Pretzel M&M Cookie Bars

I've experimented with M&Ms before. So I obviously had to make something with the newest M&M:

The M&Ms themselves were quite good. They'd be even better with peanut butter, but everything is better to me with peanut butter. :)

I came across BEB's Chocolate Chip & Pretzel Cookie Bars and new the M&Ms would pair well with the bars since they already included pretzels. I didn't do much to adapt the recipe, other than to cut down on the chocolate chips to make way for the M&Ms. And they were fabulous. And, since I didn't snap any pictures, you'll just have to take my word for it. ;)

Pretzel M&M Cookie Bars
(Source: Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup Pretzel M&Ms
1/2 cup pretzels, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup chocolate chips, for drizzling (optional)
1/4 cup pretzels, crumbled, for topping (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13 pan with cooking spray.

2. In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Using a mixer, beat the butter and both sugars at medium speed until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes. Beat in the eggs and the vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in the dry ingredients just until incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and pretzel pieces.

3. Spread the batter evenly in the pan and press it down evenly with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes, until golden brown. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool completely.

4. In separate sandwich size baggies, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter. Cut off a small corner on each bag and drizzle the chocolate and peanut butter over the top of the bars. Sprinkle the extra crushed pretzels on top. Let set and then cut into squares.

Makes 32 squares

On the Ninth Day of Cookies...

My husband loved these cookies (he ate like five of them fresh out of the oven), but I was a little disappointed in how they turned out. They were very crispy around the edges and very, very flat (thin). But I guess appearances aren't everything because they do taste very good and the mint flavor of the Mint Chocolate M&Ms is quite noticeable.

Minty M&M Cookies
(Adapted from Joy of Baking)

2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated white sugar
2/3 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup Mint Chocolate M&M's

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

3. In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and egg yolk, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.

4. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

5. Form dough into balls. Gently flatten each ball of dough. Completely cover the tops of the cookies with the M&M's. Gently press the candies into the dough. Bake the cookies for 7-10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time. The cookies are done when they are light golden brown in color and just set. They will still seem a little soft but they will firm up as they cool. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

Oatmeal M&M Cookies

Same great cookie, but with a different spin this time. Instead of raisins, I added mini M&Ms to the cookie dough. Okay, fine. I made another batch of oatmeal raisin cookies for my dad (that's 3 times now, if you're counting) and added mini M&Ms to half of the dough instead of raisins. The recipe can be found here.

Fudgy S'mores Bars

After a much needed vacation, I am back in the kitchen with a recipe that is sure to please any crowd. I brought these over to dinner at the in-laws house tonight and they were a hit.

The bars are very simple and come together really quickly, especially if you have a stash of graham cracker crumbs tucked away in the pantry. The recipe takes no more than 30 minutes from start to finish, even less time if you've got graham cracker crumbs on hand. The bars are best eaten within several hours of coming out of the oven, but will keep for several days in an airtight container.

When it comes to graham cracker crumbs, I have found it's easiest to break the graham crackers into smaller pieces before placing them into a large Ziploc bag. Be sure to let all of the air out of the bag before you close it, otherwise you are liable to pop the bag. :) Once sealed, place the bag on a firm surface and run over the crackers with a rolling pin until they reach your desired consistency. I have found that 12 squares (6 full sheets) equals about one cup of crumbs.

Fudgy S'mores Bars
(Source: Pillsbury Baking)

Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs (12 squares)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

Topping:
4 cups miniature marshmallows
3/4 cup M&Ms
1/4 cup hot fudge topping, heated

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13x9 inch pan with shortening or cooking spray. In a large bowl, beat crust ingredients with electric mixer on low speed until coarse crumbs form, scraping bowl occasionally. Press mixture evenly in bottom of pan.

2. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Sprinkle marshmallows evenly over crust; bake 1 to 2 minutes longer or until marshmallows begin to puff.

3. Sprinkly M&Ms evenly over marshmallows; drizzle warm topping over top. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Make 32 bars.

Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

From the moment I first laid my eyes on these M&Ms, I knew I had to make them into a cookie.

But what kind of cookie?
Peanut Butter?
Oatmeal?
Chocolate Chip?

In the end, I settled on a recipe for M&M cookies, which is basically your ordinary chocolate chip cookie. This recipe yields a cookie that is not overly sweet, but just as tasty as any other cookie. At some point I might try an oatmeal or peanut butter (or a combination of both) with the other bag of M&Ms I purchased.

A few things to note:

1. The original recipe is supposed to yield 50 cookies. Mine yielded about 3 dozen average sized cookies. Clearly we have very different ideas of what is meant by "heaping teaspoonfuls." I think I would have ended up with bite-sized cookies if I had followed their idea of "heaping." Quite frankly, I am much happier with my interpretation. :)

2. The recipe calls for the cookies to be baked for 10-13 minutes. I enjoy a softer cookie, so I always go slightly under what they consider to be the minimum baking time. But to each his own.

Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M Cookies

(Source: Adapted from Red's Ultimate M&Ms Cookies)

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups Strawberried Peanut Butter M&M’s
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. In large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy; beat in egg and vanilla. In medium bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; blend into butter/sugar mixture. Stir in M&M’s and chocolate chips. Drop dough by heaping teaspoonfuls 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 9 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned and centers are still soft. Do not overbake. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; cool completely on wire racks. Store in tightly covered container.

Make approximately 3 dozen.

Monster Cookies

Monster cookies, a nice twist on traditional peanut butter or oatmeal cookies, are my favorite cookie to make and eat. Even though there is a long list of ingredients, they are surprisingly simple to make. Everything goes in one bowl, which is especially handy and simple with a stand mixer. The dough has an interesting consistency, unlike standard cookie dough. And any cookie that combines peanut butter, oatmeal, M&Ms, and chocolate chips is a winner in my book.

Monster Cookies
(Source: Family Recipe)

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups brown sugar

2/3 cup granulated sugar

1/6 tsp vanilla

1 1/3 tsp baking soda

1/3 cup margarine

1 cup peanut butter

3 1/3 cups oatmeal

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 1/2 cups M&Ms

Mix all ingredients together (add the chocolate chips and M&Ms last) and bake for 12 minutes at 350°F.