Peanut Butter doesn't come into play enough in Christmas Cookies. My mom always made something similar growing up and they are strangely addicting. Crispy, salty, creamy, sweet...the gang is all here! Plus, they're no-bake, make a bunch, relatively inexpensive, and do a great job of mixing up all the super sugary, sprinkle-laden, pepperminty other cookies out there. Give these a shot - I promise you'll love them!
How to Make Them:
Does everyone else cook a ton of Christmas cookies using Almond Bark? We do. I always have. We always did growing up too. I can't find that stuff in stores though unless I hit up Aldi's, who always has it year round. Maybe I'm not looking at the right place though.
The best way to make these is to create a double broiler system. I really have no clue if there is a more official way to do it, but I've always just put a pan of water down and found a metal or glass bowl a little bit larger than the pan and placed it on top. Essentially the steam from the water heats the bowl or pan on top and creates a more subtle heat to melt the chocolate. This prevents it from burning, which you do not want! Trust me, I wasn't watching yesterday and burned my first batch of melted Almond Bark.
I always use Vanilla Almond Bark for these, but I can imagine Chocolate Almond Bark would do just fine in this role as well. The Vanilla just feels a little bit more...Christmas-ey.
Stirring frequently while the Almond Bark melts, I chopped up some salted peanuts and set aside my caramels. These were nice as they were already quite small, but usually I would buy the individually wrapped caramels from the store and cut them up. IF adding them. You can make these without and they're perfect that way as well.
I added a bit of butter into the Almond Bark just to smooth it out, and once it's fully melted, I added in peanut butter, then the caramels and then the peanuts.
Next, use wax paper on the kitchen counter and a small spoon to spoon little bite-sized cookies onto the wax paper. Let it cool and you're in business. These things are so addicting!
For a touch of added savory, (totally not necessary though if you use salted peanuts) I sprinkled some flakey sea salt onto them. These are so good. I could probably eat them until my stomach hurt!
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