Loaded Chewy Candy Bar Cookies
Ready in under an hour with a quick mix up, these cookies can be customized to take your favorite classic candy bar to the next level or give all that leftover Halloween candy a new life!
Servings: 12 cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup mixed chopped candy bars, M&Ms, and/or chocolate chips see notes
Instructions
- Cream butter, sugars, and flavor: preheat your oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream the butter, sugars, and vanilla together until very light and fluffy for about 1-2 minutes on medium-high speed using a hand or stand mixer.
- Beat in the egg: add in the egg and beat for 30 seconds more on medium-high until the batter is smooth and fluffy again.
- Add in dries: add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the batter, and mix on low speed just until the flour is incorporated and a smooth dough forms (be sure to scrape the bowl really well about halfway through mixing!).
- Add candy bars: add in your candy bar mixture, and mix in by hand or carefully on low speed, just until they’re evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Scoop dough balls: scoop dough into 2” rounds, using a scant ¼ cup of dough per cookie (or to bake as bars, see "Tips" section below). Roll dough balls between your hands to fully round (if not using an ice cream scoop to portion).
- Tray and top: place scooped cookies on prepared baking sheets at least 2” apart. For an extra hand-made touch, press a candy piece or chocolate chip into the top of each dough ball (optional).
- Bake: bake for 17-19 minutes, just until the bottoms are a medium golden brown, and there’s a touch of brown around the top edges. The tops should still be fairly pale and crackly, but look dry although they’ll be soft to the touch (a touch underbaked is actually good for these cookies as they’ll crisp up when they cool).
- Knock ‘em down: as soon as you take the cookies out of the oven, knock the tray firmly on the counter, or hit it a few times from underneath with an oven mitt on (this helps to settle the molten batter while it’s still all gooey and give you that nice crackly finish).
- Cool, share and enjoy: cool cookies as long as you can resist the temptation to enjoy one of these candy and cookie mash-ups, and then pass them around for an extra sweet treat!
Notes
- Baking as bar cookies: if you'd rather bake these as a one pan recipe, you can press all the dough into an even layer in a greased and lined 8" square or 9" round pan. Then bake at 350°F for 24-28 minutes, until golden brown, dry and fully set on top.
- Which candy bars? You can use whatever candy bars, peanut butter cups, M&Ms, Reese’s Pieces, or even just regular chocolate chips you have available. I would only caution again using whole caramel or nougat candies (even if chocolate coated) as those can melt into a puddle and burn, and make quite a mess of your cookies. But caramel in a nut bar (like Snicker’s) is totally fine to use (and tasty!).
- Chilled bakes: if you’d like, you can bake these cookies directly from the fridge or freezer too. Just know that doing so will make the cookies spread a little less and stand a bit taller. You can chill scooped dough balls (with their candy pieces already pressed in on top, if using) for 1 month in the freezer or 4 days in the fridge. When baking chilled or frozen dough balls, still set your oven to 350°F and following visual cues to determine doneness as you may need a few extra minutes of bake time.
- Storage: leftover cookies can be kept at room temperature in an air-tight container for up to 7 days.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 cookie | Calories: 283kcal | Carbohydrates: 42g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 36mg | Sodium: 241mg | Potassium: 80mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 28g | Vitamin A: 276IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1mg
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