cookies

Thin Mint Cookie Pie

February 28, 2014

Yay!!! It’s Girl Scout cookie season!

I get Girl Scout cookies every year. Typically I order them from one of my coworker’s daughter but being out on maternity leave I missed my chance to order from her. I was a little afraid that I would totally miss out on the opportunity to get those addictive Girl Scout cookies. But then I saw that a local troop would be setting up a table in my office building. Perfect! So I ran down one day and loaded up on this annual treat.

Now Girl Scout cookies are great on their own but I’ve learned that you can enjoy them in a variety of ways, including in baked goods, like the Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars I made last year. How can you go wrong with adding cookies to a dessert? You can’t! It just makes it better.

Well, I had a box of Thin Mint cookies staring me down daring me to get to work. I had plenty of things in mind like cookies inside of cookies, cupcakes, and ice cream but ultimately decided to use the Thin Mints in a pie recipe. A minty, chocolaty pie… yes!!

This pie uses the Thin Mints in the no bake crust and then the minty chocolate pudding filling is garnished with whole Thin Mints. A whole cookie with each slice!!

This is such a simple pie to whip up. It takes about 20 minutes of active cook time and, thankfully, you don’t dirty many dishes either.

Making the pudding filling is very easy but you can’t rush it or neglect it either. If you cook it on too high of a temperature or don’t mix it enough you run the risk of burning the mixture. If you burn it you have to start over again and use some serious elbow grease to scrub your pot. And you don’t want to go that. You want to eat pie.

Thin Mint Cookie Pie

Makes a 9″ pie, 12 slices

Ingredients

Pie Crust

24 Thin Mint cookies
4 tablespoons butter, melted

Pie Filling

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt
4 egg yolks
3 cup milk, any fat content (I used non-fat milk)
2 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
1 3/4 cups dark chocolate chips

To create the pie crust:

Add the Thin Mint cookies to the bowl of a food processor and process until crumbs form.
Add the melted butter, mix well.
Firmly press the cookie crumb mixture into a 9″ pie plate.

To make the pie:

Sift together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt into a 2 quart saucepan.
In a medium sized bowl, combine the egg yolks and milk. Slowly pour milk mixture into sugar mixture and stir to mix.
Cook the mixture over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a low boil. Continue to stir continually while it cooks for 1 more minute. Remove from heat and stir in the butter and peppermint extract. Add the chocolate chips and stir until chips are melted and the mixture is well blended. Let cool for 15-20 minutes, stirring it every 5 minutes.
Pour into the Thin Mint cookie pie shell. Lightly lay a piece of plastic wrap on top of pie filling before refrigerating for several hours until chilled.
Garnish with 8 Thin Mint cookies around the edge of the pie plate so that each slice would have a cookie.

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Looking for more Girl Scout Cookie Recipes?

Thin Mint Gooey Cake Bars

Samoa Cookie Cocktail

Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies

January 9, 2014

Once you try these Chocolate Chip Pudding Cookies, you’ll insist on making cookies with pudding in the mix again and again. It has magical powders.

post from 1/9/14, pictures updated 12/10/18

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

So, Price and I typically don’t keep the heat on very much in the house in the winter. That’s crazy, I know.

In fact, we just deal with it and bundle up in layers. As a matter of fact, LOTS OF LAYERS. There are times when we look like Joey from Friends when he dressed up in all of Chandler’s clothes.

…

Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies

December 30, 2013

Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies- mix in chopped up Snickers bars into chocolate chip cookie dough to make some epic candy loaded cookies.

Post from 12/30/13, pictures updated 8/24/18

Post Contains Affiliate Links. Read my full disclosure HERE

Candy and cookies are pretty cool. But candy inside cookies are ever better.

…

Monster Cookies

September 27, 2013

Sorry I couldn’t resist. Not this time…

I have really tried to steer clear from making cookies, or most sweets, while I’ve been pregnant. Sometimes I cave, but I at least plan on getting them out of my house ASAP and share so I don’t eat them all.

You see it’s just that I’ve been too afraid that I can’t resist just having one and before you know it the whole batch of cookies are gone.

Or a tray of brownies.

Or a pie.

