Malty Whopper Cookies

I'm a nut for malt. I love going to the ice cream shop and getting a chocolate malt... double malt. Or a vanilla malt... double malt. Or a strawberry malt... double malt. Yeah, I love it. And, when the chick behind the counter cannot concern herself with fully mixing in all that malt and there's a big gob in the bottom of the cup-- heaven. I feel like malts are something that little old ladies love. Is it? Whatev.

As you might expect, I could eat Whoppers day and night. For that reason, I typically keep them out of the house. When I saw this recipe for Malt Whopper Pudding Cookies by Chef in Training, I had to try it.

Something about making this recipe seemed weird. For example, I thought you always did butter and sugars, then eggs and vanilla, then all combined dry ingredients. Maybe the order doesn't matter. I don't pretend to know a single thing about making cookies, but I have made a few recipes and this just seemed different. Anyway, the only thing I did different was I chopped up the Whoppers instead of leaving them whole.

They were pretty easy to make, though. You basically just throw everything into the stand mixer, then ball out the dough.

The dough was really sticky. Like, really, really sticky. It was also really, really delicious. I know, I know-- raw eggs. Whatever. It was awesome.

My biggest critique is that these cookies spread like a mofo. I wonder if I had added a little more flour, if that would've helped with the stickiness and maybe kept them from spreading some.

The interesting thing about these cookies is that they were this weird (awesome) combination of crunchy and chewy. And they taste amazing. I was really put off by the spreading (it's my least favorite characteristic in a cookie) but Mr. S LOVED these cookies. As in, he was begging me to make more.

I think I'll give them another go sometime-- maybe with a little more flour.

The least spread of the bunch...

Peanut Butter, Peanut Butter, More Peanut Butter and a Little Bit of Chocolate Cookies

I've seen all of these "pudding cookies" all over Pinterest. What the heck are they?, I thought. Why pudding?, I thought. I can't believe it took me so long to decide to make some. Now, I need to try all the varieties I can find. These were my first:

Peanut Butter Pudding Cookies from Sweet Pea's Kitchen

She adapted from another recipe, but I made her recipe exactly, with only one exception. I had teeny tiny Reese's Pieces so I used half a cup of them instead of a whole cup of the regular version. It could've used more. If I remake them (and I will!), I'll eliminate the chocolate chips completely and use 1.5 cup peanut butter chips and 1 cup mini Reese's Pieces. Still, these were frickin' fantastic.

So, here's my totally unscientific and unprofessional review: 

Prep difficulty: Pretty darn easy for a non-baker like me. It's a good reason to use the stand mixer.

Prep time: Average-- maybe 15-20 minutes.

Bake time: Quick-- done in 10-12 minutes. 

Quirks: These cookies pretty much did not spread. I'm the queen of turning a cookie sheet of cookies into one gigantic cookie because I never leave enough room. These are the perfect type of cookie for me. I'm pretty sure I made these pretty much exactly the size I was supposed to and there was probably three cookies worth of dough left after the 2 dozen. Don't worry... I took care of it. 

Taste: Very rich and very peanut buttery. This is a "requires a glass of milk" cookie. 

Dough taste: Delightful, but also very rich. Peanut butter cookie dough is probably my favorite and this didn't disappoint. 

Reviews: I don't like to keep stuff like this in the house because I could have easily eaten the 2 dozen cookies for dinner on Saturday. I took eight cookies to two different friends. This is what they said: 

Via Facebook post: "These cookies are UHH-May-ZING! If my husband doesn't stop eating them, I may have to injure him. ;)" 

Via text message: "These cookies are awesome!!!" Yes, with three exclamation points.  

This is definitely a winning recipe!