmallow Cookies    
10 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1/4 cup sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 egg
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup mini marshmallows

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter on medium until creamy. Add the egg, stirring to combine, and then the vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. When the dough is almost together, add the mini chocolate chips and mini marshmallows and stir with a spatula to incorporate.

Shape the dough into 2-tablespoon balls and place on a plate lined with parchment paper. Refrigerate the dough for an hour.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Place 6-8 cookie dough balls on the prepared baking sheet, leaving plenty of room between the cookies as they may spread.

Bake for 13-15 minutes, until the cookies start to brown slightly along the edges. Allow to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Parsley and Icing

Reese’s Pieces Oat Cookies

Way back in the fall, my husband purchased a large box of Reese’s Pieces candy bars. I like Reese’s Pieces, but there are only so many that I can eat! I contributed a couple of bags to the food we offer students during finals, and that was well received. There were still quite a few left but I knew that I could use them in a recipe.

There are many recipes out there, but I chose this version with oats. I decided that I wanted to make this recipe gluten free, so that required a couple of changes. I omitted the chocolate chips, just for the sake of an easier recipe. The oats I have are gluten free, which only left 1 cup of flour. I used almond flour in its place. I did a fair amount of research, and different sites recommend using partial almond flour to sub for regular flour, perhaps add more leavening, or use less butter.

Since this recipe was fairly similar to another gluten free recipe, I decided I would do a one-to-one swap. It didn’t have that much butter, and the dough also contained peanut butter which has its own stickiness. I thought the dough was perfect; it wasn’t crumbly or too oily. They cookies baked up beautifully and were absolutely fine without additional leavening. These cookies are fantastic with a peanut butter flavor, and if you didn’t know they were gluten free, you’d likely never know!

Reese’s Pieces Oat Cookies
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup flour or almond flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup Reese’s Pieces

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two cookie sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium until light. Add the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla and mix on medium to incorporate. Add the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt to the bowl. Turn the mixer on to low, mixing just until the dough is almost cohesive. Add the Reese’s Pieces and mix on low until the dough comes together.

Scoop the dough into 1-1/4” balls onto the prepared baking sheets and roll into a ball. Flatten the dough balls slightly with the palm of your hand.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the cookies are set. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Nourish and Fete

Salted Nut Bar Fudge

Ages ago, when my husband and I were on a holiday, we decided to visit the local candy/fudge/ice cream shop. This is not an unusual thing for us to do! Nothing says it’s a holiday like having a treat, even if the weather isn’t so cooperative. Since I live in Washington, I am used to all sorts of rainy weather most of the year. It’s been long enough that I don’t remember what the weather was like, but I do recall that the shop had salted nut bar fudge, and it was fantastic.

When I knew that I would be making fudge this year, I knew that I wanted to find a recipe that replicated the salted nut bar fudge when I was on holiday. I found a few recipes, and many of them called these items salted nut bar candy bars, but when you look at the ingredients, there is no question that this is fudge. I gathered the ingredients and went to work.

This recipe is made in an 11” x 7” pan, but you can certainly use a 9” square pan if that’s what you have available. You put half the peanuts in the base of the pan, make the peanut butter fudge, and then top with additional peanuts. The ones on the top don’t stick quite as well, but I did my best to press them in to stick. This fudge smells divine when you make it, which is not at all surprising with peanut butter chips, sweetened condensed milk, and marshmallows! This fudge is pretty sticky, but I think it truly captures the flavor of the salted nut bar!

Salted Nut Bar Fudge
3 cups roasted salted peanuts
2 1/2 tablespoons butter
2 cups peanut butter chips
2 cups mini marshmallows
14 ounces sweetened condensed milk

Line an 11” x 7” baking pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

Spread about half of the peanuts in the base of the prepared pan. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and peanut butter chips over low heat. Once the mixture is smooth, add the mini marshmallows and sweetened condensed milk. Continue to heat on low, stirring frequently, until the marshmallows melt and the mixture is smooth.

Pour the peanut butter/marshmallow mixture over the peanuts in the prepared pan. Top with the remaining nuts, pressing the nuts gently into the filling to secure.

Refrigerate until set, at least an hour. Lift the fudge from the pan with the foil and then cut into squares.

