Crazy Candy Cookies

I've been testing out new apps for my iPad over the last week or so and decided to test out The Food Network magazine on Zinio.  I had never bought the magazine before but they offered 3 free issues so why not?  I sat down to read it and was pleasantly surprised at how many things I found that I wanted to try. First up was Adam Gertler's Kid's Candy Cookies. Who wouldn't want to try those on the name alone? But as I read through the ingredients I was lured in by the thought of salty, sweet, warm, gooey cookies. So I jotted down the ingredients to pick up while I was at Target yesterday. Unfortunately they didn't have everything I needed and I had already gone to the grocery store on Friday so I decided to just make some substitutions. I got a little creative when I found something in the baking aisle called Caramel Bits. I had never heard of them before but they are just little balls of caramel so how could I go wrong? The cookies are amazing! The original recipe is below along with my substitutions. Try them and let me know what you think!

The Original Recipe
2 1/4 Cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1 cup Pretzel M&M's
3 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup toffee pieces
3/4 peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350.
Whisk the flour & baking soda in a bowl.
Cream the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on low speed until incorporated then increase to high speed and beat until light and fluffy.
Add the salt, vanilla, whole egg and egg yolk to the mixer; beat until thoroughly combine. Add the Pretzel M&M's and beat for a few seconds until slightly crushed. (I have a stand up Kitchen Aid but if you are just using a hand mixer I would suggest crushing these before.)
Gradually add the flour mixture, mixing on low speed until just combined. Mix in the bittersweet chocolate, toffee pieces and peanut butter chips.
Roll heaping tablespoonfuls of dough into balls and place on baking sheets about 2" apart. Slightly flatten with your fingers.
Bake until the edges are golden brown. 11-13 minutes.

For my version I substituted 1/2 cup chocolate chips for the bittersweet chocolate, 1/2 cup chopped peanuts for the toffee, and 1/2 cup of caramel bits for the peanut butter chips. That was just the right amount of everything for me but if you like more of one thing than the other just play around.  The result was delicious!