The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2011 Recap

The official end of the 2011 cookie swap has come but I am still up to my ears in cookies and loving every second of it.  This past week I received three separate packages containing three very different kinds of cookies (1 dozen each).  A very special THANK YOU to Damn Delicious, Patricia's PattiCakes, and The Cooking Vent. They were wonderful!

As for my recipe, I had some trouble deciding which to choose.  I have tons of traditions when it comes to holiday cookies but they are all with my mom.  My making them at my house by myself seemed a bit wrong. I decided that I needed a clean slate.  Then I saw this recipe in the December Real Simple magazine and I was drooling so bad the page got wet.

Toffee-Pretzel Peanut Butter Cookies
From Real Simple

Ingredients

2 C creamy peanut butter
1 C packed light brown sugar
1 C granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 C broken salted pretzels
1 C chopped  toffee pieces (Heath Bars)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350° F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment. In a large bowl, mix together the peanut butter, sugars, eggs, baking soda, and salt until smooth. Fold in the pretzels and chopped toffee bar. 
2. Shape the dough into balls (about 1 heaping tablespoon each) and place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. Using the tines of a fork, flatten each ball, creating a crisscross pattern. 
3. Bake, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until puffed and golden, 10 to 12 minutes (the cookies will deflate as they cool). Let cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

The recipe said it made 42 cookies but my first attempt only yielded about 34.  I think because I used natural peanut butter it wasn't as moist.  Mr. J was happy that I had to make another batch because then he scored some of the cookies which I had originally forbid him to touch till I was all done baking, cooling, and packaging.  Did I mention how over the course of the last two weeks we have not had less than 24 cookies at any given time?  Mr. J seems to think that whenever a new one comes out of the oven he must be the first sampler.  I guess I cannot blame him too much.

I hope Famous Michele's Food Librarian Place for Stuff, Kokocooks, and The Caramel Cookie enjoyed my cookies.  This was loads of fun and I truly hope Love and Olive Oil sponsor another one next year.