Rice Krispies Cookies

All week I've felt like I've been waiting, waiting, waiting. Waiting for Mr.S. to come home, waiting for the UPS guy to deliver my package, waiting for the weekend to come and even waiting for autumn to arrive. I'm sick and tired of this weird summer weather and that nasty humidity we had earlier this week was the last straw. I've got my boots, scarfs  and cute cooler weather outfits ready to go, dammit! In the meantime, the cooler beach weather of Santa Cruz is going to have to suffice. In preparation for my girls' weekend getaway, I baked a couple of batches of cookies for us to enjoy while we gab. Two were my old tried-and-true standbys- thumbprint cookies with homemade jam and chewy flourless peanut butter cookies (which half ended up mysteriously at Mr.S.'s casa). I also decided to attempt a new recipe that I had bookmarked in a past issue of Food and Wine magazine called, "Tutu's Super-Crispy Sugar Cookies" (January 2012). The Snap! Crackle! Pop! comes from the addition of Kellogg's Rice Krispies cereal to the batter. It's a pretty easy recipe to make, just don't knock over half the box onto the kitchen floor like I did!

Rice Krispies Cookies (adapted from Food & Wine, January 2012)

Ingredients

2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups AP flour

1 1/2 cups Rice Krispies Cereal


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.

2. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar and salt together.

3. Add the baking soda and vanilla. Beat until it's nice and smooth.

4. While the mixer's running add the flour, 1/2 cup at a time. Then add the Rice Krispies. Make sure it mixes well.

5. Place a Silpat on your baking sheet.  Take about two tablespoons of dough and fashion it into a ball. Place it on the baking sheet, make sure to space the cookie "balls" apart about 3 inches as these will be big cookies.

6. Bake for 15 minutes.

7. Remove baking sheet from oven. Using the back end of a spatula, flatten your cookies.

8. Return baking sheet to the oven and cook for approximately 25 minutes more. The cookies will have small cracks on top and the bottom will be golden brown when they're done cooking.

Crispy Oatmeal Cookies with Maldon Salt

Sorry for the lack of posts as of late, I've been a bit under the weather. I did drag my sorry butt into the kitchen yesterday though to bake a few batch of cookies. Mr.S. is going out of town for a few days this week so I thought I'd send him off with some delicious treats- a batch of chewy peanut butter cookies as well as a batch of crispy oatmeal cookies. To be honest, I'm feeling a bit low that he's going to be away although it was my decision to skip this trip. Hopefully he'll think of me each time he bites into a tasty cookie while he's gone (and doesn't notice that I kept a few for myself). Lucky for me, Pepper's staying behind to keep me company during Mr.S.'s absence. I guess I'll just have to spoil Peppy rotten...well, more than I normally do.

This recipe is from one of my favorite food blogs Lottie + Doof. The oatmeal cookies come out pretty big so be sure to space them well on the baking sheet (I did 8 cookies per sheet). You can also jazz them up with chocolate chips, nuts or raisins if you wish; but quite frankly, I thought they were perfect with just a sprinkle of Maldon salt on the top.

Crispy Oatmal Cookies with Maldon Salt

Ingredients

1 cup AP flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

Maldon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine : AP flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix throughly.

3. In your mixer's bowl (w/ paddle attachment), cream the butter until fluffy. Then add the sugars and cream together until light and fluffy.

Source

4. Add the egg and vanilla and mix well. Continue to mix on medium low. At this time add in your flour mixture and combine ingredients throughly.

5. With mixer running on low, slowly incorporate the oats into the mixture in the bowl. Mix for about 20-30 seconds on low.

6. Take about 2 tablespoons of dough and fashion it into a ball shape, then squelch them down to make a cookie about 3/4 inch in thickness.

7. Place cookies on a Silpat. Make sure they're not crowded because they will spread (about 8 to a sheet is good). Sprinkle the tops lightly with some Maldon salt.

