Today I am featuring the third cookie of the six cookies that we make on my family’s cookie baking day.  I have already featured Colleen’s Candy and Almond Bark Pretzels.  So today I will feature Star Cookies; they are a Christmas favorite!  These cute little cookies are quite addicting, especially if you have ever had the pleasure of snagging one while still slightly warm with the softened chocolate star pooling in the center.  They have a wonderful mix of peanut butter and chocolate flavor. 

First cream together your butter, brown sugar, and white sugar together in a mixer.

Next add one cup of creamy peanut butter.

 Add two eggs that you have beaten and 1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla.

In a separate bowl mix the 3 3/4 cups of flour together with 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 1/2 teaspoon of soda.  Slowly add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture.

After the flour is thoroughly mixed in roll the dough into 1 inch balls, dip them in sugar.

Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes and then remove them from the oven.  Then place a chocolate star on top of each cookie and return them to the oven for an additional 4 minutes.

After they have finished baking, place them on a rack to cool.

Now you will want to sample one straight out of the oven with all of its melted chocolate goodness and the rest you can freeze until you are ready to hand them out to family and friends.  This recipe freezes very well so go ahead and make a double batch.

Today’s recipe is so easy that it’s almost not even a recipe. Every year we have the kids make it on our cookie day.  They love dipping the pretzels in the almond bark and picking them out with tongs or forks.  Everyone loves the salty and sweet taste of this traditional christmas treat. So let’s get started melting our almond bark.

First you melt 1 (24 oz.) block of almond bark in a microwave safe bowl.

 Now dip your pretzels in the white almond bark.

Then pick them out of the almond bark with tongs or forks and set them on wax paper to dry.  

And that’s it!  I told you this recipe was easy. This recipe also freezes well so you can enjoy them at a later time. 

Every year my family has a cookie baking day at my mom’s house.  We make six types of cookies each year.  We make Colleen’s Candy, Almond Bark Pretzels, Star Cookies,  Spritz Cookies, Cut-Out Sugar Cookies, and Carmel Chocolate Swirl Fudge.  We have varied the cookies some years by deleting some and adding others, but for the most part the list has stayed the same for about 15 years.  We have a master list of ingredients we use to buy the supplies for this cookie making day.  I will feature each of the six cookie recipes over the next few days and I will post the master ingredients list with the last cookie post.  The cookie I am featuring today is Colleen’s Candy.  This has been a favorite recipe for many years.  We love the peanut butter taste, and who can go wrong with Rice Krispies and marshmallows.  This recipe is so easy to make!  If you are going to a cookie exchange or an office party, you can whip up a batch of this wonderful candy in no time.  And, if you have kids, they will love to help drop the cookies on the wax paper. 

The ingredients you will need are 1 (24 oz.) package of white almond bark, 1 cup of smooth peanut butter, 3 cups of miniature marshmallows, and 5 cups of Rice Krispies.

In a large microwave safe bowl melt your 1 package of white almond bark and then add your 1 cup of smooth peanut butter to your melted almond bark.

 Stir in the peanut butter until it is fully mixed.

 Next stir in 3 cups of miniature marshmallows.

Then add the 5 cups of Rice Krispies.

 Stir it all together.

Now with two spoons drop the cookies on to wax paper that you have spread out on your table or kitchen counter. 

Then let the cookies dry on the waxed paper for about an hour.  After that, you can pick them off the wax paper and put them in containers for storage.  This recipe freezes very well so we make them and put them in the freezer so they are ready for your holiday events or gifts.