I can’t stand that I am in love with sweets now. I can’t get off Pinterest looking at desserts hoping they would magically instantly appear in in my kitchen just for me. So when I decided to make Monster Cookies for this weekend’s race at “The Monster Mile” I was just about going to eat my laptop screen. But thankfully I resisted and held out for these mega cookies to appear in real life. And of course, hot from the oven!

These babies are large and in charge. They look really cute with the teeny tiny M&M’s throughout but they are monsters! They pack a punch from the creamy peanut butter, oats, and the double dose of chocolate. Plus they are just giants. Well, isn’t that really the point of Monster Cookies?!?!?!

Hope you enjoy this weekend’s race at Dover.

Monster Cookies_00

Monster Cookies

Makes 18-20 large cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon corn syrup
1 1/2 cups peanut butter
2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/4 cups quick oatmeal
1 cup mini M&Ms
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Process

Preheat oven 350 degrees.
Blend together the butter and sugars in a mixer.
Add the eggs, vanilla extract, corn syrup, and peanut butter and blend until combined.
Add the baking powder, baking soda, oatmeal, and flour and mix until everything is well blended.
Stir in the M&Ms and chocolate chips.
Using a cookie scoop (or just 2 spoons!) scoop dough into balls about 1 1/2″ round on a cookie sheet about 2″ apart. Just slightly flatten the dough balls.
Bake for 11-13 minutes until lightly brown and just set in the middle. Cool slightly on the pan for 3-5 minutes before removing to enjoy

Sourced from Skinny Not Skinny

Maple Walnut Whoopie Pies

September 21, 2013

You should totally make these for your dog walker when you leave your dog with her and her adorable family for 4 1/2 days and the idea is totally crushing you. Sure, you really need the vacation before you are cut off from flying and before a cute wiggly baby comes crashing into your heart. But the fact that he has NEVER been without either of you for even a day is freaking you out… A LOT.

So that is what I did. I made these the morning of our flight so that our super amazing dog walker and her family would have something to enjoy while our pup ‘terrorized’ her life. Hello, middle of the night pee walks!!! In fact I got up so early (crazy lady) that the dog didn’t even want to get up when I checked on him. So I got to make these in peace while he slept another hour. Again, I’m nuts!

Oh, you aren’t pregnant and crazy about leaving your dog? Then just make these for this weekend’s NASCAR race in New Hampshire since you can’t not have maple goodies while in New England. So you’re not a NASCAR fan and don’t follow along with my Sprint Cup Snacks? Then make these just because you deserve them.

You totally do.

These are light, spongy maple cookies that are studded with walnuts that sandwich a fluffy cream cheese frosting. Once you take a bite you will be transported right to the middle of the woods in New England with maple taps all around you. Kinda like a Klondike Bar experience. Kinda.

Maple Walnut Whoopie Pies

Makes 13-15 small whoopie pies

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon maple flavoring
2 large eggs
3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Filling

8 ounces cream cheese
4 cups sifted glazing sugar OR confectioners’ sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

Process

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease two baking sheets, or line them with parchment paper.
For the cookies: Whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, and maple flavoring.
Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Scrap the bowl down between the addition of each egg.
Add in the dry ingredients until the mixture is evenly moistened.
Scrape the bowl again, then mix in the walnuts.
Scoop by the tablespoonful to make 26-30 (even # amount!) cookies onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2″ of space between each cookie.
Bake the cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, until the top springs back when lightly touched, and the edges are a light golden brown. Remove from the oven and cool completely on a rack before filling.
For the filling: Place the cream cheese and half of the confectioners’ sugar in a large mixing bowl, and beat at slow speed until the mixture is smooth.
Add the remaining sugar and the flavoring, and mix until the filling is a spreadable consistency.
Place a tablespoon of filling on the flat face a cookie then top off with another cookie, flat face towards the filling.

Slightly adapted from King Arthur

Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

August 16, 2013

It was so chilly the other night that I couldn’t help but thinking of how summer is winding down and that I just have to deal with it. Fall is approaching whether I want it to or not. Don’t get me wrong, I love fall, but it’s that evil winter that follows that hurts. But on the positive side turning on the oven for roasting and baking will warm the house and smells will fill it up with love.

While I had really considered making meat pasties, a Michigan favorite, I couldn’t resist making another sweet cherry treat for this week’s edition of Sprint Cup Snacks for this weekend’s race at Michigan International Speedway. Especially since I’ve been craving sweets lately. So the idea of the sweet smell of cherries filling up the house was just too irresistible to pass up.