Recipe from Chocolate, Chocolate, and More

Nutter Butter Bars

Is it fall yet? It’s officially September, kids are getting back to school, and stores are filled with Halloween items, so we must be there! While I do enjoy the light flavors of summer, fruits, berries, and that sort of thing, I LOVE fall and fall baking. Cinnamon, apples, spices, maple- here I come! This cookie, made with Nutter Butter/peanut butter, is a transition.

Ok, I just like Nutter Butter cookies, and this was an excuse to buy them at the store. The recipe uses about 10 cookies (depending on how many you use for the topping) so there are plenty left. I didn’t change this recipe much, but the original recipe had you brown the butter before making the bars, and I didn’t do that. I was more interested in the Nutter Butter flavor rather than browning the butter, but I am sure that would be excellent if you want to take that time.

I likely didn’t use ½ cup of chips. I was going to use mini chips, but I didn’t have any, which was odd. I used the last bit of a bag of regular-sized chips, but it was probably about 1/3 cup. I really need to inventory and stock up on chocolate chips! The dough is quite sticky, so do your best in smoothing this into an even layer. My hands, slightly damp, worked their best to move the dough around. These baked well, and they have a lovely peanut butter flavor. I don’t taste the chocolate much, but I didn’t use the full amount of chocolate chips.

Nutter Butter Bars
½ cup butter, room temperature
¼ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup (128 grams) peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
¼ teaspoon salt
7 Nutter Butter cookies, chopped
½ cup chocolate chips
Additional chopped Nutter Butters

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square baking pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter, sugar, brown sugar, and peanut butter on medium until combined. Stir in the egg and vanilla. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour and salt. When the flour is nearly incorporated into the dough, add the chopped Nutter Butters and chocolate chips. Stir for a moment to distribute the add-ins.

Spread the dough in the prepared pan and smooth the top as much as possible. Top the dough with additional chopped Nutter Butter cookies.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the bars brown along the edges. Allow the bars to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate for an hour before cutting into bars.

Recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies

As I have mentioned previously, my husband often complains that I don’t make him chocolate chip cookies nearly enough. He does understand that when I bake I post to my blog, and while there are chocolate chip cookie variations, there aren’t a million of them. My husband had been working and having trouble with a vendor, so I decided I would find something similar to a chocolate chip cookie to bake. I figured it would be a nice surprise.

I found these cookies, with dark chocolate chunks and peanut butter chips, and I hadn’t made this combination before. I had dark chocolate chunks and peanut butter chips on hand, but I think these cookies would be equally interesting using two different types of chips that you have on hand. I could come up with many variations, but don’t feel compelled to go to the store for specific chips to use.

The original recipe, which was double what I had here, made about 18 cookies. Those cookies must have been huge! I made a half recipe, still mage big cookies, and I made 22 cookies. I can’t imagine having cookies twice as large, as the ones I made were large enough. The original blog said to bake the cookies 9 minutes, but mine weren’t anywhere close to done after that short time, so I ended up adding minutes until the cookies baked about 14 minutes. This will vary depending on your oven and the size of the cookies. These taste like a traditional chocolate chip cookie, but the peanut butter flavor comes through here and there, making a lovely cookie.

Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1-1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark chocolate chunks
1 cup peanut butter chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Place the butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave for about 45 seconds, until the butter is nearly melted. Transfer the butter to a large mixer bowl and add the sugar and brown sugar. Mix on medium until light. Add the egg and vanilla and stir on medium to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the dark chocolate chunks and peanut butter chips with a spatula.

Drop the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, using about 2-1/2 tablespoons of dough per cookie. As these cookies are larger, 6 cookies per baking sheet works well.

Bake for 10-14 minutes, until the cookies begin to brown along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack.

Recipe from A Sparkle of Genius

Peanut Buckeye Bars

When I first started baking, I can’t say I was very familiar with Buckeye candy. Online it says that it’s peanut butter fudge partially covered with chocolate, and they come from Ohio, hence “Buckeyes.” I have made all sorts of chocolate and peanut butter combinations, but only one other time have a made something called a buckeye, and that was a thumbprint cookie. Maybe the Ohio nomenclature never made it to Washington State, but I am happy to make anything chocolate and peanut butter.

This is an interesting bar cookie, with a chocolate brownie layer, topped with a peanut butter and sweetened condensed milk mixture. It calls for roasted peanuts, and my parents had a big jar of them so I asked if I could have a cup and a half. That saved me from buying them, but thankfully they are easy to find at the store. The recipe also called for chunky peanut butter but use whatever you have on hand.

