Peanut Butter & Snickers Cookies

In honor of the temperature dropping from 104 to a balmy 84 degrees today, I decided it was time to crank up my oven and indulge in some freshly baked cookies. Nothing says summer like peanut butter, chocolate, and nougat, right?

You've all seen the new Peanut Butter Snickers, I'm sure. If you haven't tried one yet, well, I'm sorry. Unlike pretzel M&Ms (which, ew) Peanut Butter Snickers offers a new and delicious (if not entirely inventive way) to shame you into eating salad for your next 3 meals. I won't go so far as to say they're better than the original, which, I mean, hello:

It's like a cross section of candy perfection

But in my book, you can never go wrong by adding a little peanut butter. This new twist on my favorite candy bar was the basic inspiration for these decadent cookies. (Although, after baking these, I must admit the peanut butter flavor is actually pretty subtle. If you wanted to leave it out all together, I say do it. And then send me one so I can sample it too. I think as a pastry chef, that's part of my job.)

You should know, when peanut butter is involved, there's generally a lot of this happening in my kitchen:

followed by some of this:

Don't worry, that spoon went directly into the dishwasher. Which left me with no way of getting the peanut butter out of my measuring cup and into my mixing bowl. Poor planning.

Afraid you don't have the willpower to have twenty of these addictive cookies in your house at one time? Well, you have two choices. Give some away and increase your popularity. Or, go the selfish route and do what I did:

Go ahead and roll all the cookie dough into balls, but transfer some to a baking sheet in your freezer. Or, if you're me, a pizza box.

Once the dough is firm enough, transfer the balls to a plastic bag and continue to store them in the freezer. Then, when a late night craving hits, preheat the oven and take one (or five) straight from the freezer and pop 'em in the oven. The baking time should be about the same, but when you rotate the pan halfway through, you may need to press lightly on each cookie with an offset spatula or butterknife so it spreads and cooks evenly.

This works with any type of cookie dough, so the next time you come across a recipe for four dozen chocolate chip cookies (I'm looking at you, Nestle), don't halve the recipe; instead, freeze the dough and you'll always have access to a warm, freshly baked, chocolate chip cookie.

Dangerous, right?

Peanut Butter & Snickers Cookies

Makes 21 cookies
Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups All-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 Snickers bars, chopped
3/4 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and peanut butter (or whisk vigorously by hand) until smooth and no butter lumps remain.
3. Add both sugars and mix to incorporate.
4. Add eggs and vanilla; mix to incorporate.
5. With the mixer off, add all the dry ingredients. Beat on low for just a minute or two. The dry ingredients should not be full incorporated.
6. Add the chopped snickers and chocolate chips. Using a rubber spatula, finish mixing by hand so all the dry ingredients are incorporated and the chocolate pieces are distributed evenly.
7. Portion dough into 2 oz. balls (about 2 heaping tablespoons) onto silpat or parchment-lined baking sheets. Press down lightly with the palm of your hand.
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans midway through baking. Allow to cool completely on baking sheets. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Inspired by Brown Eyed Baker