Chewy Peanut Butter and Candy Corn Cookies

I have come to grips that I actually do like sweet treats. For years I would simply bypass dessert at holiday parties, social gatherings, and for the most part even making them. But for the past couple of years, maybe due to my circumstances, I have really enjoyed eating desserts, and making them. I’m actually in the process of starting to weed off those sweet cravings, and honestly it has been a bit difficult, but I’m nearing the end of indulging a sweet treat on a regular basis. Before I do that though, I will give you these chewy peanut butter and candy corn cookies. One of my readers recently commented on my Peanuts and Red Hots snack stating that she grew up eating something similar to that, but substituting the red hots with candy corn. I immediately agreed that the combination sounded awesome. There’s something about that sweet and salty combination that just hooks me, so I decided to make some cookies for the family and thought I would take that idea but turn it into a cookie, and gosh darn it those cookies were everything I expected and more.

Now I love a crisp, yet chewy cookie, and I believe this sugar combination was just about right. This is a great cookie, especially for the month of October. They are a bit addicting so you may want to double the batch, but that is up to you!

Let’s get started.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tbsp milk
• 1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 bag candy corn
• 1/3 cup additional granulated sugar

In a small bowl mix your dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt, and mix. Set aside.

To your main mixing bowl, add the peanut butter, sugars, and egg. Cream the mixture on medium mixing for a few minutes. When you are about done creaming, add in the milk and vanilla, then slowly add in the dry ingredients until all if thoroughly mixed. Pause the mixer, scrape down the sides and mix again. Clean off the mixer attachment scraping the dough back into the bowl, and get ready to form some balls.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Take a spoonful and roll it into a ball. Make sure those hands are clean. The ball should be around a golf ball size. Add the 1/3 cup of sugar into a bowl. Take the ball and roll it into the sugar, lightly coating the ball. Add the ball to a baking sheet, preferably lined with parchment paper. I’m a fan of parchment paper, are you?

Repeat, placing the balls a few inches apart, until you fill your baking sheet. I fit about 9-12  cookies per sheet.

Once the balls are in place, take a fork and lightly press into the dough to flatten and make those traditional peanut butter cookie designs. Gently and quickly lift the fork and make another mark, almost crisscross.  Repeat.

Place the cookie sheet into the oven and bake for about 14 minutes. Keep an eye on them about 10 minutes in. Don’t over bake these.

Now you have options here, and I tried a few different options. You can add a couple of candy corns to each cookie about 10 minutes in, lightly pushing them into the cookie, or you can add the candy corns to each cookie after they bake, or you can add the candy corns to each cookie before you bake them. My preference is adding them after they come out of the often. Your call.

Once baked, remove from the oven and carefully move these onto a wire cookie rack if you have them, otherwise wait a few minutes before transferring them to a baking sheet to cool. Sprinkle with a pinch of salt if you desire.

Repeat with the remaining dough.

The end result is a pretty awesome. It’s crispy around the edges and has that perfect chew. The salty peanut butter when combined with the texture of the candy corn gives you that sweet and salty that gets you reaching for another cookie, and then another. We had it bad. Real bad. These cookies were gone within the day. Yep. Lots of cookies consumed in one day, and that was OK by me. Give these a shot if you are not only looking for an easy cookie to bake, but one that is a great balance of sweet and salty and perfect for the Halloween time of year. Hope you enjoy!