I had so much fun looking up desserts using cherries and while the idea of making coffee cake, blondies, and hand pies all sounded awesome I decided on making cookies. I have had cookies on the mind for weeks so I finally got to stretch my baking legs and but my mixer to use.

These Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies are some big cookies! I don’t think anything gets better than big fresh from the oven cookies. Well, maybe world peace but cookies can be homemade in under an hour so let’s just go with that. So grab a big glass of milk and a cookie (or a few) and enjoy!!

Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies_00

Cherry White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 24 large cookies

Ingredients

4 1/4 ounces cake flour (1 cup)
4 1/4 ounces all purpose flour (1 cup)
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoons Kosher salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature
5 ounces light brown sugar (scant 3/4 cups packed)
4 ounces granulated sugar (1 cup, plus 3 tablespoons)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 oz white chocolate chips
5 oz dried cherries

Process

Preheat theoven to 350 degrees. Line insulated baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
Sift the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl with a wire whisk. Set aside.
In bowl of electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugars until very light, about five minutes. Add in the egg and vanilla extract, mix well. With the mixer on low, add the dry ingredients and mix just until combined. Stir in the white chocolate chips and dried cherries with rubber spatula.
Use a cooking scoop or spoons to drop dough onto prepared baking sheet. Bake 13-15 minutes, or until golden brown and set in the middle.
Allow cookies to cool on sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to cooling racks to cool completely.

Sourced from Amanda’s Cookin’

Low Carb Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies & a Party!!

April 23, 2013

Ever since we got our dog Kemper we’ve been dipping into the peanut butter jar for a little treat for him. And, of course, we slip our spoon in once more for an extra bit for ourselves. I’ve fallen head over heels back in love with peanut butter.

So when I had a chance to make these Low Carb Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies from Harvard Sweet Boutique I could not pass it up! Peanut Butter & Chocolate are always a win but then you can say you’re being healthy since they are low carb!!! Seriously, such good cookies with only 12grams of carbs per 1-oz cookie!

And besides great cookies, Harvard Sweet Boutique, is having a new tasting party this Thursday in Hudson, MA… AND YOU’RE INVITED!!! Check out the info below!!

Low Carb Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes 30 1-oz cookies

Ingredients

8 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup peanut butter (creamy)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chunks

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and prepare baking sheets with parchment paper.
Sift together flour, baking soda and salt and whisk to mix. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, peanut butter, light brown sugar and sugar with mixer.
Add the egg and vanilla extract, mix well.
Add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture and stir until just blended.
Add the chocolate chunks and mix well.
Portion out 30 1-oz cookies onto baking sheets and bake 12-14 minutes, until golden brown.

Source: Sue George, owner of Harvard Sweet Boutique

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The expanded Harvard Sweet Boutique store menu is part of founder Sue George’s commitment to bring the Hudson community fresh, tasty, one-of-a-kind treats using the finest all-natural, high-quality ingredients that are sourced locally whenever possible. Since the store’s opening in November 2012, it has quickly become the local one-stop shop for breakfast, lunch, dinner and dessert, as well as for special occasion cakes, dessert platters, and custom-built gifts. The bakery also offers low-carbohydrate and gluten-free treats for people with specific dietary needs.

Sue founded Harvard Sweet Boutique in 2007 as an online retailer accepting orders through its catalog and website, which quickly became a nationwide success. Whether shopping for friends and family, wedding centerpieces, or business and corporate gifts, the delicious treat assortments are packaged in unique and whimsical gift boxes with adorning ribbon and delivered nationwide with $5 flat-rate shipping

To introduce residents to the new menu items, Harvard Sweet Boutique will host a free tasting event at the storefront (located at 25 South St., Hudson, Mass. 01749) on April 25 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Community members can enjoy a complimentary sampling of the bakery’s new cold fruit-based soups, yogurt parfaits, fruit pies, tarts and cakes, and take advantage of a 10 percent storewide discount. Those in attendance can also enter to win a 9-inch custom cake valued at $45 and take advantage of a 10 percent storewide discount.

As part of the new offerings, Hudson-area residents can now order specialty cakes for baby and bridal showers, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, birthdays and more. Options include the classic signature cakes such as carrot, chocolate or lemon raspberry, or fully customized options where shoppers can select the cake flavor, fillings and frosting of their choice. All cakes can be decorated to preference, and treats can be updated even further by having a personal photo adhered to cakes, cookies or cupcakes with edible paper and ink!

