Cast Iron Candy Cookie (recipe for sheet pan cookies included)

    After every holiday I find myself with a plethora of candy on hand and no idea what to do with it all. Sure, I could just eat it, but that gets to be a lot! At this point, bringing it to a gathering won't do much because everyone else there is probably sick of it too! Luckily, I have found the perfect solution! Stick it all (probably only your chocolate) in a cookie! 

    I decided I want to spice it up a bit by making my cookie inside of my small cast iron skillet. I feel like this added an aspect of fanciness and also created a crunchier crust with a gooier middle on my cookie which I absolutely love! A lot of cast iron cookie recipes differ on whether you should preheat your cast iron or not before you bake your cookie in it and, honestly, I think you could do it either way! 

    My favorite way to start this recipe is to take my butter and put it in my cast iron then put it in the oven while it is preheating and I am making my cookie dough. Since my butter is melting in my cast iron I have to make my dough a little differently than I usually do. I would normally start by creaming together my soft butter and sugar together to begin, but this time I start by mixing together all of my dry ingredients. When I got everything in my bowl I didn't worry about mixing everything together too well before adding my wet ingredients. I just mixed it until I was sure there would be no baking powder chunks. 

    Next, I added my egg and my vanilla extract. I, once again, didn't worry too much about mixing everything together before moving on to my next step. I just wanted to make sure that when I pour in my melted butter, it wouldn't cook my egg. As soon as I was ready for it, I took my cast iron out of the oven and swirled my butter around a bit so that it coated the pan. Then, I poured the butter into my cookie dough and set my pan aside. I mixed my dough together until there were no more dry spots.

    For the candy in my cookie I took M&Ms, kisses, and Kit Kats. I chopped them all (except the M&Ms) until they were about chocolate chip size. I really liked having the Kit Kats in there because the wafer ended up staying pretty crispy and adds an amazing extra texture to my cookie. I don't recommend using more than about a cup of chopped chocolate to this recipe, it can get SUPER rich really quick. However, the amount you add is really up to you. 

    I folded in my candy just until it was roughly distributed. You have to be careful not to over mix the dough at this point. Then I dumped the whole bowl into my cast iron. You can really use any size cast iron for this recipe. The one I used wasn't quite mini but wasn't quite the regular size. If you use a bigger one your cookie will just be a little thinner. If you do have a mini cast iron you would like to use, you will probably need 2-4 of them. If you do not own a cast iron this recipe can easily be made into a normal cookie recipe rather that a cast iron cookie recipe. All you need to do is increase the temperature to 375 degrees Farenheit and decrease the time to 8-12 minutes. If you bake these on a cookie sheet I do recommend baking them on a parchment lined cookie sheet rather than straight on the cookie sheet. 

    I baked my cast iron cookie for 25 minutes (until the edges were brown) and it turned out PERFECT! I recommend waiting about 5 minutes before you cut into your cookie so that the middle has a little time to set but I understand if you can't wait. The gooey middle is cookie perfection. That mixed with the crispy crusts made the best cookie I had ever had! This can be paired with a cold glass of milk, coffee, or a scoop of ice cream. However, it remains heavenly by itself. 

    How did this recipe work for you? Leave me a comment!