Peanut Butter Halloween Candy Cookies

Can you believe that Halloween is already just around the bend? I bought little peanut a super cute bumblebee costume – that he is terrified of. (He’s also terrified of play doh and teddy bears. Strange kid.)

I came thisclose to buying him a dog costume. Like, a costume made for dogs, not a kid’s costume OF a dog. The store I was in had so many more options for pets then for human toddlers, and they looked about the same size to me! To his humiliation, I tried to stuff Theo into a Robin Hood costume for Golden Retrievers, but the arm (paw?) holes were awkwardly placed in front instead of the sides where human arms reside. Oh well. He’s stuck with a fluffy bee outfit with sparkly fairy wings that scares the snot out of him. (I’ll probably only make him wear it for one photo.)

These Halloween Candy Cookies are fun to make for a party before the big event or – perhaps even better – make them afterwards, using chopped up mini chocolate bars. You can use whatever kind you like, but I am partial to peanut butter cups.

The base is a super chewy amazing peanut butter cookie, and I included some crisp rice cereal for a bit of crunch. They are super crazy addictive. (And they freeze well, if you don’t trust yourself with four-and-a-half dozen of them.)

Feel free to swap in chopped dark chocolate for the Halloween candy – I’m sure I’ll be making them again like that throughout the year.

What are you baking for Halloween???

Ingredients

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup natural (100% peanuts, no salt) peanut butter
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp kosher salt (or 1 tsp table salt)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 cup crisp rice cereal
2 cups coarsely chopped chocolate halloween candy (I used mini peanut butter cups)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375ºF (use convection, if you have it).
In standing mixer fitted with the beater attachment, beat butter and peanut butter with sugars until light and fluffy, pausing occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Beat into peanut butter mixture with mixer on low speed. Beat in rice cereal.
Remove mixer bowl from stand and stir in chopped candy (reserve some to top cookies, for a nice finish). Drop dough by tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, spacing them 2″ apart. Roll dough into nice balls between your palms for “perfect circle” cookies. Top with reserved candy, if desired. Bake approximately 7 minutes (a minute or two more if not using convection) until edges are golden and centres are almost set. Cool 5 minutes on baking sheets before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.

Last Updated on October 22, 2014 by Jennifer Pallian BSc, RD