Peanut Butter Heath Blossoms

In California there seem to be frozen yoghurt and ice cream shops on almost every block. You walk in, sample half a dozen flavors, and then choose from a dizzying array of toppings to be "cut" into your dessert.

My favorite is cake batter ice cream with chocolate chip cookie dough and rainbow sprinkles. It sounds disgusting, I know. But a close second is some kind of peanut butter frozen yoghurt with Heath bar or Butterfinger, and I set out to replicate those flavors last night in a cookie, since my favorite frozen yoghurt shop "21 Choices", is now thousands of miles away.

The final cookie was golden, crunchy, peanut buttery, with a hint of Heath that would have been better defined if I had more than 1/4 cup of Heath crumbs left in my U.S. baking supplies hoard. Ah well, it was still pretty great, and you can add more Heath if you're residing in the Western world.

Peanut Butter Heath Blossoms

(adapted from the Heath Bar Cookies at Simply Recipes)

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup (1 and 1/2 sticks) butter, softened

1/4 cup peanut butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar (though I might try 1 cup white / 1/2 cup brown next time)

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup Heath chips (or more, depending on how Heathy you want it)

1 cup chocolate chunks (I just cut up 1 1/2 chocolate bars, but chocolate chips would work)

One Chocolate bar broken into squares or 36 chocolate kisses, unwrapped

Preheat oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment.

1. Cream together the peanut butter and butter. Cream in the sugar.

2. Stir in eggs one a time, then vanilla.

3. Chop up chocolate bar and combine with Heath chips in a small bowl.

4. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl.

5. Stir in 1/3 of the flour mixture, then 1/2 the chocolate, then 1/3 the flour mixture, then 1/2 the chocolate, then the rest of the flour mixture. Combine well.

6. Refrigerate the dough for an hour, or freeze it in balls until you want to bake it.

7. Lay the dough in rounded tablespoonfuls on the cookie sheet, leaving several inches between cookies.

8. Bake for 10 minutes or until golden, rotating the sheet halfway for even baking.

9. Immediately push chocolate squares or kisses into the center of each cookie. If you use chocolate squares, give them two minutes to soften and then swirl them into a puddle of chocolate with a knife.

10. Let cool. It will take several hours for the chocolate to reset unless you refrigerate them. Enjoy!