Have you ever wanted to send a care package to a friend or someone in your family? It can be a special treat to those who are far away, to let them know you are thinking of them and that you miss them. I often think of my friends who have sons and daughters in the Military who are far from home and how they would enjoy a care package of homemade treats made specially just for them. I found that for me, sending cookies is the easiest choice. Cookies tend to stay fresh longer than other treats so they can travel a few days and still be yummy when they arrive for that special someone. I picked up some cookie wrappers from Wilton with pretty twisty ties so that they would stack together nicely and hopefully not crumble. They also make nice treats to give to your neighbors when you have extra cookies to share. I had a lot, I mean A LOT of extra Halloween candy so I made use of the extra candy bars to make these cookies.
This is a big batch of cookie dough that I will divide into 3 parts. You’ll need a bowl of dry ingredients containing all purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. You’ll need brown sugar, white sugar, 2 sticks butter, 2 eggs, vanilla and 3 cups of chopped candy bits.
This is my leftover pile of candy. I planned out 1 batch of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Reese’s Pieces, 1 batch of Butterfinger, and 1 batch of Snickers cookies.
Add the softened butter and sugars together in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Beat on medium speed until the butter and sugars are well combined.
Beat the eggs into the mixture.
And the vanilla.
Add the flour mix in a little bit at a time. Mix after each addition until the batter is well combined. Then divide the dough into 3 equal parts.
If you have butterfingers, snickers or any other candy bar that needs to be chopped into smaller pieces do it now. I plan to add approximately 1 – 1 1/2 cups of candy bits for each batch of dough.
Here’s the Reeses peanut butter cups and Reeses pieces.
And these cookies will have the snickers bars.
Drop dough by rounded tablespoons onto a baking sheet with or without silpat. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 10 – 12 minutes. Let cookies rest in the pan for a couple minutes then transfer to wire racks to cool.
While these Reese’s cookies are cooling, I’m dropping the next batch of dough balls onto the baking pans.
Here are the Butterfinger cookies. They are a bit thinner than the others with a bit of crunch.
Up front are the Snickers cookies. I ended up with 17 Reese’s cookies, 17 Butterfinger cookies, and 16 Snickers cookies.
I stacked 8 cookies in each wrapper. I had some tissue paper sheets to wrap them in.
I added some bubble wrap to a small box, next comes the tissue paper. And then the cookies.
Another layer of tissue paper and the last batch of cookies in the middle. They should be secure now.
I will say it wasn’t the cheapest thing to send to a loved one. But it will be well worth it when they receive their special care package.
Halloween Candy Cookies
3 cups All Purpose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Soda
3/4 teaspoon Salt
1 cup Butter (2 sticks), room temperature
1 1/4 cups Brown Sugar, firmly packed
3/4 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
3 – 4 cups Chopped Candy Bits, such as Snickers, Butterfingers, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Reese’s Pieces, M & M’s, or any other favorite Halloween Candy.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt into a medium bowl. Set aside.
Combine butter and sugars in a mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Cream butter and sugars together until very light. Add eggs, one at a time mixing after each addition. Add vanilla and reduce speed. Add flour mixture a little bit at a time, mixing after each addition until the dough forms. Divide dough into 3 parts.
Mix 1 – 1 1/2 cups of candy bits into each batch of dough. Drop 2 inch dough balls onto a baking sheet, with or without a silpat sheet. Bake 10 – 12 minutes, just until the cookies are golden brown around the edges. Let rest in pan for a couple minutes before cooling on a wire rack.
Makes approximately 4 dozen cookies.
An Inspired Cook 