Peanut Butter Monster Cookies

Well it has been a long time, hasn't it?

I had thought I had tucked this blog into bed, turned out the lights, and left it to hibernate until blogger one day shut down or they decided to kick out all inactive blogs or something.

But then I heard through the pipeline that people were missing my blog. Wha?

Also, this Covid-19 pandemic has left many feeling isolated, or unmoored, or whatever, so I thought maybe blogging again might not be such a bad idea. For those 3 people who have said they missed this space.

So today I am posting about these perfect Peanut Butter Monster cookies. They are a snap to mix, easy to shape, and quick to bake. Which means that you could be eating these for dinner tonight.

The kicker is that to make these Monster cookies you'll need the Monster trail mix from Archer Farms, found at your local Target.

Yes, I have to label them "for cookies" otherwise there would be none for cookies

Actually, you could totally mix up a bunch of stuff based on what you have at home. Here's what's in the Monster mix (in no particular order): M&Ms, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, raisins, and roasted salted peanuts. If you are making your own mix, make sure to include something crunchy and salty, something soft and juicy, and a bunch of chocolate, and you'll need 14 ounces. The added bonus of making your own mix is that you can plump up your dried fruit--the raisins in the Monster mix really need a plumping.

These are peanut butter cookies so you will need some hydrogenated peanut butter. Personally, I hate the stuff. However, natural peanut butter makes crumbly cookies so I begrudgingly get the crappy stuff. I prefer Jif to Skippy but really both of them suck. (note to self: I gotta find a way to use unhydrogenated peanut butter.)

The recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's Dorie's Cookies and is her Peanut Butter Change-Ups. The change up is that instead of a regular peanut butter cookie which is flattened before baking, these are left in balls. Any regular reader will know how much I enjoy skipping steps, so of course I am all for it. Leaving peanut butter cookies rounded gives them a cakey center which really is quite pleasant, and very amenable to add-ins. Hence, the monster trail mix.

Mixing the cookie dough is very straightforward.
1. Cream your butter, peanut butter, and salt.
2. Add your white and brown sugars and beat some more.
3. Mix in a couple of eggs.
4. Mix in your dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, nutmeg). (I omitted the nutmeg.)
5. Dump in 14 oz of Monster Trail Mix

Then you scoop them onto your cookie sheets (I add a little flaky sea salt to each cookie mound) and bake for about 17 min.

I love that the dough doesn't need refrigeration before baking. That always makes me sad when I see I need to refrigerate.

Honestly you can eat these right off the cookie sheet but they will fall apart. Best to wait maybe 10 minutes before eating a nice, warm, sweet and salty peanut butter cookie.

Mmmm, cookie.