Secret Recipe Club Holiday Cookie Carnival...Featuring Salted Peanut Butter Cookies with Snickers

After looking at my calendar today, it's slowing sinking in: Christmas is NEXT WEEK! I'm woefully behind on my shopping this year, but plan to work on completing it this week. At least my decorating is done...and I've narrowed down my cooking and baking list. Today, Secret Recipe Club is sharing some fabulous holiday cookies as part of our Cookie Carnival. I was so happy to be paired with my #SundaySupper friend Susan from The Wimpy Vegetarian. She always shares such great recipes -- and her photographs are just mouthwatering! I knew that I wanted something a bit different...and easy...for this fun event. I knew I had found just what I was looking for with her Salted Peanut Butter Cookies with Chocolate Nuggets. 

These are seriously the easiest and most delicious peanut butter cookies I've ever tasted -- and I'm crazy about their salty-sweet flavor combination. The only change I made to Susan's recipe was to use bite-size Snickers candies in place of chocolate chips. My officemate Kim makes amazing chocolate chip cookies with pieces of Snickers, and I thought it would work really well here too. These cookies are truly swoon-worthy! Anyone who loves true peanut butter flavor will flip for these cookies. I'm also betting that Santa would love to find a plate of these waiting on Christmas Eve!

Salted Peanut Butter Cookies 

with Snickers

adapted from The Wimpy Vegetarian

Ingredients (makes 15 medium-sized cookies):

• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 tsp. sea salt flakes
• 15 Snickers bites

Directions:

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment and set aside. Using a mixer, cream together the brown sugar, egg, baking soda, and vanilla extract. The mixture will begin to foam up a bit, so don't panic! Add the peanut butter and mix in completely -- a nice dough will form.  Fold in the Snickers pieces with a sturdy spoon or spatula.

Step 2:  Using a small cookie scoop, place 15 rounds of dough on the prepared baking sheets. Leave about 1.5 inches between each cookie. Make sure that each cookie has one Snickers bite. Lightly sprinkle the top of each cookie with a sprinkle of the sea salt flakes.

Step 3: Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until the surface of the cookie feels firm. The cookies will look very soft -- but that's normal. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet to firm up. I let my cookies cool for 30 minutes before moving them to a serving plate. As the cookies cool, they morph into the perfect chewy cookie.

These cookies are seriously a win-win: easy to make, excellent texture, and a great combination of salty and sweet! The cookies are moist and chewy, and the addition of the Snickers took them right over the edge -- during baking, the candy pieces melt. The end result is a bit of caramel, nuts, chocolate, and nougat in each bite. These cookies were a huge hit in my office, and I can't wait to make another batch for my Christmas cookie tray!

Be sure to check out all of the great holiday cookies that my Secret Recipe Club friends are sharing today. We've got something for everyone...and they all would make a fabulous addition to any holiday cookie tray!

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