Monday, November 14, 2011

Peanut Butter Crunch Cookies



I'm so excited for this post!  Today is my first post for the Secret Recipe Club (SRC)!  If you haven't heard about it, you can learn everything you need to know here, but basically each Monday a group of bloggers post a recipe they've made from another blogger's repertoire, but nobody knows who's featuring their blog until that morning, hence a secret club!  It's a fabulous opportunity to check out new bloggers and force yourself to try new things.  I hope you'll take a look at some of the other bloggers in my group by checking out the blog hop at the bottom of this post.

I had the privilege of baking from Andi's blog, The Wednesday Baker.  Andi felt like a kindred spirit as I read her blog subtitle "One cookie at a time..." With a heading like that, I knew immediately that I'd be baking one of Andi's cookie recipes--to the point that I didn't allow myself to look at any of the other yummy things on her blog until I committed to a cookie recipe.  And by committed, I mean choose three and made Dave pick one, thus ensuring that I had to make them since he'd expect them.  Be sure to check out Andi's blog and take a spin through her sweet treats and good eats.  I already have a few other recipes from Andi that I plan to try and post.



These cookies are a fun twist on peanut butter and jelly.  The crispies add a nontraditional texture to the cookies, and really, besides chocolate is there anything better paired with peanut butter than jelly?  I used strawberry, but any flavor will do.  I'll admit, after living off of PB&Js for lunch for nearly 4 months while working an internship in a major metropolitan area for $75 a week to cover my meals and non-housing expenses, I vowed to never eat the sandwich again.  But I never said anything about a cookie!  I made mine smaller than Andi (she prefers them bigger, but I like to have a lot of little ones) and I ended up forgoing the traditional criss-cross pattern on the peanut butter cookie when I realized my jelly might not stay put.  But otherwise the recipe was easy to pull together and made for a unique and yummy treat.

Peanut Butter Crunch Cookies


Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups crispy rice cereal
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped
1/2 cup jelly or jam, your choice of flavor

Using a large mixing bowl or a stand mixer fitted with a beater attachment, beat butter and sugars until fluffy, scraping sides of bowl as needed.  Add egg, peanut butter and vanilla and continue beating until combined.


In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt.  Switch to a paddle attachment and add flour mixture to butter mixture, mixing until incorporated.


Add cereal and peanuts and mix in by hand.  You basically want to mix enough to make all the cereal stick into the dough.



Using a small cookies scoop, place balls of dough about 2 inches apart on parchment or Silpat lined baking sheets.  Using your thumb or finger, make a small indentation in the center of each cookie. If you make a larger cookie, you can use a fork to create the traditional criss-cross pattern on the cookie before making your indentation.



Place about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon of jelly or jam into the indentation.


Bake at 375 degrees F for 8-9 minutes (smaller cookies) or 10-12 minutes (larger cookies).  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.



Allow cookies to cool on pans for a few minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.


Makes 4 1/2 dozen.


Happy Baking, and be sure to check our Andi at The Wednesday Baker and all the other SRC bloggers via the blog hop below!
The Cookie Princess


Printer Friendly Recipe

17 comments:

  1. Very pretty! And they look so tasty too!

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  2. Oh my goodness, I've never thought to add Rice Krispies to thumbprints! I can't wait to give this a try! I bet they're fantastic.

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  3. These are great cookies! This is a great pick for the SRC! Thanks for sharing and have a wonderful week.
    Miz Helen
    http://mizhelenscountrycottage.blogspot.com/2011/11/brussels-sprouts-salad-with-warm-bacon.html

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  4. Your cookies look fantastic! Welcome to SRC!!!

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  5. What a fun take on PB&J!

    If you haven't already, I'd love it if you'd check out my SRC recipe for Crockpot Apple-Cinnamon Oatmeal.

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  6. Welcome to the SRC! You sure picked a winning recipe for your first submission. Great pics - I can see you're a lot like me in the fact that you have an appreciation for good kitchen equipment. I'm looking forward to seeing your future posts.

    I hope you'll stop by to visit my SRC post for Honey Vinaigrette Grilled Chicken.

    :)
    ButterYum
    http://butteryum.blogspot.com/2011/11/honey-vinaigrette-grilled-chicken.html

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  7. Welcome to the SRC. Your cookies look wonderful and so fun with the crispy rice.

    If you haven't already, I'd love for you to check out my group 'A' SRC recipe this month: Pork Belly Soup with Collard Greens.

    Lisa~~
    Cook Lisa Cook

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  8. Yum! So fun to be in SRC with you!

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  9. I love the addition of rice crispies to the cookie dough, must add some lovely texture. Welcome to SRC, hope you're having fun!!!

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  10. How fun to add rice crispies! They sound like great cookies!!

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  11. Thanks for all the great feedback. Andi definitely had a winner with this recipe. And thanks for the SRC welcomes! I'm so excited to be part of such a fun group.

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  12. Your blog had me at cookies!!! One of my favorite things to make:) Thanks for pinning me - never had anything of mine pinned before!

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  13. These look pretty cool. I love cookies and I'll have to add these to my swiftly-growing list of desserts to make! I'm excited to be in SRC too!

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  14. Vivian--that recipe was totally pinable! Enjoy the cookie recipes. Clearly they're my favorite too!

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  15. Ellie--if you want that list to keep growing, just keep coming back! :) Thanks for visiting

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  16. nice post and good work
    thanks for sharing here

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  17. Yum! I love peanut butter and thumbprint cookies. What a great twist to a classic!

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