Take 5 Cookies

- I stumbled across these cookies on a cookie blog I read frequently, www.cookiemadness.net. I've never had a Take 5 candy bar so I wasn't sure what to expect, but these are quite good.

Mom and David’s Faves (from Carrie Fields)

1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 Cups creamy peanut butter
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chunks (your choice of intensity, just use good chocolate)
large double fisted handful of pretzel sticks lightly crushed (good and salty)
soft caramels to melt and drizzle

Preheat oven to 325. Line baking sheets with parchment.
In medium bowl, cream together butter, sugars, corn syrup, baking soda, salt, and vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the peanut butter, beating until the mixture is light and fluffy. Stir in the flour. Mix in half of the chocolate and half of the pretzels.

Drop dough by soup spoon full onto cookie sheets. Add 3 or 4 more chunks of chocolate on top and a few nice size pieces of pretzel so that they will show nicely when baked off.

Bake the cookies for 15 minutes, until they are lightly golden around the edges. Remove from the oven and cool on a cooling rack.

When cool drizzle with caramel.

Coconut & Caramel Cookies

It was time to invent a new recipe of my own - I have yet to make a coconut cookie and I have a case of caramel bits in my pantry, so I mixed the two together.

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 cups coconut
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 bag kraft caramel bits

1. Cream together the butter and sugars.
   
2. Beat in the egg and egg yolk and then add the vanilla and milk.
   
3. Sift in the flour, baking soda, and salt.
   
4. Fold in the flour, coconut and caramel bits.
5. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.
   
6. Leave to cool on baking sheets for about 5 minutes and then transfer to coolling racks.
   

Monster Cookies

Taken from www.bettycrocker.com

1	pouch Betty Crocker® chocolate chip cookie mix
1	pouch Betty Crocker® peanut butter cookie mix
1 1/2	cups quick-cooking oats
1	cup butter or margarine, softened
3	eggs
2	cups candy-coated milk chocolate candies

1.	Heat oven to 375°F. In large bowl, stir all ingredients except candies until soft dough forms. Stir in candies.
2.	On ungreased cookie sheets, place about 1/4 cupfuls dough about 3 inches apart.
3.	Bake 12 to 13 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes; remove from cookie sheets. Cool completely. Store in covered container at room temperature.
High Altitude (3500-6500 ft): Bake 15 to 16 minutes.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

- Taken from www.allrecipes.com

• 3/4 cup butter
• 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons water
• 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 36 chocolate mint wafer candies

1. In a large pan over low heat, cook butter, sugar and water until butter is melted. Add chocolate chips and stir until partially melted. Remove from heat and continue to stir until chocolate is completely melted. Pour into a large bowl and let stand 10 minutes to cool off slightly.
2. At high speed, beat in eggs, one at a time into chocolate mixture. Reduce speed to low and add dry ingredients, beating until blended. Chill dough about 1 hour.
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
4. Roll dough into balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake 8-10 minutes. While cookies are baking unwrap mints and divide each in half. When cookies are brought out of the oven, put 1/2 mint on top of each cookie. Let the mint sit for up to 5 minutes until melted, then spread the mint on top of the cookie. Eat and enjoy!

Chocolate Cherry Oatmeal Cookies

Since starting Weight Watchers, I wanted to find a cookie that I could eat too, and these were just delicious!

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp table salt
• 3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large egg(s)
• 2 1/2 cup uncooked oatmeal
• 1/2 cup dried cherries

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350ºF.
  
  
• Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a small bowl; set aside.
  
  
• Place room temperature butter into bowl of a mixer and mix with a paddle attachment until smooth, or beat with an electric mixer. Slowly pour granulated sugar in an even stream into butter and mix on high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Pour in brown sugar, mix until incorporated and then scrape mixture down from sides of bowl.
  
  
• Slowly beat in each egg one at a time until incorporated. Slowly beat in flour mixture until incorporated.
  
  
• Scrape mixture down from sides of bowl and stir in oatmeal and then dried cherries. (Note: Freeze dough at this point or continue to step 6 for baking.)
  
  
• Scoop rounded teaspoonfuls of dough onto a nonstick sheet pan, a pan lined with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat about 1 1/2 inches apart.
  
  
• Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are set. Cool completely. Either serve cookies or stack between sheets of waxed paper in an air-tight container and freeze for up to two weeks before serving. Yields about 1 cookie per serving.

Chipotle & Peanut Butter Cookies

Taken from www.cookiemadness.net

These cookies sounded very unusual at first, but they actually taste quite good!

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 cup peanut butter, smooth or chunky
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon chipotle powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups sifted flour
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Have ready an ungreased cookie sheet – preferably uninsulated.

Cream the butter and both sugars. Beat in the peanut butter and egg; Scrape sides of bowl and beat in the chipotle, salt, baking soda and vanilla. When well blended, add flour and stir until it is blended. Stir in the chips.

Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on cookie sheets about 2-inches apart. Flatten balls with a fork. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until slightly browned around the edges.
3 ½ to 4 dozen