12 Days of Christmas Treats: Santa’s Snickers

Editor’s Note: Welcome to the 2013 edition of The 12 Days of Christmas Treats! Every day from now until Christmas, we’ll bring you a new, scrumptious recipe for a holiday cookie, cake, or other dessert treat. Whether you leave them out for Santa or simply sample them all yourself is up to you, we just encourage you to try them all! Leave your comments below each recipe and upload a photo if you make your own batch at home. Season’s Eatings!

by Amy Johnson, Managing Editor, HockeyPub.com

PHILADELPHIA, PA — We’re getting close to the big night: Christmas Eve!  The night where children all over the world will fill up a tall, cold glass of milk and set it beside a plate of cookies to leave as a special treat for Santa Claus when he swoops down the chimney to pile gifts under their tree.  In many homes, Santa will be greeted with a plate of old-fashioned chocolate chips cookies (in fact, we’ll have a recipe for those in a couple of days!) but perhaps you’d like to give him something a little different with it’s own surprise inside.  These chewy peanut butter cookies have a miniature Snickers candy bar hiding in the middle!

Santa’s Snickers
Recipe Courtesy: Favorite Recipes of East Brandywine Baptist Church

Prep/Cook Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Yield: approx 48 cookies

Ingredients:
2 sticks butter, softened
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (13-oz.) package Snickers Miniatures (I used a pouch of Snickers bite-sized minis)

1. Combine butter, peanut butter, and sugars in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy.

2. Slowly add eggs and vanilla, mix thoroughly.

3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt.

4. Slowly add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until well combined.

5. Cover the dough and chill in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.

6. If using Snickers minis, unwrap and cut each bar in half  (or use the pre-wrapped Snickers bites pictured below).

7. After chilling time has passed, remove dough from refrigerator, divide into tablespoon-sized pieces and flatten.  Place a piece of Snickers bar in center.

8. Form dough into balls around each Snickers bar.  Place on a greased baking sheet (I’ve used parchment paper instead).

9. Bake 10-12 minutes at 300 degrees F.  Cool on waxed paper, then sprinkle with powdered sugar and drizzle with chocolate.

Be sure to check back tomorrow for our next holiday recipe – Nut Tassies! And if you missed any of our previous recipes in this series, take a moment to check them out below:

Day 1 – Apple Spice Cake with Cream Cheese Icing
Day 2 – White Chocolate Cranberry Macadamia Cookies
Day 3 – Apricot Rugelach
Day 4 – Hot Cocoa Cake
Day 5 – Eggnog-Panettone Bread Pudding
Day 6 – Cherry-Pineapple Upside Down Cake
Day 7 – Marshmallow Pops
Day 8 – Almond and Lemon Biscotti Dipped in White Chocolate
Day 9 – Almond Orange Shortbread

Photo credits: Amy Johnson

Tags: baking, candy, christmas, cookies, desserts, featured, holidays, peanut butter, recipes, snickers, treats