These don’t take much time to make, but both the base and the topping are sticky and difficult to spread. The base is ok, and I wet my hands slightly to help. The sweetened condensed milk/peanut butter topping is sticky as can be, so I made little dollops and then spread it as best I could. I baked the bars for 38 minutes, and they were quite browned, so certainly you need to watch the baking time for these. I thought they looked a touch dry, but they were just wonderful, even along the edges. I would make these again but watch the time more closely.

Peanut Buckeye Bars
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 1/2 cups roasted peanuts, divided
14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup peanut butter

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the sugar, cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking powder. Add eggs and butter and mix on medium until fully combined. Stir in 1 cup peanuts. Spread the dough into the prepared pan. The dough is sticky, so you may need to use damp hands to get the dough into the corners of the pan.

In a separate mixer bowl, combine the sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter. Mix on medium until smooth. Spoon on to the brownie base in little dallops and then spread into an even layer. This is very sticky and takes some patience to get the topping spread out evenly. Sprinkle with the remaining ½ cup roasted peanuts.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the topping begins to brown slightly. Allow the bars to cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting into bars.

Recipe from Heather at Sprinkle Bakes, via Go Bold with Butter

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

I have to admit that I made cookies this week a lot later than planned. I had a couple of different recipes in mind, but I couldn’t seem to decide which recipe to choose. All of a sudden, it was the last minute and I needed to get in gear. I again couldn’t decide, but I knew that I needed to make something that I had all of the ingredients on hand. I had my husband look at the recipes I had pinned, and he chose these cookies.

I had planned to make these cookies for a different occasion, as they don’t contain flour and I make gluten free cookies from time to time. I had recently brought home some salted peanuts from an abundance at work. I didn’t feel too bad as I figured they would likely return to work in a cookie form. In the end that didn’t happen, as I made these so late in the week, but more gluten free cookies are to come.

This is a very simple recipe, with just a handful of ingredients. I chose to use a combination of sugar and brown sugar, but you can use any blend that you’d like to make 1 cup. The dough is very soft and I refrigerated mine for a while, but it didn’t change the texture at all. Rolling the cookies in peanuts gives the cookies a nice crunch, and the peanut butter flavor is very pronounced.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies
1 cup peanut butter
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup chopped salted peanuts
Additional chopped salted peanuts

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, and egg. Mix on medium until combined. Add the ½ cup chopped peanuts and stir to incorporate into the dough.
Shape the dough into 1-1/2” balls. Roll the balls in additional chopped peanuts and place on the prepared baking sheets. The cookies may spread; leave plenty of space between the cookies.

Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the cookies are set and the edges begin to brown. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from The Big Man’s World

Peanut Butter Mallow Bars

In my month of peanut butter, I have already posted Fluffernutter Cookies- a combination of peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Those were cookies though and I thought that making a bar cookie with similar flavors was sufficiently different. This made a small batch, which is great, but I may need to reevaluate this as school is starting soon. While things aren’t completely back to normal, it sure feels like there is going to be a lot more people around.

I have to say that I wasn’t sure how a bar cookie made in an 8” pan would use an entire far of marshmallow creme/fluff. Many recipes using 7 ounces of marshmallow crème are made in a 9” x 13” pan, but I will say that it make spreading the marshmallow easier. Since you spread the crème over the partially baked base, and some peanut butter chips, spreading the marshmallow is tricky. I was happy to have lots of mallow and no need for the layer to be perfect, so it was no problem at all.

I chose to use peanut butter chips in these bars, but you could use any number of ingredients. They suggest mini peanut butter cups, or chocolate chips, or something else that I haven’t though of! I wanted to keep these true to the peanut butter flavor, which is why I kept with chips of the same flavor. Piecing the top layer together is the hardest part of these bars, but I had plenty of dough for this to be successful. These bars are fantastic, with many similarities to the fluffernutter cookies I made recently. Can you ever have too much peanut butter? I don’t think so.

Peanut Butter Mallow Bars
1 cup peanut butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
7-ounce container marshmallow creme
1 cup peanut butter chips

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8” square pan with foil and spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and butter on medium until smooth. Add the flour and baking powder and mix on low until combined.

Separate the dough into halves. Press one half of the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes, and allow to cool for 20 minutes.

