Ingredients:
6 oz cut up miniature candy bars (20 Hershey miniatures, cut into eighths)
1 1/3 cup flour
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Chop the candy bars into small pieces.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla; combine thoroughly. Gradually add the dry ingredients and mix until a very thick dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chunks. Form cookies by dropping tablespoons of dough on the sheet two inches apart. Flatten slightly then bake until light brown, 12 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

Yield: about 2 dozen

My thoughts:

Baltimore is not terribly far from Hershey, PA aka the Sweetest Place on Earth. Hershey Park has long been my family’s favorite amusement park and my parents still go to Hershey several times a year, even if for just a visit to Chocolate World where you learn about Milton Hershey and his vision (did you know that to this day a percent of the profits from Hershey products goes to fund the Milton S. Hershey School?) and go on a virtual chocolate factory tour. I think I know all of the words to that tour and am still a little puzzled why they edited out the “each Kiss is untouched by human hands” line during the demo of Hershey Kiss packaging during a recent update. As a bit of a germaphobe, I always found that reassuring. Anyway, I don’t eat candy terribly often so when I came in possession of a bag of Hershey miniatures, I tried to think of something fun to do with them. Looking at the tiny bars I realized that they could easily be cut into chip-like chunks and baked into something. Cookies was the obvious choice and it was a good one, the different candy bars (I used a mix of Special Dark, Mr. Goodbar and Krackle) ensured that each bite was different. I used a disproportionate amount of Special Darks so the cookie wouldn’t be tooth-achingly sweet but any combination would do. They really are fun cookies, chewy and chocolate-y and no more difficult than a regular chocolate chip cookie. The only drawback, now The Candy Man is stuck in my head.