30 minutes prior to making dough, remove egg and butter from the refrigerator, to bring to room temperature.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. 

In a large bowl, whip together softened butter and shortening. Next, add the white and brown sugars and cream with butter mixture. Finally, add vanilla paste (or extract) and egg and mix until creamy.

Add dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking soda) to the wet ingredients, until thoroughly mixed. Use a rubber scraper to scrape sides of the bowl, to make sure all flour gets mixed in. 

Lastly, add white chocolate chips (and chopped peanuts if using), and mix until thoroughly incorporated. 

Use a cookie scoop to portion dough onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. I would make them no more than 1.5 tbsp.

Chill dough balls for 2-3 hours. This helps deepen the flavor, and prevents excess spreading while baking. 

After the dough has chilled, remove from the fridge and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spread cookie dough balls at least 2 inches apart to prevent cookies from baking into each other.

Bake for 8-9 minutes. REMOVE from oven and press 3-4 pieces of candy corn on top of each cookie.

RETURN cookie sheet into the oven, and bake for 2-3 more minutes. NO more than 3, or you'll have a melty candy corn mess.

Allow cookies to cool on cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat process with remaining cookie dough.