Chocolate M&M Cookies

As I was taking my dinner out of the oven tonight it spilled and half of my beautiful casserole fell into the oven. Thankfully I had enough for dinner and leftovers for lunch tomorrow still left in the pan, but it was depressing and forced me to clean my oven. After an hour or so of scrubbing down all the walls of the oven, I wanted to test it to make sure it wouldn't smell like burned food when I turned it on.

I remembered I had to make some birthday treats for a friend and I found some chocolate baking squares and decided chocolate cookies would be the perfect thing. I really love holidays, particularly birthdays, and not even my own. My birthday is fine, but when a friend's birthday is coming up, I spend days and sometimes weeks planning what to get them or make them. Sketches of elaborate cakes and long ingredient lists are drafted and I'll spend hours preparing things. These were not labor intensive, but they are getting sent across the country, so I couldn't make my usual fare. I did brighten them up with some M and M's that I found in my pantry, and I'm happy to say the recipe made exactly 1 tupperware's worth: perfect for shipping.

Okay... so there were two extra that wouldn't fit, which I quickly devoured. Gotta test new recipes right??

Anyway, here's the recipe. I was surprised that it didn't call for any baking powder/soda but, they turned out quite nicely. It's a great blend of moist and cakey cookies that are chocolatey but not too rich. They're really easy to whip up and only have a few ingredients. Even if you weren't expecting to do any baking, these ones are within reach on a late night.

Chocolate M&M Cookies

4 1oz. Unsweetened Baking Squares

2 C. White Sugar

2 1/2 C. Flour

3 Eggs

3/4 C. Butter

1 tsp. vanila

1 Bag M and Ms

• Microwave unsweetened chocolate and butter in 30 second intervals until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. 

• Add sugar and mix well. Blend in eggs and vanilla. 

• Stir in flour (careful not to overmix). Dough will be sticky.

• Refrigerate 45min-1hour or up to overnight until dough is easy to handle.

• Preheat oven to 350F 

• Shape into 1 inch balls, press 3-4 candies into ball.

• Bake 8 minutes or until just set. Let stand on baking sheet for 1 minute and transfer to wire rack.

• Devour.

Molasses Bran Muffins

As far as healthy things go, these little guys really take the cake in terms of breakfast muffins. They get a great amount of sweetness from the molasses, applesauce and raisins but have no added sugar or oil. I halved the recipe since which made the perfect amount of muffins for the rest of the weekend. I had some chocolate covered walnuts leftover from some baking the other night, which fed into my unending need for chocolate. But even with the added decadence, it’s still a breakfast/late morning snack to feel good about.

Moist Molasses Bran Muffins

1 cup Wheat Bran

1½ cups Whole Wheat Flour

½ cup Quick Cook Oats

¼ cup Golden Raisins

¼ cup Raisins

1 tsp. Baking Powder

1 tsp. Baking Soda

1 cup Milk

½ cup Molasses

3 Tbsp. Honey

¾ cup Applesauce

¼ cup chopped Walnuts

2 Eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 400F

Combine the wheat bran, flour, oats, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl, stir in the raisins and nuts

In a separate bowl, blend the milk, molasses, honey, applesauce and eggs

Divide into muffin tin and bake for 12-15 minutes, makes 16 muffins

Enjoy right out of the oven with a nice cold glass of milk!