Tag Archives: m&m’s

November 10, 2014 · 8:00 am

Cookie Dough Brownie Bombs

I made these for a good friend of mine for his birthday. He is sweets obsessed. Like, I couldn’t even get his wife to tell me what his favorite thing is, because he just likes everything! We work together, so naturally everyone at work got to enjoy them too.

The idea came from a fellow (local) blogger, Hayley. You may have heard of or seen her blog Domestic Rebel. She comes up with desserts you would see in your Candyland dreams. She is known for her brownie bombs, and they’ve been on my to-make list for awhile. They were the perfect treat for my sweet-a-holic friend.

Basically you start with a ball of cookie dough. I made my Pregnant Lady Cookie Dough (which is eggless), and added mini M&M’s. Freeze them so they’re nice and hard and cold.

The next step is to make brownies. I used a regular fudgey brownie box mix.

You cut the brownies, then smoosh them between your fingers…

…then wrap the smooshed brownie around a frozen cookie dough ball. Keep smooshing until the whole ball is covered.

Next you dip the ball (which is now HUGE from the brownie) into chocolate.

I got all the way to this step before realizing I had no chocolate chips. Excuse me WHAT?! How does a baker run out of chocolate chips?

I had some leftover candy melts on hand, so I decided to just use those instead. It actually worked out okay, they kinda looked like birthday balloons! I topped them with a little sprinkles, just to help hide any imperfections from using old candy melts.

Because of the cookie dough, these need to be kept in the refrigerator.

OMG these are yummy. I have this thing against chocolate (and brownies), so they were a little too rich for me to eat a whole one. Did I mention they were huge? My husband loved them, as did all of my coworkers. I think my brother (who is far away in the Navy) cried a little when he saw me post a picture of these. I will definitely have to make them for him when he comes home!

2 Comments

Filed under Brownies, Misc

Tagged as birthday, brownies, candy melts, cookie dough, m&m's, sprinkles

August 27, 2013 · 8:00 am

Soft & Chewy Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

As much as I fell in love with my Perfect M&M Cookies, it’s possible that I love these more.

A coworker said my Perfect M&M Cookie was “okay.” I definitely appreciate honest feedback, but I wanted to know from him what would have made it amazing. Turns out the problem wasn’t my cookie, it just wasn’t his type of cookie. His type of cookie is peanut butter. So I told him all about my Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies and of course he wanted me to make them soon.

About a week later, he asked me to make him a whole batch of cookies to take with him to a little friend reunion party thing he was going to. He also told me that he was going to claim them as his own. I knew no one would believe him so I didn’t mind. 😉

I knew I wanted to do a peanut butter cookie base, but I wanted to try something different than the Reese’s inside. Ultimately I decided to do M&M’s because 1- he had a criticism for my last M&M cookie, and 2- I liked the fact that the candy would be mixed throughout the cookie and not just in the center. Of course, I had to go with peanut butter M&M’s this time. (I know you’re probably wondering why I didn’t just use Reese’s Pieces… the answer is because I’m not a fan. Besides, peanut butter M&M’s are bigger.)

I followed the cookie dough recipe from my Peanut Butter Surprise Cookies, except I stirred in about 1 1/2 cups of peanut butter M&M’s at the end. I used a cookie scoop to make sure I had uniform sized cookies, and baked at 300* for 15 minutes.

For these cookies, baking at a lower temperature for longer makes them so perfectly soft and chewy. They look a little puffy and under-cooked when they come out of the oven, but as they cool on the cookie sheet they settle and set up.

These cookies are best when eaten within 2 days, but can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week or so.

8 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as m&m's, peanut butter

August 13, 2013 · 8:00 am

Perfect M&M Cookies

I found this amazing pin which led to this amazing blog post by Tessa over at Handle the Heat. It’s the first I’ve ever seen her blog, but after poking around a little I will definitely have to spend more time there!

Basically Tessa took the most basic chocolate chip cookie out there (the Nestle Tollhouse Recipe on the package) and made 9 batches of cookies. Each time she changed just 1 different element in the recipe to see what effect it had on the cookies. Very interesting!

After reading through all her notes I decided to create my own modification from the Tollhouse basic recipe with a couple of her variations. I have to say – the result is pretty perfect!!

Perfect M&M Cookies

Ingredients:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter

2 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 1/4 cup flour

2 cups plain M&M’s (or 1 1/2 cups M&M minis)

Directions:

1. Put sugars into large bowl and top with cut up butter. Add vanilla and beat until smooth.

2. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each. Scrape bowl and beater, then turn mixer back on low.

3. Add salt, then baking soda and powder. Slowly add flour until all incorporated.

4. Mix in M&M’s by hand.

5. Refrigerate for at least a couple hours, but better if overnight. This part is torture, but trust me – the flavors meld together and become much richer when it’s given time to rest.

6. Scoop balls about 1 1/2 tbsp , then flatten with palms. Bake at 350* spaced well apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet for 9-10 minutes.

**The first batch I only baked 2, and checked on them after 8 minutes, then 9 minutes, and again at 10 minutes. I really really didn’t want to over bake them. At 10 minutes they edges were brown, and the center was big and puffy.**

7. Once done baking, let the cookies cool completely on the cookie sheet. The puffy tops will flatten out and since the centers are slightly under baked, this helps them set up. Once they’re cool, they can be moved.

These cookies are slightly crispy on the edges and soft ad perfect in the middle. And how much more fun are M&M’s than boring chocolate chips!? Since I’m not a huge chocolate fan, the ooey-gooey chocolate chips are always so rich I can only handle like one cookie. But since the candy coating surrounds the chocolate, they are just perfect! I wanted to eat the whole pan!

2 Comments

Filed under Cookies

Tagged as chocolate, m&m's