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Giant Peanut Butter and Pretzel M&M’s Cookies

December 16, 2012

My candy stash is getting out of control. I’m trying to use them up so I can buy more, obviously. Lately my focus has been M&M’s candies. M&M’s are awesome in general, but lately they have been coming up with great flavor combinations. Cinnamon M&M’s are great in oatmeal cookies and coconut are just great for snacking. I was a little puzzled with what to do with some pretzel M&M’s that I had.

The best thing to do is to start browsing Pinterest for ideas. There are so many great ideas at your finger tips. All of those great desserts gave me so many different ideas. In the end I decided that I would make a peanut butter cookie and add the pretzel M&M’s. Pretzels and peanut butter are a great combo and peanut butter and chocolate is a great combo, and well basically it would all come together nicely.

I made a special trip to my construction site just to bring some to one of my site supervisors. He is moving on to another project next week and I am crushed. We have worked together on this project for over a year. It’s to the point when we pick up each other’s phone calls we are really understand the real meaning of the call even when we can’t say it. Ahh never ending construction stress. So the next 3 months of the project will be tough but I’m just glad that I enjoyed the last 15 months of early mornings, long conference calls, and plenty of hilarious hair pulling situations that have resulted in some great boozy lunches. So in thanks I will be bringing him some treats featuring peanut butter, since it is his favorite.

Giant Peanut Butter and Pretzel M&M’s Cookies

Makes 16 3-inch cookies

Ingredients

2 stick of unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup of crunchy peanut butter
2 cups self rising flour
9.9 ounce bag of pretzel M&M’s

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract until blended. Mix the peanut butter until completely incorporated. Add the flour until just blended. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the M&M’s candies.
Drop very large scoops of dough, approximately 1/4 cup, onto the parchment paper leaving plenty of room between the cookies to allow for spreading.
Bake cookies until the edges are starting to brown and the cookies have set, approximately 18 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool 2 minutes on the baking sheet prior to removing to cool on a wire rack.

Caramel Chocolate Kiss Cookies

December 10, 2012

So Price and I are having some issues lately. It all boils down to the impulses I have related to buying tons of candy for cookies and other treats and his impulses to eat every candy that comes into the house. I can barely care that we have baskets full of candies like m&m’s, peanut butter cups, and kisses at arms reach. But for Price and his sweet tooth it’s pure torture. So he stares longingly at the bags and bags of candy that hang around until I get a chance to incorporate them into some baking. And he knows that if he eats that candy before I get around to baking… trouble. ha!

When I got around to making these I thought he was going to do some cart wheels in the living room. Or maybe a Carl Edward’s like back flip off the sofa. I have to put him to work every now and then so I got Pricer involved to squish the kisses into the just baked cookies. And then in a blink he was trying a freshly baked cookie. They are best warm from the oven since the center caramel is soft and melty. To enjoy that after they have cooled just pop them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds.

I adapted the Cookie Trio recipe to create the cookie base part. I browsed all of the different cookie recipes on Hershey’s to figure out the recipe to use with the Caramel Kisses. I wanted to keep things simple so I kept with a chocolate base to pair well with the chocolate and chocolate candy. The result are a pop-able bite sized cookie that is perfect for the holidays, cookie swaps, and bake sales.

Caramel Chocolate Kiss Cookies

Makes 48 cookies

Ingredients

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine , softened
1/2 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
48 Hershey’s caramel kisses, unwrapped

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder. Set aside.
Cream together the butter, shortening and sugar. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Gradually beat the flour mixture into butter mixture.
Divide the dough mixture into 4 equal portions. Then from each portion create 12 1-inch balls. Place each ball on the parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake 9 to 11 minutes or until cookies are just set. Remove from oven and immediately press a chocolate kiss into the center of the cookie. Cool 1 minute prior to removing to cool on a wire rack.

Chubby Tates and a chat with Kathleen King of Tate’s Bakeshop

November 9, 2012

Last week when I received an email asking if I would like to chat Kathleen King of Tate’s Bake Shop I nearly fell out of my chair. Really me?!?! Really, Kathleen King?!?! Well, it was not a joke as I chatted with Kathleen last week as she was on her way up to some book signings for her most recent book, Tate’s Bake Shop: Baking For Friends.

