Wiess Junkyard Cookies

• 1 Cup butter
• 1-1/2 Cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 3 Cups flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 Cups chopped chocolate candy (mixed Twix, Caramello, Snickers, Nestle Crunch, etc. but not plain caramels)
• 1 Cup Peanut Butter chips
• 1 Cup toffee chips
• 1 cup chopped nuts (mixed pecans, walnuts, macadamia, almonds)

Blend together butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking powder, and salt. Gently fold in the chopped candy, chips and nuts. Chill 30 minutes to harden dough. Scoop out balls of dough with an ice cream scoop and place at least 2 or 3 inches apart on a flat cookie sheet.  If you used plain caramel candy, you have to make sure the candy doesn’t end up on the bottom of any cookie, rotate the blob of cookie dough so the caramel is on the very top.  If you have caramel candies on the bottom, you won’t be able to get the cookies off the baking sheets without breaking them in 2 or more pieces.

Bake at 350°F for 16-18 minutes.  Remove cookies immediately from baking sheets, using a pancake turner.  Slide them onto racks to cool.

Makes about 48 large cookies!

Carlyn Foshee Chatfield
Created for the Wiess Associates Dessert Competition, November 14, 2010