Take 5 Cookies {HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO LISA!!!!!}

Today is a very special day!! It’s my amazing, wonderful friend Lisa’s birthday! I’ve known Lisa since my sophomore year of college, which doesn’t seem like that long ago, but when I do the math, I realize that it was almost 9 years ago. Yikes. I’m old. But it’s okay because Lisa is older.

I will never forget when I went away to college (I stayed local at community college before transferring to Idaho), I had a hard time being away from friends and family on my birthday, and Lisa always sent me the BEST care packages! This year, I wanted to make her feel extra special, so I sent her a care package that *hopefully* will arrive today with these cookies, and a flashcard timeline of our friendship. Complete with stick figure humans and dogs.

I may or may not have cried for about half of the time it took to put this together. I also cry picking out cards for all occasions. What can I say? We all know I’m an emotional human. Anyway, Lisa’s favorite candy bar is a Take 5. I’d never had one when I met her, but she introduced me, and I was instantly hooked. I haven’t had one in years and years (except for a couple pieces in the cookies I saved for “taste testing”), but I remember loving the combination of creamy chocolate, sweet caramel, peanuts, peanut butter and salty pretzels. It is everything amazing in the world of candy all mixed into one bar!

I knew I wanted a peanut butter cookie base to partner with the Take 5 candy bars, so I went with my favorite peanut butter cookie base, and used White Chocolate Wonderful because Lisa loves it as much as I do. Then, I added white chocolate chips because I knew I wanted a little extra add in.

The result? They were everything I hoped they would be, and the perfect way to send lots of love to one of my favorite people in my life.

 

Take 5 Cookies

yield 1 1/2 dozen

• 1 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 4 oz light cream cheese
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 3 full size Take 5 candy bars, chopped
• 1/3 cup white chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line 2 large cookie sheets with silpat or parchment paper. Set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl (I used my stand mixer), beat together cream cheese, peanut butter, and sugars until combined. Beat in egg, then vanilla. Gently, fold in chopped Take 5 bars and white chocolate chips. I ended up just using my hands to get everything combined.
4. Roll dough into balls just over 1″ and transfer to prepared baking sheet. Bake until edges are golden and cookies are just set, about 12-15 minutes. Do not over bake.
5. Let stand for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store completely cooled cookies in a tupperware with the lid sitting on top, but not sealed–these will get mushy if they are in a completely airtight container–for up to one week.