The Cure for Feeling Poor: Stuffed PayDay Cookies

Have you ever felt like you didn’t belong somewhere?  I think we all have.

You know what helps?  Cookies.  Cookies are magical and break down all social, political and economical barriers.  I wish I had some of these cookies last week when this happened.

So I spontaneously decided to head over to the Vera Bradley designer handbag store after work one day to shop for my mom’s birthday.  I entered the parking lot and started to have second thoughts.  Man, this mall was posh.  There was a strip of fancy boutiques and a freaking fountain (probably hand crafted in Italy or something).  I rolled through the parking lot in my car, which is an old, super-loud hand-me-down Buick from my grandmother.  Some ladies crossed the parking lot; they all had on white pants and flowing, flowery tunic shirts.  I looked down at my outfit.  Hmmm…starting to feel a little uncomfortable. My outfit consisted of workout capris, flip flops and a Paul Frank monkey shirt.  Let me explain.

My office has no dress code.  We do internal work that requires almost nobody visiting our office, so we wear what we want.  9 times out of 10 I am wearing workout clothes.  They are comfortable and sometimes I walk outside on my lunch break, so quit judging.

Yeah, so I sucked it up and went in the store.  No lie, I felt like Julia Roberts’ character in Pretty Woman.  Except not a hooker, just a poor person.  Um, all those ladies in and around the shop clearly made it their job to be impeccably groomed and coifed.

Nobody was rude or anything, but I felt out of place and like people were probably wondering why I was there.  I guarantee that if I came in with a tray of these bad boys that all my fashion faux pas-ing would have been forgotten.

By the way, I get the irony that I felt poor and Pay Day cookies would have helped.  Life just happens that way sometimes.

Stuffed PayDay Cookies

Makes 16 cookies

For the Dough:

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the filling & assembly:

8 Pay Day fun-sized candy bars, cut in half

1 cup salted peanuts, chopped

Caramel sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream butter and sugar together & add egg and vanilla. Beat until smooth.  Combine flour, baking powder, soda and salt in a medium bowl and stir together with a wire whisk.  Add flour to butter mixture and beat until combined.  Let dough chill covered in the refrigerator for half an hour.

Scoop the dough, in balls, onto parchment paper, make an indention and place a halved candy bar in the center. Work the dough around the candy and use your hands to shape the dough into a ball.  Top each dough ball with a teaspoon of salted peanuts.

Bake for about 14-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then cool completely on a wire rack.

Drizzle with caramel sauce if you want.

“hungry monster” is Renee from http://attackofthehungrymonster.blogspot.com/, a cooking and (occasional) crafting site.  She’s a self-taught home chef who likes to put her own spin on classic recipes.  Go visit her blog and say hi.