The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013 - Salty Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies #fbcookieswap

My thirs year participating in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap! As always, it was stressful to think of what kind of cookie to bake. Will people like this?! is it flavorful enough? It is too flavorful? Is it too sweet?! What if they turn out gross? Are they going to judge me based on what kind of cookie I send them?! And on and on and on.

When you participate in the cookie swap, you are asked to donate $4 to Cookies For Kid's Cancer, a non-profit organization that benefits children with cancer. If that's not enough reason to donate, you also get goodies from the sponsors ... OXO, Dixie Crystals, Gold Medal and Grandma's Molasses. Yay for free stuff, yay for benefiting a great cause and yay for getting cookies in the mail from fellow food bloggers. Join next year if you can!

This year I settled on these Salty Peanut Butter Cookies. The recipe is so easy, you can mix it together by hand and it has no flour in it - perfect for those that need a gluten free diet . But definitely make it for anyone! Best with tea or coffee because these cookies are sweet sweet sweet.

Salty Peanut Butter Cookies
makes about 2 dozen cookies

1 cup creamy peanut butter (not "natural")
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
Pinch of sea salt or kosher salt
Good chocolate pieces (you can buy a bar and break off pieces)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line some baking sheets with parchment paper or aluminum foil.

Mix all the ingredients thoroughly in a large bowl, either by hand or with a stand mixer. Scoop out into balls the size of walnuts, top with a piece of chocolate (don't press down). I used milk chocolate pieces this time but have used "Lindt Dark Chocolate with A Touch of Sea Salt" with fantastic results.

Sprinkle with an additional smattering of sea salt or kosher salt and bake for 10-12 minutes. Cool in the tray for 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

I also found these Gingerbread Twix at the market and bought them to include with the cookies sent out cause they looked so festive! These goodies were sent out to Christina (The Dough Will Rise Again), Kara (Kara in the Kitchen) and Laura (Momables) ... hope you ladies enjoyed!

Plus, I got these in the mail for myself ... perfect for my own cups of tea between international travelling!

Can't wait to participate next year ... and every single year after that! I'm so glad that I've been a part of this since Year One. And on top of that, this year the cause has raised over $13,500 this year. Thanks so much for organizing again, Lindsay and Julie!