8. Bake for 13-15 minutes (rotating 1/2 through), until cookies are a golden brown color with crispy edges.

9. Transfer to a rack to cool. Repeat steps with remaining batter.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake For One

I love, love, love this recipe. It's a fun and easy cooking project to do with little kidlets that want to help you in the kitchen but it's also fab for when you're crazy grumpy with PMS and need a sweets fix STAT. Best of all, it only makes one portion so you don't have to feel guilty about indulging. All you need is a few ingredients and a microwave.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake For One (adapted from No. 2 Pencil)

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of unsalted butter, melted
1 tablespoon of white sugar
1 tablespoon of brown sugar
a few drops of vanilla
pinch of Kosher salt
Scant 1/4 cup AP flour
1 egg yolk
2 tablespoons of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, combine melted butter, white and brown sugars, a few drops of vanilla and a pinch of Kosher salt. Mix together well.

2. Add 1 egg yolk. Blend together.

3. Add scant 1/4 cup AP flour. Stir all ingredients together thoroughly.

4. Add 2 tablespoons of chocolate chips. Mix together.

5. Place mixture in a small microwave safe container (I used a medium-sized ramiken). Microwave for 40-60 seconds. (Take care to not overcook otherwise it'll get dry and hard.)

6. Eat while it's still warm. It goes great with a tall glass of milk.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies

Sometimes life's about the small celebrations just as much as it is about the big ones. It could be something simple as you hooking up your new TV all by yourself, that your kidlet learned how to do a wheelie on his bike without crashing or that your horrible boss was switched to a different department. This weekend, Mr.S. finally sold his car and whoo boy was he excited! That BMW has been a pain in his rear for the last few months and he's been wanting to 86 it for ages and get a more practical vehicle; in his case, a SUV since we haul the kidlets and their buddies around a lot. Also, it would come in pretty handy for when we go camping or on roadtrips. To celebrate, I baked him a batch of peanut butter cookies (his favorite kind of cookie). A batch all to himself. I even used "creepy peanut butter," a joke between us. It's the all natural peanut butter, you know the kind if you let it sit too long it separates and you have to stir it up? He loves the stuff. And it turned out he loved the cookies as well.

If you're interested in making up a batch, they're super easy to make and only require 4 ingredients. I found the recipe on a PBS site and it makes about a dozen soft, thick, very peanuty cookies that are gluten-free. And since there's only four ingredients, this would be a great recipe to use if you wanted to bake cookies together with your kidlet.

Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (adapted from PBS Parents: Kitchen Explorers Four Ingredient Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies)

Ingredients

1 cup natural peanut butter* (my current fav for this recipe is Trader Joe's Valencia Creamy Peanut Butter with Sea Salt)
1 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* if you're using unsalted peanut butter, add a pinch of sea salt

Instructions

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

- Using a hand or stand mixer, mix the ingredients on low speed until well combined.

- Place a Silpat on your baking tray.

- Take about a tablespoon and a half's worth of dough and roll it into a ball. Then lightly "smash" it down into a cookie shape.

- Place on the Silpat. Continue with the rest of the dough. Be sure to leave adequate room between the cookies.

- Once done, use the tines on a fork to push down and make a cross-hatch design on the tops of the cookie.

- Place the cookies in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes.

- Once they're done, take them out and let them cool on the tray for about 2-3 minutes then transfer them to a cooling rack. (If you move them before that, they will fall apart).

A Night of Bon Iver & Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Cookies

