It was my dad's birthday recently, and even though I wasn't back home with him to celebrate, I still wanted to bake a batch of cookies in order of the occasion. Something I know I would have done for him if I was there, so as a form of celebration I baked snicker cookies for myself. Party for one? YES please. My family are ALL big snicker fans - we 90% of the time always have mini bites in the house so I know especially that they would love these. This recipe are good old fashioned cookies - they aren't a healthified version as they include normal butter and regular sugar. Although if you truly wanted to and perhaps one time I will try it for myself to healthify a version of this, you can totally opt to experiment - go explore in your kitchen ... I sincerely don't think you can go wrong with snickers & peanut butter - it's a true match made in heaven.
We all get these sugar cravings from time to time, for some more frequently than others and can vary from a cookie, to a piece of cake or to a chocolate candy bar. Something that I used to do, is often treat myself to desserts with an alternative which ended up either being sugar free, fat free, gluten free etc.. obviously when an allergy is involved it's true we have no choice but most often we do it to be 'healthy' and even though we are having a very similar alternative to the product we're craving it's still not quite the original thing nor much healthier to be honest, because when they substitute something they over load it with something else. I truly believe that you should let yourself enjoy whatever it is you're after - it could be just me, sometimes when I crave something no matter how much I try to alternate it for something else, I always come back to still wanting the real thing. So it's better to have a small bite, and enjoy it here and there to keep you satisfied and to consume less in the long run. In this case at least homemade is better than store bought as there are no preservatives, or rubbish in them what so ever. The key in my opinion, is every thing in moderation which is a catchphrase I try so hard to keep in check with - I mean especially with these cookies, it's impossible to just serve yourself to ONE! (you try it .... see how far you'll go)
If you have a mixer you can totally get a hand for a faster process - or if you don't have one like me, you can work those arm muscles and mix manually, I enjoy the process of combining everything myself, it makes the process of baking as fun as the finished product is to eat - sometimes it's the journey not always the destination - in this case I would have to say it's both.
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I usually use plain white flour, however, this time round I made the mistake when grocery shopping and picked up wholemeal flour instead and guess what it turned out to be a happy accident as it was surprisingly just as tasty. I might actually even start making them this way from now on (plus wholemeal flour has an added fibre content which is better for our health and digestion.) OR even try go half and half next time, what you choose is completely up to you but the original recipe asks for white flour if you want to try and taste them for the first time the traditional way and then explore as you go along.
INGREDIENTS:
-x1.5 cup of plain or wholemeal flour
(I used wholemeal, but usually use plain - both good)
- x1 egg
-x1 tsp of vanilla extract
- x0.5tsp of baking powder
- x1/4 cup butter
- x1/4 cup peanut butter
- x1/4 cup of white sugar
- x1/3 cup of brown sugar
-x1 pinch of salt
-x1 splash of milk
- Snickers
(mini bites or normal sized candy bar)
HOW TO :
Add your softened butter & peanut butter together in a bowl and mix to combine the two together.
Then add both your white and brown sugar and mix it all together.
Add your egg, vanilla extract, salt and dash of milk in the bowl.
and just keep mixing.. I know this part many hate - but I try to make it fun!
Your mix will be wet at this point, so now is where we thicken it up by adding the dry ingredients: which in this case is the flour and baking powder. Swap your whisk for a wooden spoon until it thickens into a dough.
Once it starts to thicken - make sure to wash your hands beforehand, and just mix freestyle with your bare hands. Your hands do get messy and sticky but I really enjoying kneading the dough.
Your cookie dough is done! Make sure to mix slightly more than the above pic just for the flour to disappear completely and to merge into your cookie dough.
This right here is my favourite part of baking - cookie dough. I love love cookie dough and getting to lick the spoon and bowl is by far the cherry on the cake or in this case the chocolate in the cookie. Sometimes I make a whole batch just for this reason - YUM.
I let my dough set just enough time as I take to clean up a bit - so only for a good 10 minutes. Once your kitchen and dishes are clean it's about time to start prepping your cookies - tear off chunks from your cookie dough and flatten a circle similar to the above picture, I flattened this by hand.
Add one snicker piece for each one, either a full sized candy bar cut up into several small pieces or mini bite sized halfed in two : that's how small you want them to be. This will go in the centre of the cookie dough before you start rolling.
Then just ball it up! You don't want to flatten them - they will form into cookie shapes once they're cooking in the oven - I decided to make them smaller and to have more in volume but you can make a bigger cookie if you wish, it's totally up to you and your preference.
DEPENDING ON THE SIZE OF YOUR BALL - THIS MAKES x14 COOKIES IN TOTAL.
Grease your baking try with some butter or use a baking sheet. I had to cook them in two separate batches. Cook in the oven for about 20 minutes on 180 degrees. They will still be a bit soft but they will harden once you let them cool, you don't want the top to burn.
Drooling yet? Look at that heavenly gooeyness interior. They are seriously delicious - I've made so many people try these and they were a hit with everyone, everyone's loved them this far! Considering I am not the best baker - - you seriously can't go wrong with this combo.
There is something about enjoying dessert with fresh fruit. I don't know if it's the whole balance of eating fresh fruit with sugar, or to counterbalance one and the other, but the two combined is perfection in a cup. I had this for breakfast recently - with a cup of coffee it was SO good and of course, works perfectly as a dessert and to share with your flatmates, or workmates or just keep them in an air tight container and have them throughout the week whenever you fancy a pick me up, these will definitely turn your whole mood around.
Have you tried these yet? If not, you'll thank me for introducing these to you!
