Peanut Butter M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies
05 Apr 2012 8 Comments
in Cookies, Dessert Tags: Easter M&Ms, M&M cookie recipe, peanut butter and chocolate, Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Peanut butter and chocolate is absolutely my favorite flavor combo. It took about a nanosecond for me to decide I was making these cookies once I saw the photos. I don’t really need an excuse to make something this delicious, but the Easter themed M&M’s were the clincher. I had to make them RIGHT NOW. Many thanks to Sally’s Baking Addiction for the inspiration!
As expected, they were absolutely divine (like there was a chance they wouldn’t be?!) They were peanut buttery, dense with a crispy texture, dotted with lovely milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate throughout. It just occurred to me I forgot to put the second egg in. That would’ve made these a little chewier, but still they were great. One cookie and a glass of milk and my sweet tooth was completely satisfied. I had doubled the batch thinking the recipe looked small, then ended up with a lot more than I expected — I think about 70 cookies in all. It’s lucky I know a lot of people who love cookies! There were a lot of happy people in the greater Boston area today.
FYI, there is nothing “light” about these. Some things are meant to be dense in calories and flavor. Enjoy them. Savor them. Share them. Then continue with your everyday healthy habits. It’s all about BALANCE!
Peanut Butter M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies
Recipe adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Makes about 5 1/2 dozen cookies
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened to room temp
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup M&Ms
1) In a small bowl, combine the flour and baking soda, stir with a fork, and set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer. *You could do this by hand if you’re that kind of gal, but even I drag out the 30-year-old Kitchen Aid for this
2) Stir in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla and beat until fully combined.
3) Slowly mix in the flour/baking soda mixture.
4) Fold in chocolate chips and chill the dough for about 30 minutes.
5) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
6) Drop chilled dough by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet. Press 5-6 M&Ms into the top of each cookie.
7) Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the edges are just barely beginning to brown. Do not overcook. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!
Like this:
The Lucky Dime and Chocolate Butterscotch Cake
07 Aug 2011 3 Comments
in Dessert Tags: birthday, butterscotch chips, Cake, Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Birthdays are a BIG deal in our house. The honored family member has a say in just about everything to do with the special day. The most important question is, surprisingly, not about presents. It is “What type of cake do you want?”
Happily, my kids have a broad palate when it comes to birthday cakes. We’ve done carrot, spice, lemon, and marbled. There was even a year when we bought ‘birthday cake’ flavored ice cream and stuck some candles in it.
Poor Casey — not my proudest parenting moment, but with an infant in the house it was the best I could do!
For Zach’s 12th birthday, he requested chocolate chip cake – a favorite recipe dubbed the “Keaton cake” after the family that first shared the recipe with us. A yellow cake enhanced with milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate, it satisfies both the Chocolate freaks and Vanilla fans at our house. At baking time, though, I discovered we didn’t have the usual ingredients on hand. I went with a chocolate-butterscotch combo instead, reminiscent of my favorite Dairy Queen order – chocolate soft serve with butterscotch dip.
As always, the cake was extremely moist and devilishly tasty, and the butterscotch-chocolate combo was awesome. Nobody got the ‘lucky dime’ I hid in the cake (a birthday tradition on my mom’s Irish-English side), so we’ll all be hanging around the cake plate tomorrow!
This recipe has never failed me. Enjoy it as written here, or with the original ingredients — semi-sweet chips and grated milk chocolate, a great combination that reminds me of warm Toll House cookies. It is great naked (i.e. without frosting) as well as glazed, like below.
Enjoy!
Chocolate Butterscotch Cake
Serves 12
4 oz. semi sweet chocolate (like Baker’s)
1 pkg. yellow cake mix
1 pkg. instant vanilla pudding
1 cup lowfat milk
3/4 c. vegetable oil
2 eggs plus 2 egg whites
1 cup butterscotch chips
1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
2) Grease well (with shortening or butter, not pan spray) AND flour a 10-inch tube pan.
3) Grate semi-sweet chocolate (by hand or with food processor). Set aside.
4) Place cake mix, pudding mix, milk, oil and eggs in large mixing bowl. Blend on low 1 minute, scraping sides. Stop mixer, and add grated chocolate. Beat for 2 more minutes. Fold in butterscotch chips.
5) Pour batter into prepared pan.
6) Bake for 60-70 minutes – until cake is golden brown and cake tester inserted one inch from center comes out clean.
7) Let sit in pan twenty minutes before inverting to plate to cool completely.
8) Top with chocolate glaze, if desired, as below.
Satiny Chocolate Glaze
(from Allrecipes.com)
3/4 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
3 T. butter
1 T. light corn syrup
1/4 t. vanilla
Place chocolate, butter and corn syrup in the top of a double boiler. Stir over hot, but not boiling water, until ingredients are combined smoothly. Remove from heat, then add vanilla. Cool slightly, then drizzle over cake while the glaze is still warm.
Scrapbooking and Congo Bars
02 May 2011 8 Comments
in Cookies/bars Tags: Cookies/Bars, Scrapbooking, Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Scrapbooking weekend!! I am lucky that, a few times a year, I can get away and spend time with my friends for a weekend full of laughter, great food and scrapbooking. Aside from hiding away on a tropical island with my husband, this is my idea of the ideal escape. I love everything about scrapbooking: the luxury of hours spent over my favorite photos, the endless array of colored paper to work with, the tiny details that somehow transform everything, and the incredible sense of accomplishment it gives me to see the finished pages. I was never someone who considered herself to be artistic, and yet I can take a few pictures and Voila! I’ve got a “masterpiece.” I relax, refresh and recharge, all the while tapping into my creative side to make memories for my kids. It’s a win-win 
What exactly does this have to do with Congo Bars? Nothing, really, except that my weekend getaway meant no cooking and no new food pics. However, I would like to rectify the egregious error I made a few days ago — posting a mouth-watering picture of a recent batch of Congo Bars, without including a recipe. Jules, rookie error! Won’t happen again.
Here’s my take on these chewy, chocolate-y coconut bars. The trick to getting them just right is to ever-so-slightly undercook them. I’ve used a glass 9×13 pan here, not metal, and so you may need to lower cooking times slightly for a metal pan which tends to cook the batter more quickly. Enjoy, in moderation of course, and share with your friends!
Congo Bars
24 servings
Preheat oven 350 degrees
Grease/spray 9×13 glass dish
2/3 c. butter, softened
2 c. brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
3 eggs
2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c. coconut
3/4 c. walnuts, chopped (optional)
1) Cream butter, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in mixer on medium speed
2) In separate bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, and salt
3) Add to mixer, on low, until well blended
4) By hand, fold in chocolate chips, coconut, and, if desired, chopped walnuts
5) Pour into prepared 9×13 glass pan
6) Bake for 30-35 minutes; a toothpick inserted 1″ from sides will come out clean. Center should be set but slightly wet.
