After spending a few hours watching cooking shows while snowed in last week, I knew it would only be a matter of time until I attached myself to my oven.

I mean, you can’t watch delicious baked goods being prepared all afternoon and not have a serious craving for some. And because our home is a mostly-healthy-food-only zone, I knew if I wanted something buttery and sugary? Well, I’d have to make it myself.

In one of my weaker moments, I’d printed a recipe for Fifteen Spatulas’ crazy good peanut butter M&M cookies — but lacked the crucial candy component. I decided to just bake the cookies themselves because OMG peanut butter and ignore the candy completely . . . and then I remembered the Heath toffee pieces hiding in the pantry.

If you like peanut butter (yes) and love cookies (double yes), these are the treat for you. I had to distract myself to avoid getting seconds or thirds after they came out of the oven, especially because we were sequestered in our tiny apartment where everything smelled like cookies.

And it was all my fault.

My final version looked nothing like Joanne’s beauties, and . . . I’m not sure why. Maybe because I made them too large? And they spread too thin, getting extra crunchy? I don’t know. But regardless of appearances, they were delicious. And that’s all that really matters, right?

Crunchy peanut butter cookies

Recipe adapted from Fifteen Spatulas

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 large egg
1 cup Heath toffee pieces (optional)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and sea salt. Set aside.

Place the butter, sugar and brown sugar in a large bowl and cream together with a hand mixer for approximately two minutes, until the mixture looks fluffy. Add the peanut butter and egg, mixing until incorporated. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until the flour has almost disappeared. Fold in the Heath toffee pieces, if using, with a spatula.

Using a large cookie scoop, portion out mounds of the cookie dough on your prepared baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until cookies are golden brown. Cool and dig in!