Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am a very devoted lover of all things peanut butter . . . with the exception of peanut butter cookies. In my experience, they're usually dry and crumbly with this awful greasy stickiness about them . . . basically, just not at all what I want from a cookie.

But I have in my baking arsenal precisely two peanut butter cookie recipes that I love (so far). One recipe comes from my aunt Miriam -- a moist, chewy cookie half dipped in chocolate. They are adorable, fun to make, and wonderful in every way, and you can find the recipe for those cookies HERE.

The second is the recipe I'm posting today. I rediscovered it recently in the recipe binder I've been slowly adding to for years. Only recipes I really, really, really love make their way into the binder. The bad news about The Binder is that sometimes the older recipes are forgotten and overshadowed by newer arrivals. The good news about The Binder is that I get to rediscover them with full faith that they will be delicious (they wouldn't have made it into the binder otherwise).

These cookies are so delicious. Moist and chewy with plenty of peanut butter flavor without getting that sticky, greasy feel that peanut butter cookies sometimes have.

Originally, the recipe called for a big dose of peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. I'm sure that's how I must have made it in the past, and I'm sure it was fantastic that way or I wouldn't have saved the recipe. This time, though, I happened to notice these bad boys in the grocery store and used them instead. Delightfulls indeed.

This post is NOT sponsored or affiliated with Toll House or Delightfulls AT ALL, by the way. I just thought these little morsels looked awesome, and that they'd be a perfect addition to peanut butter cookies. I definitely recommend them for these cookies!

My only regret with this recipe is that it doesn't make many cookies -- I ended up with two dozen. And we are big cookie fans, so they sure didn't last long. Next time, I'll be doubling the recipe.

Double Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 bag Delightfulls chocolate/peanut butter morsels (OR 1 cup peanut butter chips and 1 cup milk chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, beat butter, sugar, and peanut butter until smooth and creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture and beat well. Stir in chips, and drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until light golden brown around edges. Let cool for a few minutes on cookie sheets before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

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Darcy happened to wake up from her nap right as these were cooling, and was super chipper and excited to model for me. Sugar and spice, etc etc.

Kids' Holiday Cookie Party

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #GiftDeliciously #CollectiveBias

With Christmas coming up, I wanted to do a little something to get the kids excited about the holidays. And I thought a Christmas cookie party would be a great way to generate some holiday excitement.

We headed to my mom's house for our little gathering, since she has it decorated adorably. It basically looks like a gingerbread house right now, so it seemed like the perfect location for a Christmas cookie party. We kept it simple by focusing on red and white decorations. She already had her white tree set up with red ornaments, so we used a white tablecloth and red place settings to keep the theme going.

I set up one end of the table with sweet little gingerbread man cookie plates, and used the other end of the table as a cookie decorating station. I bought OREO, Chips Ahoy!, and Nutter Butter box packs at Walmart for our party, and set them out on a tray along with some decorations like frosting, chocolate candies, and pretzels. These snack-size boxes were perfect for our party (almost no prep to pull this party together!), and they'd also be perfect as stocking stuffers, neighbor gifts, or teacher gifts. I grabbed a few extra to give to Forrest's preschool teacher and our neighbors. Gotta love an easy, affordable gift that makes this season a little simpler.

 I set out a few examples of decorated cookies that the kids could copy if they liked, which, of course, the children totally ignored and let their artistic juices flow. Fine by me, as long as they have fun!

Don't laugh at my snowmens' faces. I did my best.

We dipped the Nutter Butter cookies in melted white chocolate to create a snowman body, then used black decorator icing for the eyes and smile and an orange mint for the nose. Broken pretzels make nice antlers for OREO reindeer, along with a red chocolate Rudolph nose. And the Chips Ahoy! cookies are so delicious sandwiched with frosting and rolled in colorful sprinkles.

Poor Darcy was feeling a little under the weather on our party day. She wasn't a very active participant, but perked up after sampling the cookies, and sure looked cute sitting at the head of the table.

After we finished decorating (and snacking), we let the kids bag up their cookies to take home and deliver to their friends, teachers, and neighbors. I love finding ways like this to get them thinking about how to make someone else's day special, even if it's as simple as delivering some cookies.

We're attaching these cute little tags to our cookie bags. Feel free to print them out and use them for your holiday gifting! Just right click on the image below to save it to your computer and print at home.

I'd definitely recommend stocking up on these cookie boxes to give during the Christmas season. They're easy to find in huge bins right by the checkout aisles at Walmart!

What's your favorite Christmas cookie?

Sweet + Salty Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies

The irony of posting a cookie recipe the day after posting about my baby steps toward a healthier lifestyle is not lost on me. Moderation in all things. Do some running, then eat some cookies.