Last night's date night is probably one of my favorite thus far. Even though I was in the throes of a crappy summer head cold, I was bound and determined that Mr.S. and I were still going to attend the Bon Iver show at Freeborn Hall. High on Afrin nasal spray and pumped full of Target's version of Sudafed, I was ready to go and have a grand time. Drippy nose and scratchy throat be damned. Even though we were probably a good 15 years older then most of the audience (gah!), we had a fabulous time at the concert. I can't say I liked the opening band but Justin Vernon and his crew rocked the house. His music was positively amazing (especially the fast, hard version of Blood Bank) and the light show was mesmerizing. The lights at times made you feel like you were looking at a sunset, or trapped under the Earth's surface or one even reminded me of the jellyfish exhibit at the aquarium. Ok, maybe my descriptions sound a bit crazy (could have been the cold meds), but the lights like the music were awesome. Anyhow, when we got home I felt mellow but simultaneously wired...mellow from hearing a full set of Bon Iver tunes, yet wired from being at a concert. Regardless, the end result was I couldn't sleep...so I decided to put that extra energy to good use and fiddle around some in the kitchen. I had plucked a few Meyer lemons from my tree this weekend, in what I presume will be the last of this season's harvest, I paired them up with some fresh rosemary I picked up at the farmers market on Sunday and made some of these delicious Meyer Lemon and Rosemary cookies. They turned out scrumptious...not bad for some midnight baking! And yes, I did play some Bon Iver while I baked. It seemed wrong not to. :)

Meyer Lemon and Rosemary Cookies (adapted from a recipe by Miss Sophie)

Ingredients

2 sticks butter, room temperature

¾ cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla (extract or paste)

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary, finely chopped

2 teaspoons grated Meyer lemon zest

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

Sugar for dusting


Instructions

- In a stand mixer, cream butter and sugar thoroughly. Add egg and vanilla, mix well. Then add fresh rosemary, lemon zest,  salt and flour. Mix well.

- Divide dough in half and shape into two logs. Roll logs up in wax or parchment paper. Chill for at least 1 hour. (I threw mine in the freezer for an extra 15 minutes.)

- Preheat oven to 375 F. Cut logs into ¼ inch slices, roll in sugar and place on silicone baking mat. Bake for 12-13 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Lemon Sugar Cookies

Hope everyone enjoyed their weekend...I know some of you lucky ones out there even got a 3-day weekend to boot! Mr.S. and I packed up and headed out of town for a few days to get some fresh air and meet up with some friends up in Tahoe for a couple of days for some R&R. Since I'm still swimming in all those Meyer lemons, I made a big batch of giant lemon sugar cookies. Oh my goodness ya'll, these babies are...as some of my friends would put it---"amazeballs!" Minimal ingredients, quick to make, lots of flavor, you've got to try some...get to it---scoot! (Btw, they're great on their own but even more magical paired up with some creamy ice cream.)

Lemon Sugar Cookies (recipe by Pinch My Salt)
Makes about 24 giant cookies

Ingredients

- 2 c sugar, divided

- zest of two lemons, divided (Meyers if you have them)

- 1 c butter, softened

- 2 eggs, room temperature

- 1 tsp vanilla

- 1 Tbsp lemon juice, fresh

- 2 3/4 c flour

- 1/4 tsp salt

- 2 tsp cream of tartar

- 1 tsp baking soda


Instructions

1. Prepare lemon sugar: In a mini food processor (I used my regular Cuisinart), blend 1/2 cup of sugar with 1 teaspoon lemon zest. Pulse several times until the lemon zest is incorporated into the sugar. Put sugar mixture in a shallow bowl and stir lightly with a fork to break up any clumps. Set aside.


2. Prepare cookie dough: In a medium bowl, stir together flour, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and remaining 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Blend in eggs, one at a time; add vanilla, lemon juice, and remaining lemon zest. Add the flour mixture, one cup at a time, blending well after each addition until all flour is incorporated.

3. Refrigerate dough for one hour.

4. Preheat oven to 350. Shape cookies using a jumbo cookie scoop or your hands; shape two tablespoons of dough into a ball and roll in lemon sugar. Place ball of dough on prepared cookie sheet and press down lightly with the bottom of a glass until cookie is about 1/2 inch thick. Repeat. Six cookies will fit on one 18 x 13 baking sheet. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

Ooo-la-la, Cookies!

“Think what a better world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock every afternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.” ~ Robert Fulghum


My friend Mary is an inspiration. Seems whenever I talk to her she's attending a new cooking class, going to an interesting lecture or taking on a fun sounding project like making a batch of homemade limoncello. Recently she took a class at the Whole Foods Culinary Center on how to make french macarons and asked if I'd be interested in attempting a batch at home. Would I? Does a bear poo in the woods?

