Thank You Cookies

It's not just any cookie that packs enough punch to say, "Thank you!"

Thank you for taking time out of your day.
Thank you for all those evenings of training.
Thank you for dropping everything.
Thank you for turning on the sirens and coming quickly.
Thank you for being good neighbors.
Just thank you!

We delivered a cookie tray last night to the Alden firefighters who responded to our not-so-controlled controlled burn. We have one tray left to go. Sterling firefighters meet on Wednesday evenings, so that's on the agenda for tomorrow. (The Raymond and Quivira National Refuge cookie trays have long since been consumed.)

I made some of my tried and true, never-fail favorites for the thank you trays. But I also tried a new bar cookie recipe to include with the other selections.

Peanut Butter Cup Fluffernutter Blondies definitely were good enough to say "thank you." They were also a hit on my Easter cookie trays at home and church. If you like peanut butter, you'll like these moist, yummy cookies.

Peanut Butter Cup
Fluffernutter Blondies
from Cookies and Cups

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 cups coarse chopped peanut butter cups (10.5 oz bag)
3/4 cup marshmallow fluff
1 cup peanut butter chips (opt. for topping)

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a 9×13 baking dish with cooking spray.

Cream butter and peanut butter together. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy. On medium speed, add in eggs and vanilla, and mix until incorporated. Stir in baking soda, salt and flour until just combined. Fold in chopped peanut butter cups.

Spread the batter in prepared pan. Drop marshmallow fluff randomly on top of the batter and swirl in with a knife. Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick placed 1 inch from side comes out clean. Don’t overbake. Remove from oven and let cool on wire rack. Cut into squares when cooled.

If desired, melt peanut butter chips and pipe the cut squares with zigzags of the melted candy. It's just a way to add an extra-special touch.

Note: I used one, 8-ounce bag of the new mini peanut butter cups (a little less than the recipe called for, but it seemed plenty to me.) It was super easy. No unwrapping. No chopping. Just dump them in.

I also made Macaroons. These are easy as can be, but they always look impressive.

And I made a variety of other flavors by using my Back to Basics cookie dough and choosing different add-ins.

My mixer can handle a tripled recipe of the basic dough. So, I made a triple batch two times so I could have a big variety on the cookie trays without a lot of extra work.

This time, I used:

• White chocolate chips & chopped macadamia nuts
• Cocoa & Almond Joy bits
• M & Ms
• Chocolate chips and peanut butter chips
• Hershey's Cookies and Cream drops, along with more white chocolate chips
• Oatmeal Raisin
• Heath Butter Brickle chips & oatmeal

Enjoy! I just hope nobody has to make this many cookies to say THANKS to firefighters!

I am linked today to Two Maids A Baking and Crazy for Crust and Mandy's Recipe Box Totally Tasty Tuesdays.