Once the base has cooled slightly, sprinkle with peanut butter chips. Microwave the marshmallow creme briefly (20-30 seconds) and then empty container into the pan. Carefully spread the marshmallow creme in an even layer, as best you can.

With the remaining half of dough, take small portions of dough and flatten them in your hands. Place them on top of the marshmallow creme, piecing the dough together until you have a consistent top layer.

Bake for 20-25 additional minutes, until the bars begin to brown along the edges. Refrigerate before cutting into squares.

Recipe from I Dig Pinterest

Peanut Butter Pinwheel Cookies

I had all of my peanut butter recipes figured out for the month, and then I realized that there are five Fridays in September. Dang! My husband said I was not to worry and found some recipes that I could make. They were all a combination of peanut butter and chocolate, either as a pinwheel or as a marbled cookie. I chose this recipe for peanut butter pinwheels, as it looked really interesting.

The dough for these cookies is super soft, and I was worried how it would work to roll it out into a rectangle. Normally, when I see a recipe that says to roll out dough to a certain dimension, I run the other way, but I wanted to try it. In a way, with the dough being so soft, I did a combination of rolling and shaping with my hands to get the dough into the proper shape.

It’s sticky, so rolling up the dough was not a perfect thing. The original recipe said to refrigerate the dough for 30-45 minutes, but that wasn’t nearly enough time. I kept checking the dough, but I didn’t proceed until the dough was firm, 3-4 hours at least. Some of my cookies were small, and some were quite a bit larger. It doesn’t really matter, as they seemed to bake evenly. I wasn’t sure how the plain semi-sweet chocolate would do as the filling, but it was perfect! These cookies are crisp around the edges and the slight bitterness of the chocolate is perfect paired with peanut butter!

Peanut Butter Pinwheel Cookies
½ cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
½ cup peanut butter
2 tablespoons milk
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
1-3/4 cup flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips

In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and sugar on medium until light. Add the peanut butter, milk, vanilla, and egg and stir on medium to combine. Add the flour, salt, and baking soda and mix on low until the dough comes together. The dough will be soft.

Transfer the dough in between two pieces of waxed paper. Roll the dough into a rectangle, 10” x 17”.
Peel away the top piece of waxed paper.

In a small bowl, microwave the chocolate chips until melted, stirring every 30 seconds. Spread the melted chocolate on the peanut butter dough, spreading almost to the edges. Starting on the long side, roll up the dough into a log. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

Heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and remove the plastic wrap. Slice the dough into ½” slices. Place about 8 cookies on each baking sheet.

Bake for 12 minutes, until lightly browned along the bottom. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Salad in a Jar

Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies

The Seattle area and the Eastside, where I live, keeps growing and growing. Older complexes are torn down and rebuilt as mixed retail and apartments. While I think it brings a lot of unneeded density, the new complexes often have interesting restaurants and bakeries to explore. My husband and I recently visited one of these rebuilt places and found a very interesting bakery.

One of the items that they had for sell was a peanut butter shortbread cookie. I will admit that it looked like a regular peanut butter cookie, but I was curious how it would be different. We purchased one and when we ate it later it was a peanut butter cookie, but crumbly like shortbread. My husband found a couple of recipes online, and I decided I would give it a try.

The recipe I chose was super simple, and you bake the cookies in a muffin pan. The original recipe contained chocolate chunks, but also gave the option to use something else or leave the mix-ins out completely. My first thought was to use peanut butter chips, to keep it all peanut butter, but I was out of those. I ended up using toffee bits, which is mainly toffee with a tiny bit of chocolate. These cookies bake beautifully, perfectly round, with a slight crumbliness due to the nature of shortbread. These do taste like peanut butter, but it isn’t the strongest flavor. But there is always the option to add more peanut butter!

Peanut Butter Shortbread Cookies
¾ cup butter, room temperature
⅓ cup creamy peanut butter
⅔ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
4 ounces mix-ins (chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, toffee bits)
Sanding sugar

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray two 12-cup muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the butter, peanut butter, sugar, vanilla, and salt. Stir on medium-low until the mixture is smooth. With the mixer running on low, stir in the flour.  Add whatever mix-ins you are using, folding in with a spatula.  

Divide the dough into the 24 pieces and press in the bottom of the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the cookies with sanding sugar.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden. Allow the cookies to cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Run a thin, flat knife around the edges of the cookies to help remove them from the pan. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe from The Café Sucre Farine