If you are a lover of the salty-sweet combo (and who among us isn't? if you cut us, do we not bleed?), I bet you'll love these cookies. All the traditional buttery sweetness of a fresh chocolate chip cookie, with crushed pretzels and extra salt tossed in. So delicious.

I've made these a few times, and brought them recently to a family dinner. And no less than 3 people came up to me afterward and said something like, "I almost didn't try those cookies when I saw they had pretzels in them . . . but then I ate 5."

Do not fear the salty cookie. If you like even more salty kick, press a little sea salt into the top of each dough ball before baking.

Chocolate Chip Pretzel Cookies
adapted from Chocolate Chocolate and More

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup shortening
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups pretzels, crushed
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl or stand mixer, cream butter and shortening together with sugars; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix well.

Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and mix to combine. Add in pretzels and chocolate chips and stir just until mixed through.

Roll heaping tablespoonfuls of dough into balls, and place 2 inches apart on a baking sheet. Bake in preheated oven for 7-9 minutes, or until edges are barely golden, but the centers are still slightly gooey. Let cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in airtight container.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies with M&M’s® Crispy

This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #CrispyIsBack #CollectiveBias

Do you have a handful of recipes in your collection that you return to countless times because they just never, ever let you down? And you can add ingredients and switch things up and your ol’ faithful recipes will always work out? They’re the ones you always make to bring to friends, or when someone’s coming over for dinner, because everyone loves them and they never fail you? One of those, for me, is the Chewy Chocolate Cookie recipe that my mom has made for years.

That recipe is consistently awesome for me—I’ve never had it turn out wonky, even when I’ve messed with it. I’ve put in peppermint extract for Christmas cookies, swapped out the chocolate chips for everything under the sun, made weird substitutions when I didn’t have enough of one ingredient or another, and despite my tampering, they are always delicious.

So to celebrate the return of M&M’s® Crispy, I grabbed a bag at Walmart to toss into my favorite Chewy Chocolate Cookies. Forrest was totally baffled that we were putting the candy into the cookies and not just eating them by the fistful, straight from the bag—I guess I’m not the most adventurous cookie baker (candy inside of cookies?! what?!), and also, boy has he picked up on how I normally inhale my chocolate.

(Although, I should mention for those of you who are nodding along as I mention my chocolate inhalation thing, the individual snack size bags are only 180 calories per serving, so downing a bag in record time, preferably while hidden in a closet so you don’t have to share with your children, would not be the worst thing ever.)

These cookies are quick and easy to whip up, look so fun, and taste amazing—a dense, chewy cookie studded with crispy, crunchy M&M’s®.

Chewy Chocolate Cookies with M&M’s® Crispy

1 cup butter, softened
2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups M&M’s® Crispy

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until light and creamy, then add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix well.

Add 1 cup M&M’s® and gently stir by hand to incorporate (don’t use a mixer for this—it will crush the candy!). Reserve the remaining 1/2 cup candy to place on top of the cookies.

Roll dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on an ungreased baking sheet. Press remaining M&M’s® into the tops of the cookies.

Bake 8-10 minutes or until cookies are just set. Let cool a few minutes on the sheet, then remove to a cooling rack.

I usually think cookies taste best on the day they are baked, but these surprised me. They were delicious straight out of the oven (predictably), but I think they actually got even better on the second or third day.

See more great M&M's® Crispy recipe and party ideas on the M&M's® Crispy social hub.

Pick some up next time you’re at Walmart to try this recipe out!

I’d love to hear about your favorite go-to cookie recipe!

No-Bake Chocolate Oat Bars

Jeff and a friend took a road trip to California last weekend (without me!!!) for a seminar (oh right, that’s why I didn’t want to go). He asked if I’d make a snack for him to bring along, and that’s a request I am always happy to fulfill.

I’ve mentioned before that cookies are probably my favorite thing to bake. Still true, but if you’re not in the mood to roll out dozens of little balls and stand by the oven for an hour, removing and replacing pans every 6-9 minutes, well, bars can’t be beat, right?

I’ve had these bars in my recipe binder for years, but to tell you the truth, I can’t recall making them. I’m sure I have—recipes don’t earn a spot in The Binder without a thorough testing first—but it felt like I was trying something brand new when I made these no-bake bars.

And they are just delicious. They take all of 10-15 minutes to make (although they have to chill for a few hours afterward, so perhaps not the best choice if you’re dying for a treat you can dig into IMMEDIATELY). Rich, buttery oat bars, topped with a thick layer of chocolate and peanut butter—I can’t remember making them before, but I’m not at all surprised that I thought it was a recipe worth saving.

