Grandma's M&M cookies

My absolute fave cookie!

of all time.

end.of.story.

If you've been reading this (and I know you have), then it's obvious that my grandma is the best. She gets a shout out in almost every post! (Hey Grandma! I love you!).

She makes the best of everything, especially M&M cookies. I.die.

I don't know if this is a made up memory or not (does that ever happen to you?), but I have visions of eating these and they are only covered with red and green M&M's. I don't know for a fact that Grandma made these around Christmas when I was little, but eating them makes me think of Christmas and Grandma's house. The two best things in the world!

I love the taste of the M&M's after they've been baked. I love the sweet with a hint of salt. I love that these cookies are more on the firm side, but not because they are overdone. I love everything about them!

I emailed Grandma to get the recipe because I misplaced it when I last moved, and she added this little tidbit in the email:

"Hope these turn out good, but with you making them they will be extra good."

Isn't she the best? And yes, they were extra good.

M & M Cookies

1 cup shortening                   

1 cup brown sugar                 

1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. vanilla  
2 eggs 
1 tsp. salt             

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. soda

1 1/2 cups (3/4 pound) M&M's (Medium bag should do the trick)

                                         

1. Blend shortening and sugars in a separate large bowl. Beat in vanilla and eggs.
2. In a medium bowl sift flour, soda, and salt together, then slowly add the sugar mixture. Mix well.
3. Stir in 1/2 cup M&M's.** 
4. Drop from spoon (I prefer a cookie scoop) onto an ungreased cookie sheet and decorate top of cookies with remaining M&M's.

Bake 375 degree for 10-12 minutes.

**Or, if you are lazy like me, you can just mix in all of the M&M's.

Can't you almost taste the goodness?

Trophy Wife Cupcakes - So good that you'll propose to me after one bite!

Truth.

So why did I only share these with the ladies at Recipe Klub? That was poor planning on my part. Better luck next time!

Al finally got to host RKlub at her house and it happened to fall during Tech Mandy's bday! Naturally I took over volunteered to make her bday dessert. Mandy's requests were chocolate, coconut, creme cheese, or all three together. That's easy enough. I figured I'd just whip up a chocolate cake and add toasted coconut to the frosting. I considered creme cheese frosting, but I haven't made any before and didn't want to risk it on the girls.

So the hunt through my billions of bookmarked recipes began for the perfect chocolate cake! I came across the Trophy Wife recipe that Running Off the Reece's had posted a while back and knew it would be delicious. How could I possible resist a recipe by that name?

**side note. Check of Reece's website. She is super funny and I know I would make her my bff if only I met her in real life. Instead I just stalk her in blog life.

Unlike being a Trophy Wife, this recipe is really easy and quick to mix up!

Trophy Wife Cake (or in this case, cupcakes)
1 3/4 c milk
chocolate cake mix
2 eggs
small box of chocolate pudding
12 oz. of chocolate chips (typically one bag)
1 can Milk Chocolate icing

1. Preheat Oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl mix cake mix, milk, eggs, chocolate pudding mix, and chocolate chips.
3. Pour into greased pan or cupcake pan with liners.
4. Cook time based on what box mix says.
5. 
   Once it's cool remove from pan and stick in fridge.
6. Ice it! I used caned milk chocolate icing.

Toasted Coconut
1 bag sweetened coconut flakes

1. Heat non stick skillet over medium.
2. Pour in coconut flakes (amount depends on how much you will use, I toasted 1/2 a bag)
3. Occasionally stir the coconut so it can evenly brown.
4. Remove from heat once it's fragrant and mostly toasted/light brown.
5. Dip iced cupcakes into the coconut and lightly press down.

Ta-da! Easy peasy!

I also iced a few of the cupcakes with rainbow chip icing (one of my premade faves!). Delish!

I shared the extra with my coworkers so I could continue my campaign to support obesity one cupcake at a time.

Quick Oreo Brownies

Kari finally moved back to Houston so I made my way over for dinner as soon as her mom flew home.

