This little cookie idea has been around since the 60s I believe. It's not a hard cookie to make and I'm not even sure if it qualifies as a cookie per see. But kids love them and they're so easy to make and include the kid in the process.
One word of caution if you include the kids: do not have them dip the cookies unless you can be there with them. I mean right next to them the whole time. I mean dog-tailed nuzzled up to them! Very small children should never be part of the dipping but they can help with pre-assembly and post-dipping decorating!
If you look to the right side, the blue sprinkled cookies are the Ritz Cracker cookies, dipped in white chocolate. The selection is a box of cookies I made one Christmas for the base gates open on Christmas morning. I tell you- the troops loved them!
- 1 box of Ritz crackers (salted, please!)
- 1 small jar smooth peanut butter (Jif is best)
- 1 box of melting chocolates (also called Almond Bark or melting wafers)
- Some kind of nice decoration for the exterior for the cookies.
- Follow the package instructions for your melting chocolates. YOU get to decide whether you want to go with white chocolate or dark chocolate. Or both! It all depends on how you want to decorate them. (Thought: crushed peppermint on white chocolate...oh yummo!)
- Spread out some wax paper on a tray, believe me, you want to do this!
- Assemble the cookies by spreading a little bit- around 1 tsp- of peanut butter between two Ritz crackers to make a sandwich. Then dip in the chocolate dipping sauce and spread out on the wax paper to cool and harden.
Practice on a couple of cookies first to get comfortable with it. If you don't already have candy dipping supplies, you can buy a pair of metal tongs really cheap at Walmart. You don't want the rubber ones!
Make sure to let the chocolate drip back into the dipping chocolate sauce before laying it out on the wax paper. This will prevent the spreading that can happen. BEFORE it hardens is when you want to add your decorations. The chocolate dip shouldn't harden right away. In fact, I put mine in the fridge to harden sometimes.