Every holiday season, I have a set group of cookies that I make every year. I especially love my traditional cookies because they disappear the fastest. My belief is to create a solid list of traditional cookies and then throw in a few sugary surprises.
My perfect cookie tray dozen is:
- A chocolate chip cookie - Andria's Chocolate Chip Cookies - bittersweet chocolate and Heath Bar bits make them perfect!
- An oatmeal cookie - Nannie's Oatmeal Cookies - brown sugar oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips and raisins.
- A macadamia nut cookie - White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies - men love these, more than women!
- A gingersnap cookie - Dipped Gingersnaps - a great twist on a traditional cookie.
- A chocolate cookie - Chocolate Snowcap Cookies - soft and fudgy with nonpareils.
- A jelly filled cookie - Jelly Filled Thumbprints - brown sugar shortbread cookie with a fruity jam.
- A peanut butter cookie - Peanut Butter Blossoms - who doesn't love these!
- A shortbread cookie - Danielle B's Special Thumbprints - mini chocolate chips and a Hershey kiss.
- An easy bar cookie - 7 Layer Bars - This is as good as a candy bar.
- A soft cookie - Angie's Ricotta Cookies - tastes like a little moist cake with lemon icing.
- A biscotti - Dried Cherry Pistachio Biscotti - perfect with a cup of coffee.
- A new addition - Mocha Cinnamon Chocolate Chip Cookie - a new cookie that people go crazy for!
I like this choice of cookies because they all get eaten. There is nothing worse than arriving with a platter of cookies, only to be leaving and seeing many of them still on the plate. Believe me, that used to happen. I would spend hours on specialty cookies only to find all the traditional cookies would be eaten. The specialty cookies would be sitting very pretty on the plate and later, they would be in the trash.
This year, I was looking for some new cookies to add to my list and decided to try these Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies. I bought a bag of Butterfinger Bits and thought the taste would be good. I love crushed candy bars in cookies. It gives them a unique flavor. That's why I add Heath Bar Bits to my chocolate chip cookies.
The original recipe didn't have mini chocolate chips but I love a bit more chocolate with my cookie. I figured the mini chips wouldn't overwhelm the flavor of the candy. The recipe was easy and the cookies were delicious. They were crunchy on the outside and slightly chewy with flavors of peanut butter and chocolate. My mother-in-law, who lives next door, is my official taste tester. She's not a big candy bar fan but all she talked about was how much she liked the cookies.
I just bought another bag of Butterfinger Bits so I'm off to make another batch. I'm going to add them to my perfect dozen list and let's see how well these cookies do this season.
Happy Holidays!
Butterfinger Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Adapted from Nestle recipe)
Ingredients:
1 cup of butter
1-1/2 cups of white sugar
2 eggs
3-1/2 cups of flour
1-1/2 teaspoons for baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
1 bag of Butterfinger Bits or 8 Butterfinger candy bars, break into chunks
1 cup of mini chocolate chips
Instructions:
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees
- Using the paddle attachment on an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar on medium high, until light and creamy (2 minutes).
- Add eggs and beat until blended, about 1 minute.
- On low speed, add flour, salt and baking soda.
- Before the mixture comes together, add the Butterfinger pieces and the chocolate chips.
- Mix until combined.
- Using a well-rounded teaspoon, drop dough onto cookie sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes or until slightly golden and the tops look dry.
- Cool on cookie rack.
Makes 48-60 cookies.