Anyhow, the cookies came out a bit (ok, a lot) bigger and flatter than they should have (we think it may have been due to the weird weather we had that day -high humidity- and that we didn't have a #5 pastry tip and went with another size) but we had a lot of fun and they were extremely delicious. And I'll take tasty over pretty any day.

* Listed below is the recipe we used for the cookie batter and buttercream that Mary was given in class. We did not make the buttercream at my home, since she had some strawberry buttercream left over from the class she attended.

French Macarons  (Chef Christa Colardo, Marin Cooking)

Ingredients

7 oz. confectioner's sugar

4 oz. blanched almond meal

3 oz. egg white, room temp., preferably aged overnight

Pinch cream of tartar

1 oz. granulated sugar

Food coloring

Lemon zest (optional)


Instructions

- Sift together confectioner's sugar and almond meal. Set aside.

- In a stand mixer with whisk attachment, whip egg whites and pinch of tartar to soft peaks. Gradually add granulated sugar and whip to stiff peak. Whites should be moist and not dry. Add food coloring (we skipped this step, preferring to go au naturale, and added some lemon zest instead).

- Add sugar-almond mixture to whites and fold until completely incorporated. The mixture should be smooth, shiny and able to flow off a spoon.

- (Using a #5 pastry tip) Pipe small rounds (about 1 1/2') onto parchment covered sheet trays. Let macarons dry at room temp 30-60 minutes.

- Bake at about  300 degrees for 16 minutes. Cool completely before filling.


Vanilla Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Ingredients

4 egg whites

8 oz. sugar

1 lb. butter, softened

2 tsp. vanilla extract


Instructions

- Whisk egg whites and sugar in bowl of stand mixer. Place bowl on bain-marie and heat, whisking constantly until mixture is warm and sugar is completely melted-- you should feel no graininess when you rub it through your fingers.

- Remove mixture from heat and whip at high speed until it is cooled to room temperature and is light, resembling marshmallow fluff.

- With mixer on medium-high speed, add soft butter a few tablespoons at a time, allowing each addition to fully incorporate before adding another. Add vanilla and blend well.

* Note buttercream will look broken partway through the mixing process. Continue adding the butter and it will come back together.

(May be refrigerated for 5 days or frozen until needed. Return to room temperature and beat with paddle attachment of stand mixer until smooth, warming with torch if needed.)

Yield : about 5 cups.

Lost & Found : Rosemary-Plum Jam Thumbprint Cookies

Things get lost in my fridge, it's like the Bermuda Triangle in there. I'm always surprised at the bottles and jars I find when I'm digging through the clutter in search of an ingredient. Case in point last week, I was pulling out bottles left and right trying to find a jar of umeboshi (pickled japanese plums) that I knew was lost somewhere in the depths of my fridge; when I came across an unopened jar of rosemary-plum jam that my friend Katy had made this summer and was kind enough to share with me. When she had given it to me this past summer, I remember trying to open it and the lid was wedged so tight that I had placed it back in the fridge and had figured Mr. S. could open it for me the next time he was over. Then I plumb forgot! Anyhow, the little jar of jam must have gotten shoved to the wayside at some point. In a way though it's great news....as now we're here in chilly March with nary a plum in sight and I have some delicious rosemary-plum jam to use! At first, I thought of pairing it with a roasted pork tenderloin but then I decided I'd rather make some jam thumbprint cookies. Remember the Alice Water's recipe for sweet tart dough I used it my Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies? You can use that dough (which is easy to make) and pair it with your favorite jam.

Here's a pic of my finished treats. They were wonderful...the rosemary in the jam gave the cookies a nice savory taste.

Also, on the subject of fridges...if you've never checked out Mark Manjivar's works you should...it's quite interesting. As part of his series, "You Are What You Eat," he spent three years photographing the contents of people's fridges- everyone from vegetarians, competitive food eaters, former soldiers in Hitler’s SS to a drummer in a death metal band. A few samples are shown on his website and each photo caption includes the person's occupation, city/state, how many people in the household and an interesting tidbit regarding the fridge owner.