I was so excited to be able to hang out with her and Abbers in person instead of through weekly emails. Don't get me wrong, the Weekend Updates were great, provided entertainment, and kept us close through these two years of separation, but it's nice to have her here again!

Since Kari had been busy moving we hadn't emailed in a few weeks, so we had a lot to catch up on! When R got home from work he lit the grill and cooked some delicious vegetables and chicken!

After dinner Kari and I were talking about this blog and all of the things she wants to try off of it, especially the Oreo brownies. We decided to whip up a batch, but ran into the issue of the movers having not delivered her stuff, so her kitchen was bare and she didn't want to restock on baking things she would most likely never use again.

Solution! Quick Oreo Brownies. Although not as rich and delicious as the homemade version, still a pretty good substitute.

Quick Oreo Brownies
2 boxes of brownie mix
1 package of oreos

1. Prepare brownie mix according to box instructions.
2. Pour half of the batter into a pan (I believe we used 9x9)
3. Place Oreo's across the first layer of batter
4. Pour remaining half of batter on top and spread out if needed.
5. Bake per box directions
6. Enjoy!

Don't you just die at the deliciousness that's happening here?

Kari was impressed with the quick thinking and deliciousness of the treats! She probably would have died had she tasted the original.

Oreo's covered in brownie mix. Delish!

She texted me the next day to let me know that R said it's ok for me to move in as long as I keep their brownie supply up! haha. Very tempting!

Finished! I only used one box mix and that's why you can see my oreo's peeking out. It was still delicious, but I will use two boxes (as mentioned in the recipe) when I make this again.

I told you so...

Remember that time I made S'mores bars a few weeks ago?

Remember how I mentioned my love of roasting marshmallows?

I found proof.

See, this is totally safe and normal right?

OMG! It's on fire!

One more Marshmallow roasting story:

My freshman year in college Kayla and I decided it would be fun to make smores on the balcony. It was so much fun, until my mallow caught fire! In a panic I started swinging it to put the fire out (obviously not the best idea) and it flew off of my stick and onto a cardboard box. AHHHH! I reacted even faster this time to put it out before it got out of control.

I haven't given up my love of roasting, but I have learned it's best to blow out the fire, not swing it around.

Chocolate, PB, and Marshmallow Pudding Cookies

This week I wasn't really sure what to make. I went through everything and nothing sounded good. I guess I overdid it with the s'mores bars last week and I'm still on sugar overload. haha. I knew I wanted to go with cookies since I will be making Mandy's birthday cupcakes later this week (stay tuned!)

I finally narrowed it down to a few things and decided on these cookies. It was basically the marshmallow/PB combo that won me over.

These cookies were so easy to make, it was ridiculous! I found the recipe on Picky Palate. (You should check her out!?

The recipe makes about 3 dozen cookies, so I froze half the batter. I took the cookies to work and they were a huge success. Some people seemed surprised at how good they were, as if I don't have skills?

Chocolate, PB, and Marshmallow Pudding Cookies


2 sticks of softened butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2 packed light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbs vanilla
2 1/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
4oz box instant chocolate pudding mix
10 oz bag peanut butter chips
1 1/2 c mini marshmallows

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. In a large bowl mix butter and sugars, then beat in eggs and vanilla.
3. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to wet ingredients.
4. Mix in chocolate pudding mix, peanut butter chips, and marshmallows until just combined.
5. Scoop cookies onto baking sheet and bake for 10-12 min, or until cooked through.
6. Let cool for a few minutes before transferring to cooling rack. 

Is this seriously the only picture I took? I swear they taste better than they look!

After I put the first batch of these in the oven I received a phone call from my sweet B with a special request of peanut butter blossoms for my buttercup Rick. I was so kind as to make them with extra love.

I'm glad that I keep an emergency roll of PB cookie dough on hand (and people that that was crazy). I had already gone to the grocery that morning and didn't want to go again, so I used some extra choco chips to smash into the middle instead of the Hershey kiss. They turned out pretty delicious, duh!