Beer, Chocolate, Peanut, and Pretzel Cookies

I'm not much of an alcohol drinker. Beer, wine, mixed drinks - not my thing. I tried to make them my thing after I turned 21 but it just didn't happen. My dad and brothers, however, love beer. Dad and Kevin even have those apps where you can search for new breweries and kinds of beer. So last year I started looking for dessert with beer in it for Kevin's Christmas present. I ended up going with something else but over the past year I've come across a dessert with beer recipe every once in a while on Pinterest. For Dad, I chose cookies with beer and two kinds of M&Ms: peanut and pretzel. Basically this is a pub/bar cookie.

For what kind of beer I asked Mom what kind Dad and Kevin liked. She told me one they both liked but I couldn't find it anywhere. Come to find out it's no longer made. So Mom suggested I use a pale ale. Fortunately, Total Wine & More (which is near me) has individual bottles. So I grabbed one from the same brand Mom had said for the original kind and went home to bake.

Beer, Chocolate, Peanut, and Pretzel Cookies (source)

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter
• 1 ½ cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• ½ cup beer (I used Red Hook American Pale Ale)
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt (didn't have any at the time so I used regular salt)
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 ½ cups peanut M&Ms
• 1 ½ cups pretzel M&Ms

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350℉. And prepare sheet pans with silpats or parchment paper.
2. Cream together the butter and the sugar with an electric mixer until soft and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until fully mixed together with the butter and sugar.
4. Mix the beer in.
5. In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and then add them to the batter.
6. Gently mix in the M&Ms.
7. Scoop the cookies onto the prepared sheet pans and bake for 10-12 minutes or until crispy and slightly under-baked. Let the cookies cool before removing them from the pan.

Apparently the recipe makes 2 dozen cookies but I ended up getting way more than that. That might have something to do with the fact that I just emptied the two bags of M&Ms instead of keeping what little was left over. Dad seemed to like them though. Mom tried one and while she couldn't taste the beer, she didn't think they were as sweet (which apparently was a good thing).