Peanut-Butter-Toffee Chunk Cookies

I was emailed this recipe from MyRecipes as a part of the 2017 Cookie Countdown.  This was the first recipe we made from this year's list.  I have to say, I am very experienced in the kitchen and bake cookies from scratch on a regular basis, always with great results.  The ratios in this recipe seemed off to me (1/2 cup flour, 2 cups of sugar total, 1 1/2 cups peanut butter) but I have had good luck with their recipes before so I did not make any substitutions or other adjustments.  I used Skippy creamy peanut butter.  The dough never did get smooth, it stayed crumbly and seemed to get even more crumbly the longer it was mixed (first photo).  The dough was difficult to scoop, even with a cookie scoop and crumbled a lot (second photo).  During the baking process the cookies did not flatten out at all.  When they came out of the oven they were dripping in grease (third photo).  After cooling a few minutes the grease was absorbed by the cookies. The toffee bits seemed to melt into the cookies and could not be tasted at all.  They left our fingers VERY greasy.  I have a family of 6 and no one wanted a second cookie...this has never before in history happened.  Not only that, the kids did not want a bonus cookie as a bedtime snack or want to take any to school.  This was THE WORST cookie recipe I have ever made and a total waste of perfectly good peanut butter.  I'd expect these results from a random Pinterest or blogger post, not MyRecipes and Oxmoor House.  I see the other reviewer, who also seems like an experienced cookie-baker, had similar results. MyRecipes/Oxmoor House:  COULD YOU PLEASE RUN THIS THROUGH YOUR TEST KITCHEN AGAIN????Link to the 2017 Cookie Countdown: http://www.myrecipes.com/holidays/cookies/cookie-countdown-1?utm_source=myrecipes.com&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=cookie-countdown&utm_content=2017111315PM#peanut-butter-toffee-chunk-cookies

I made these just as the recipe said because I want to rate the recipe as is, and not my changes. I have never made cookies, which I make every week, without creaming the sugar and fat first. So, when I read the instructions, I wasn't sure if this was going to work, but I wanted to know if this method in THIS recipe worked. After mixing at medium speed, I never got "until smooth" stage, so I used my cookie scooper and cooked them as is. The results were not good. The cookies never flattened, I even flattened them like instructed. They are very crumbly and gritty because the fat and sugar didn't get creamed. I used Adams Old-Fashioned Creamy Peanut Butter, which does not have salt, which makes these cookies bland. This recipe did not work for me.