These Chocolate Cheese Crack Cookies are seriously addictive. I mean SERIOUSLY addictive! Thus it was only befitting they be called Crack Cookies. Cheese and chocolates aren’t a new thing but putting them in a cookie like this with peanut butter… oh dear GOD I wanna kiss myself!
Wait hold on.. lemme go kiss the mirror!
That picture, huh? I know right. You wanna kiss me too, huh? Yeah you better not. Mr. Fantabulous doesn’t share. LOL
This cookie was one of those whim recipes. See earlier that morning I was out running my normal Saturday morning shopping trips – Food Porn Props Store, Sam’s Club and then Giant Eagle (local grocery store). Well I was so busy that I forgot to make a protein drink to bring with me. So by the time I got to the grocery store I was famished. And you all know that is the worst thing EVER in the world. Grocery shopping while starving is just bad, bad, bad! Why? You will buy things that you never EVER buy and spend way more than you intended because well that package of cookies AND bag of chips AND bottle of soda AND candy bar just look way too appealing. Now sure you can buy some fresh fruit BUT there is nowhere to wash it and let’s face it folks it’s not exactly the cleanest stuff in the store.
And you can buy something off a hot bar or salad bar if your store has them but at that point I’d rather go out to a restaurant for a meal than that. Plus I don’t know about the cost of things in your store but here, not just Giant Eagle but all stores, stuff like that is SUPER expensive! So as I was getting ready to check out they had a box of these cheese crackers (that I haven’t had in a hundred years) for $1. I caved and bought a box. I was seriously starving to the point I was getting light-headed. Yes I know, shame on me. But I did at least get a small thing of milk for some protein with it.
Once I put everything in the car I started it and opened up the box. WOW that cheezy goodness smell was intoxicating. I popped one in my mouth and immediately my eyes got as big as silver dollars because I forgot how good they really were. I mean really, REALLY good! THEN I looked at the nutritional information on the box. I think my eyes got a bit bigger. This isn’t stuff I normally eat as you all know I eat a high-protein diet and this was anything but high protein but man that flavor was awesome! So I had a serving or so and put them away. Since I wasn’t too far from home it was enough to tide me over until I got home, unloaded the bajillion things, and made Mr. Fantabulous breakfast #2 (3 dippy eggs, cinnamon crunch bagel with cream cheese and bacon though he swears he hates bacon and only eats it so I won’t since he loves me so much and doesn’t want me to have clogged arteries from it). HAHAHA yeah, he’s THAT precious! LOL
So once I ate I sat there and stared at this box of crackers knowing that if I didn’t do something with it it would end up going stale because I just don’t eat stuff like this often enough. At the same time, Mr. Fantabulous came into the kitchen saying “I want something sweet but not that, that, or that (as he pointed to the brownies, cake, and candy on the table). Can you make me something?” Fortunately, I had frozen cookie dough in the freezer so I had fresh hot cookies on the table in under 13 minutes. Well, it was those hot cookies that got me thinking…
What if I made cookies with these cheese crackers in them??? That could work, right?
I broke out the mixer and literally threw stuff in that I thought would work as a recipe. I originally was just going to do a base similar to chocolate chip but I felt there wasn’t enough depth to the recipe. It would just be a chocolate chip cookie with crackers in it. Where’s the fun in that? Where’s the creativity? So just like when I make certain oatmeal cookies, I will grind some of the oats to make oat flour. For this, I ground some of the crackers to make cheese cracker flour. This way that flavor is permeated throughout the entire cookie, not just sporadic bites. Next was to take the flavor up one more notch. To do this incorporate peanut butter. I thought to use crunchy but the more I considered it I wanted the crunch to come from the cracker chunks. I wanted the focus to be on that rather than part peanuts and part crackers.
When I mixed the dough up it was good but dry. And I hate HATE dry cookies. Crispy yes, dry no. To fix this I added some milk (you can use cream as well) to the dough. This made the dough so it was scoopable, it held together when formed into a ball and when that ball was pressed down. The dough was tacky and sticky but didn’t stick to your fingers.
As they baked you could smell that warm cheese smell with the peanut butter and brown sugar. I knew these were going to be awesome. Once they were done I let them cool just enough to where they wouldn’t burn my fingers or mouth when I bite into one. Now let me discuss that first bite. I took that first bite and I swear all sounds, movements and time stopped. I heard nothing but angels play the harps. Time stopped, birds stopped mid-flight and I stopped breathing. I wanted NOTHING to interfere with my chewing and eating this cookie. That warm chocolate awesomeness encased with peanut buttery cheesy goodness was more than I could handle. A lone tear trickled down my cheek.
… and the Emmy goes to *wink*
Okay yes a bit dramatic but seriously this was one fanfriggentastic cookie. Like you will wanna kiss yourself when you make these. But just be prepared to get smooched on if you share (though you may not want to).
PrintChocolate Cheese Crack Cookies
Find more fantabulous recipes, tips and tricks at www.thekitchenwhisperer.net. Also, join our TKW Family on Facebook
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Category: cookies
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: cookies
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoon butter, unsalted
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1 XL egg plus 1 Xl yolk
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cups cheddar cheese crackers, divided
- 3 Tablespoons of milk
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F, middle rack. Line a baking sheet with parchment. In a food processor pulse 2/3-1 cup of crackers to make 1/3 cup cracker powder. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer cream the butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until well blended. Add in the egg and egg yolk, mix until incorporated.
- Turn on the mixer and slowly add in the flour, cracker powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Take the remaining crackers and crush them by hand into small chunks/pieces and place them in the mixer. Turn the mixer on low to incorporate.
- Slowly add in the milk. You want a dough that will hold a shape when scooped. It should be moist but not wet. Add in the chocolate chunks and just mix until combined. Do not over mix as you do not want to break up the chocolate or the crackers anymore. Using a medium-size cookie scoop (or a spoon) out a 1” size ball. Gently roll the ball in your hand – again you want a mixture that holds together. Place on the cookie sheet 1 1/2” apart and press down slightly. These cookies won’t spread out much. Bake for 8-9 minutes or just until golden brown. The cookies will be soft but will tighten up upon cooling. Place on a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Store in an air-tight container.
Leave a Reply