Lemon Curd Thumbprint Cookies

Sometimes the holidays get a little crazy and the only cookies I want to bake look something like this:

( cookie pic by Natalie Dee )

But once the dust settles and the hoopla is over, I find myself missing the quiet time in the kitchen rolling out cookies or sitting at the table sprinkling colorful little decorations on each bite-sized treat. Also, I have a LOT of lemon curd sitting in my fridge that needs to be used up. The solution? Lemon curd thumbprint cookies, of course! Just use the lemon curd you made here: Lemon Curd  and follow the simple dough recipe below.

Alice Waters' Sweet Tart Dough 

(The Art of Simple Food)

- Beat together until creamy:
8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick)  *room temp
1/3 cup of sugar

- Add and mix until completely combined:
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 egg yolk

- Add:
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose unbleached flour

- Mix well, stirring and folding, until there are no more dry patches. 

- Form 1 inch dough balls. 

- Roll in sugar and place on a parchment lined baking sheet about 1 inch apart. 

- Press your thumb in the top of each cookie to make a depression. 

- Bake cookies in a preheated 350F oven for 12 minutes. 

- Remove from the oven and fill the depressions with lemon curd. 

- Bake for another 5 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let cool before serving.

Nothing Says 'I Love You' Like PB & C (Chocolate) Cookies

The holidays bring out the inner kid in some, the Scrooge in others and in Mr. S.'s case...the Clark Griswald. I've never dated anyone in my life who loves the holidays as much as he does. Whether it's stringing millions of lights across the bushes, cutting down his own Christmas tree or braving the crazed crowds for the perfect stocking stuffers...he's there. If Christmas had a superhero, he'd be sporting a red cape. He even has a remote to turn the outdoor Christmas lights on and off. I kid you not! (Oddly enough, it resembles a detonator.)

Anyhow, it's taking some getting used to on my part but I'm coming around slowly but surely. In fact, I'm starting to find his rabid enthusiasm for the holidays quite cute. So in the spirit of giving (since I was able to score some fresh eggs from my friend Neal's chickens), I decided to whip Mr. S. up some chewy chocolate cookies with peanut butter chips. Now, I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter (I don't hate on it, I just don't go out of my way to eat it) but it's his favorite. So PB & C cookies, it is!

PB &C Cookies

(recipe by Hershey's : Reese's Chewy Chocolate Cookies )

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa  (I subbed in Ghiradelli Chocolate's Unsweetened Cocoa)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/4 cups (2-1/2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar (I like to use baker's sugar, it's smoother)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract  (use the real stuff, not the imitation...it does make a difference!)

1-2/3 cups (10-oz. pkg.) REESE'S Peanut Butter Chips

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F.

2. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; set aside.

3. Beat butter and sugar in large bowl with mixer until fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Gradually add flour mixture, beating well. Stir in peanut butter chips. (I was lazy and used my Kitchenaid mixer...man, I love that thing!) Drop by rounded teaspoons onto ungreased cookie sheet. 

3. Bake 8 to 9 minutes. (Do not overbake; cookies will be soft. They will puff while baking and flatten while cooling.) Cool slightly; remove from cookie sheet to wire rack. Cool completely. About 4-1/2 dozen cookies.

 

* Use a Silpat on your cookie sheet if you have one. It makes your cookies cook more evenly and prevents them from burning or sticking to the pan. With my oven, I found that I had to cook the cookies for 10 minutes. So keep an eye on your cookies and adjust your cooking time accordingly.

