Honey Roasted Peanut Chocolate Chip Cookie Squares

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup butter, at room temperature
1 egg, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/3 cup bittersweet chips (60% cocoa) or semi-sweet chips
2/3 cup honey roasted peanuts

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour one 8×8 pan.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and combine thoroughly. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the sweetened butter and mix until a very thick dough forms. Fold in the chocolate chips and peanuts, distributing them evenly.

Press the dough into the prepared pan in an even layer, taking care to touch all sides of the pan.

Bake 25-30 minutes or until the edges golden brown and only 1-2 crumbs comes out on a toothpick inserted in the middle of the pan.

Cool completely on a wire rack. Cut into 24 squares.

 

My thoughts:
I normally don’t buy honey roasted peanuts (or any nuts at all to be honest) but I bought some to make the Halloween Chex Mix with so I’ve been snacking on them. I found they were even better if I mixed them with dark chocolate chips (so obvious! peanut butter and chocolate is classic) but eating bowls of chips and nuts seemed a little unseemly somehow. So I thought I’d make them more acceptable (and shareable!) by turning the combo into cookies. I’ve made a lot of drop cookies this year and a few spritz so I thought I’d make bar cookies instead. Nice, thick, chocolate-y cookies.
I used all dark brown sugar to give it a bit of a chewy texture which I love. The chocolate is awesome of course and keeps the whole cookie from being too sweet despite the sweetened nuts. The nuts add a nice toasty note and a touch of honey flavor.

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