They didn’t all make it into the cooler for Jeff’s road trip, of course. It’s a matter of quality testing. Somebody’s gotta do it. I found a helper more than willing to lend a hand/mouth in the name of quality control.

No-Bake Chocolate Oat Bars

slightly adapted from All Recipes

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter

Grease a 9x9” square pan and set aside. (For even less cleanup, line the pan with foil, lightly greased.)

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, then stir in the brown sugar and vanilla. Stir well to combine, then add oats. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes, until fragrant and golden. Remove 1/2 cup oat mixture and set aside.

Press oats firmly into prepared pan.

In a microwave-safe bowl, melt chocolate chips and peanut butter together in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth and well-combined.

Spread chocolate/peanut butter mixture evenly over oats, and crumble reserved 1/2 cup oats over the top.

Place pan in refrigerator to allow bars to set (approximately 2-3 hours . . . or, for the lazy and hungry [ahem, like me], go ahead and pop them in the freezer for about an hour, then let them sit out on the counter to soften a tad before cutting).

Salted Dark Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

I’ve been sitting here for a few minutes, waiting for inspiration to strike: how to introduce this cookie post? Nothing’s coming.

What even needs to be said? These irresistible little guys are studded with luscious, creamy dark chocolate chips, filled with nutty, fragrant toasted pecans, and sprinkled with sea salt, all in a perfectly rich and buttery cookie base.

I can hardly add anything. They do all the talking.

I guess I’ll just say that, as a big-time cookie lover, these have made my top 5 list of favorite cookies. It took all of 2 hours home alone with them to accept that I had no choice but to package them up and send them to work with Jeff. My self-control is no match for the likes of these cookies. I truly think I could have eaten every last one of them, easily, and wished for more.

I started with the fantastic Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from Mel’s Kitchen Café. It’s a great recipe exactly as it is.

But I happened to have dark chocolate chips in my pantry, and I noticed a bag of pecans lounging in my freezer, and the wheels started turning.

You can never go wrong with chocolate chip cookies, if you ask me. These are just a pumped-up version of a classic.

Salted Dark Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies
adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Café

Note: Mel’s recipe calls for 2 1/8 cups flour—I live at a high altitude, and almost always have to adjust the amount of flour in baked goods to get good results. I live at 4,500 feet, and 2 1/4 cups flour was just right for me. If you live closer to sea level, you may want to start with 2 1/8 cups, as the original recipe calls for, and add more as necessary to get the right consistency of dough.

2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups dark chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
sea salt, for sprinkling

In a medium-sized skillet over medium heat, cook the pecans for about 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until they are golden and fragrant. Set aside to cool. (I placed mine on a plate in the freezer while I prepared the dough, to speed up the cooling.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugars together until well mixed. Add the egg, yolk, and vanilla, and beat for 2-3 minutes or until the color has lightened from a deep amber to a light brown. Add the flour, table salt, and baking soda, and mix to combine. Mix in the chocolate chips and pecans.

Form dough into generous tablespoon-sized balls and place on cookie sheet. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with sea salt, pressing lightly to adhere. (To reduce the amount of salt that ends up rolling around on the cookie sheet, I like to pour a bit of sea salt onto a plate, and press the top of each cookie dough ball down onto the plate so the salt sticks to it, then place it salt-side up on the sheet.)

Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes, or until they are lightly browned. Let cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies

When I made those yummy chocolate chip cookies last week, I dropped off a plate at a friend’s house (me + a full batch of cookies = disaster). She thanked me for them and, since she is a rather frequent recipient of baked goods from me, expressed some surprise at how often I bake cookies, and said she couldn’t even remember the last time she made cookies. And I hadn’t really thought about it, but I do make cookies a lot. They’re probably my favorite treat to make—they’re easy and fast and crowd-pleasing and delicious with a billion wonderful variations. They’re easy to transport if you need to take them somewhere or give some away. They’re ideal stress baking (not too finicky or demanding), and the perfect afternoon snack. I find them so soothing to make. If I’m stressed? Cookies. If I’m tired? Cookies. If the kids are driving me insane and I need a short kitchen escape? Cookies. If I’m happy? Celebratory cookies.

This recipe comes from my aunt Miriam and our family cookbook (where so many of my favorite recipes come from). My mom raved a few weeks ago about some wonderful chocolate dipped peanut butter cookies her sister Miriam had made, so I just had to wait for an appropriately stressful day to try them out myself. And I’ll admit: up until this recipe, I’ve never loved peanut butter cookies. I love peanut butter cookie dough, but once they’re baked, I usually think they’re too dry and crumbly. But these are everything I’ve ever wanted and haven’t found before in a peanut butter cookie recipe. They’re moist and chewy and delicious, and the chocolate dip is just fantastic, plus makes them look pretty impressive (I thought they’d make a nice neighbor Christmas gift, and you could even add some sprinkles while the chocolate is still wet). If I may offer a word of advice on the ideal consumption of these cookies: eat the chocolate half first, then dip the remaining naked half in ice-cold milk. Perfection.

Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Cookies
Recipe slightly adapted from my aunt Miriam in our Allred Family Cookbook. A quick note: the original recipe calls for 3/4 cup margarine. I substituted butter and shortening since that’s what I’m more likely to have on hand. Feel free to try it either way!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cup flour
1/2 package chocolate candi-quik (like almond bark)
1 tablespoon shortening

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat thoroughly, then mix in the peanut butter and vanilla until well combined. Add the salt, baking soda, and flour, and mix. The dough may seem too moist, but that’s how you want it.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on a lightly greased cookie sheet (I used my Silpat instead of greasing). Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until they are just set and golden on the bottoms (the tops will, and should, appear somewhat unfinished) (every oven is different, but for me, the magic number was 8 minutes and 45 seconds). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

In a small, deep bowl, melt the candi-quik and shortening in the microwave; stir until smooth. Dip each cookie halfway into the melted chocolate and lay on a wax paper-lined baking sheet, then cool in the refrigerator until chocolate has set.

I had some extra chocolate after dipping all my cookies, so I spread out some peanuts and cashews on wax paper and drizzled my leftover chocolate over them. So good!

Chewy Chocolate Cookies with White Chips

Are you tired of Christmas treats yet? What a ridiculous question. Of course not. I swear, I lay in bed every night and swear I’m done with the holiday goodies, and then I wake up and see the leftover treats and decide that cookies will make a perfect well-rounded breakfast. Because cookies are round, so it’s a well-rounded meal, I guess? The logic is flawless. I shared this cookie recipe last week on my friend Toni’s blog, Sugar Tart Crafts, for her Sugar Rush 2013 series—day after day of amazing holiday treats. I’m not the world’s fanciest baker, and I’m sure this news will rock the internet world, since I am just so extremely fancy and glam in every other aspect of my life. And these cookies aren’t super fancy, but they are so quick to make and so delicious, and always turn out great. My mom makes this cookie often, and I think she got the recipe from a church cookbook quite a few years ago.

Easy peasy! So fast and simple to make, but such an awesome tasty payoff. I hope you enjoy! Happy baking!

Halloween Witch Hat Cookies

I've never really gotten into seasonal/holiday crafts. I definitely appreciate them, I enjoy seeing other people's ideas, and I love seeing a house decked out for different holidays, but I just haven't really done much myself yet. Maybe it's because I always equate holiday decorating with having elementary-school-age kids . . . I figure you do it for them, so they'll get excited about each holiday (I have so many happy memories of putting up Christmas decorations with my mom), and since my one-year old's interest in holiday decor would be limited to the items he could stuff in his mouth, I haven't really bothered to do much holiday decorating yet.

But! I have a humble Halloween offering for you! (Something that would actually be perfect for my one-year old to stuff in his mouth!)

It's not very exciting. It's not even very original. I'm sure you've seen these before, but humor me. This is my only Halloween tradition, okay? (Well, my only Halloween tradition besides my yearly tradition of running out of candy after the first 8 trick-or-treaters, then pretending no one's home until I go to bed at 10:00 and quiver in fear that hungry, angry, costumed children will egg my house.)

 Witch Hat Cookies! I believe I first saw these in American Girl Magazine when I was little, (Did you read that magazine? I'm sure my sister and I must have skewed their subscriber statistics . . . we were still faithfully reading it well into our teen years.) and we've made them many Halloweens since then.

I've mentioned before that I'm not great at decorating desserts--for goodness' sakes, everybody always make things look so easy, with perfectly frosted cakes and piped flowers and little fondant characters--so these minimally-decorated cookies are just the ticket for a frosting failure like me.

You'll need:

fudge stripe cookies

Hershey's Kisses

buttercream frosting (dyed orange, or green, or purple)

Just plunk your cookie upside down (chocolate side up) and glob some frosting onto the bottom of an unwrapped kiss.

Smoosh the kiss down onto the center of the cookie so the frosting oozes out the sides a bit (it kind of helps if you block the hole on the other side of the cookie with your finger so it all doesn't squelch out the opposite end).

Spoon some frosting into a sandwich baggie and cut off a bit of one corner, then pipe some onto the kiss and cookie in a bow shape.

(See? I told you I was a frosting failure. That one was my best work.)

And there you go! Cute little witch hat cookies, perfect for Halloween. Very low effort, but still really cute. Just my style.

I'm linking my cookies up to Midwestern Sewing Girl's Everything Halloween link party!