'Murphy's Law' Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you ever started a project, only to find out midway through that you lack the proper tools or ingredients and that your mind's going in 20 million different directions? Yesterday was like that for me. I was super exhausted and having an unbelievable jones for some chocolate. In all my bright wisdom, I decided to start a batch of chocolate chip cookies without checking first to see if I had everything I needed (completely unlike me). After I mixed the "wet" ingredients in with the "dry" goods I noticed that the batter wasn't smoothing out and it looked drier than the Sahara. A few more flicks of the spoon and the light bulb went on above my head. I realized I had completely omitted the butter! Not having any butter ready at room temperature, I unwrapped two sticks of butter, popped them in some Pyrex and microwaved them at 2 minutes. What I got was a Pyrex measuring cup full of liquidy butter. At this point there was no turning back, I poured the goop into the bowl and stirred...and stirred. Surprisingly, it was looking pretty good. Time to add the chips. Turned out I only had half a bag of chips in the freezer, so I compensated by throwing in a handful of slivered almonds. At this point, I'm sure all my baking savvy friends are slapping their face "Home Alone" style and are trying to contain how appalled they are; but I'll be honest, despite all the issues the cookies turned out phe-nomenal! Probably one of the best batches I've ever made. Who'd have thought?

Here's the link to the original cookie recipe: Toll House Cookies

Here's my version:

Murphy's Law Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) sweet cream butter

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate morsels

3/4 cup sliced almonds


Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375° F.
 
2. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. 

3. Beat granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla extract and eggs in large mixer bowl until creamy. 

4. Place two sticks of butter in a microwave-safe container. Microwave for 2 minutes.

5. Gradually beat in flour mixture.

6. Pour butter into bowl and mix throughly with other ingredients.

7. Stir in morsels and nuts. 

8. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets sprayed with PAM.
 
9. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown ( I went 12 minutes in my oven). 

10. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes; use a spatula to remove.

PMS Cookies : Double Chocolate M&M Cookies

PMS always seems to sneak up on me like a mugger in the night. One minute I'm laughing with my friends, sipping a cup of coffee and cuddling up to Mr. S. Then WHAMM-O! The next minute I'm sobbing into a pillow while watching a Hallmark commercial, inhaling an entire bag of Kettle Chips and glaring daggers because someone drank the last Pepsi. We've all been there. There's no way to avoid the emotional roller coaster of PMS but there are ways to subdue the beast. My "neutralizer" has always been chocolate. Mmmm, chocolate! Dark, decadent and creamy...it's like a magical elixir that smoothes things over. So next time your hormones are acting all 5150, you could just scarf down an entire Costco box of Hershey bars OR you could treat yourself to a batch of delicious Double Chocolate M&M cookies. Couple it with a glass of red wine and a couple of episodes of Glee and you'll be ok in no time.

*(Guys, if you're smart you'll have a batch of these cookies waiting on the counter every 28 days. Just sayin'.)

Mel's Kitchen Cafe Double Chocolate M&M Cookies
*Makes between 2 and 3 dozen cookies (depending on how big you make them)

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 ounces semisweet or milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into eight pieces
3/4 cup M&M’s
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a medium microwave-safe bowl, place the chopped chocolate and the butter. Microwave for one minute at 50% power. Stir. Microwave again for one minute at 50% power and stir well. If the chocolate is not fully melted, continue microwaving in 30 second intervals at 50% power until the chocolate and butter are well combined (don't overheat the chocolate or it can seize and turn hard and unusable). Let the mixture cool slightly, about 2-3 minutes until it is at room temperature or just slightly warm (but not hot).
- In a large bowl (or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer), combine the chocolate mixture, sugar, eggs, and vanilla. Mix on medium speed until combined. Gradually mix in flour mixture on low speed. Fold in M&M’s with a wooden spoon (don't use a mixer as the M&M's will break into pieces and not stay whole).
- Line baking sheets with parchment paper, silpat liners or lightly grease them with cooking spray. Drop dough onto baking sheets by tablespoonfuls (or use a cookie scoop) spacing them about 1 1/2 inches apart. If desired, place five or six M&M's on top of the cookie dough balls (even perched slightly on the rounded sides). Bake the cookies until they have slightly flattened and there are a few cracks on the surface, about 13-14 minutes.
- The cookies will still be soft. Let the cookies sit for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely. These cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container for about 2 days. I freeze them between sheets of wax paper in a large tupperware container and they defrost beautifully at room temperature or for a few seconds in the microwave.