9er Domestic: Cookies For Santa

    Every year my son and I bake cookies specifically for Santa on Christmas Eve. My little guy wants Santa to have the freshest cookies possible. For the past four years, these Santa Surprize Cookies have been the cookies we make.
    I made them for a Cookie Exchange one year and everyone loved them. Not only are they chewy and delicious, but once you decorate them people seem to be all the more impressed. It's amazing what a little drizzle of chocolate can do.
    I am posting this recipe today, in case any of you are looking for a new cookie to leave Santa tonight.

Santa Surprise Cookies:

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup smooth peanut butter, plus 2 Tbsps. for chocolate drizzle
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
3 1/2 cups white flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
4 boxes of "Neilson's" slowpokes or 2 large boxes of "Turtles
confectioners sugar, optional

2 greased cookie sheets

Directions:
1) Beat together the butter, peanut butter and sugars with an electric mixer on low to medium speed, until light and fluffy.

2) Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat until well mixed.

3) In a medium sized mixing bowl, stir together the sifted flour, baking soda and salt.

4) Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredient in the mixer. Mix until fully combined.

5) Cover and chill the dough in your fridge for 2-3 hours.
6) Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F. Remove the dough from the fridge.
7) Begin assembling the cookies. Scoop 1 Tbsp. of the dough out, and flatten it. Place a piece of chocolate in the center of the flattened dough. Scoop out a second Tbsp. of dough, and flatten. Take the second piece of dough and cover the chocolate. Mold the dough around the chocolate.

8) Continue until all the dough and chocolates are used.
9) Place on a greased cookie sheet.

11) Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the edges have set and the cookies are lightly browned.

10) Remove the cookies from the oven and transfer to a piece of parchment/wax paper to cool and decorate.
11) Meanwhile in a double boiler (or a metal bowl placed over a pot of boiling water like I have done), melt the chocolate chips and the remaining 2 Tbsps. of peanut together until smooth.

12) Pour the melted chocolate into a re-sealable bag. Let the chocolate cool for a moment, so you can handle the bag comfortably. When you are ready to decorate the cookies, snip a small corner off the re-sealable bag with a pair of scissors and "pipe" the chocolate over the tops of the cookies.

13) Dust with confectioners sugar, and let the chocolate dry.

*When using "Turtles" the cookies will be quite large, and the recipe will yield approximately 36 cookies.
* When using the "Slow Pokes", you will get approximately 48 cookies.