Kathleen King started baking and selling cookies on her father’s farm at the age of 11. This all started as she needed extra money for the clothes that she wanted. From an early age Kathleen has been a go-getter, a problem solver. Well her simple selling cookies = clothes money has evolved to a bakeshop when she was 21 and then to a mail order company. In addition to all that she has just whipped out 3 cookbooks.

What I loved most about taking to Kathleen was her attitude. She is a very smart, deliberate woman but most importantly one that has an effervescence about her. The 20 minutes flew by as we talked about recipes, life attitudes, and ‘kids these days’. Kathleen realizes that most things have already been created at this point but it is her goal to develop the best. Also, things shouldn’t be too complex or a headache for it to be good, like a fresh blueberry muffin. Work at creating the best and don’t stress out about the proess, you just learn from it. Sometimes you will have succcesses and other times you will have huge failures but keep on going. Thankfully, Kathleen had great success in her gluten-free chocolate chip cookie when she was developing that and it right away became a best seller.

Kathleen and I discussed the upcoming holidays and she was saying that she hosts and the most important thing about pulling off a successful meal is to enjoy it. She can create a game plan for having friends over to hosting Thanksgiving to writing a cookbook, it’s important to manage, prioritize, and delegate as needed. And don’t sweat it if you have a kitchen disaster… “don’t stress, it’s just cookies”… or turkey or anything… just roll with the flow, and remember there always is take out!

I made Tate’s Bakeshop classic cookie called the Chubby Tate in honor of my conversation with Kathleen King. I had to see what all the fuss was about. Well, I got it since I ate… well I’m not telling how many!!! My coworkers also enjoyed the cookies. We have long work tables in our large corridor in front of our workstations so everyone knows that any baked goods left out are from me. So people would grab a cookie on their way into the kitchen or printer and while on their way back I’d hear ‘Nic’ and get a thumbs up or a comment about how good they were. They are best our of the oven but they last up to 3 days, if you don’t eat them all before hand.

Next week I”m back with some more yummy Tate’s Bake Shop goodness with another recipe from Kathleen’s new book. Just wait 🙂

Chubby Tates

Makes approximate 3 dozen cookies

Ingredients

2 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks of salted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
1 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups (12oz) semisweet chocolate chips

Process

Position the oven racks in the top third and center of the oven and preheat your oven to 325. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment or silicone baking mats.
Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
Beat together the brown sugar, butter, granulated sugar, and corn syrup with an electric mixer or in a stand mixer on high until combined, about 1 minute. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract to combine. In batches, add the flour mixture on low until just combined. Add in the chocolate chips.
Portion out 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie on the lined baking sheets. Cookies are to be arranged 3″apart.
Bake, rotating the sheets top to bottom and front to back half way through baking. Bake for about 18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Let cool on the baking sheets 5 minutes prior to cooling completely on wire racks.

Note: Cookies can be prepared and frozen in advance of baking. Freeze individually on a lined baking sheet before transferring to a storage container or zip lock bag. Cookies can be frozen for up to 1 month. Do not thaw prior to baking, increase baking time to 20 minutes.

Spring Time Bird’s Nest Cookies

April 4, 2012

Easter is my favorite holiday. I don’t go to church so I love everything else that has been slapped onto Easter. Dresses are pretty and frilly. Pastels are everywhere. There are no gifts- except candy. Cute animals decorate everything. I just about *squeee!!!* every time I see a cute little bunny on something. Plus flowers are blooming. I love how (to me) Easter celebrates spring and a new beginning. Everything is shedding winter’s greys and is layering on color. Flowers are starting to bloom everywhere from beneath your feet to above your head from overarching tree branches. And on those branches sit nests that have lovely speckled eggs on them.

These nest cookies are a perfect way to celebrate spring time! They are so easy too! The coconut part is super easy to bring together. The baking time might sound like a long process of checking them every 5 or so minutes or so but it’s just to ensure they will achieve a nice golden brown color while not letting the bottom burn. Other than that it’s super easy and so good. Coconut and chocolate go together so well so it ends up being a perfect pairing.

Spring Time Bird’s Nest Cookies

*makes 15 cookies*

Ingredients

1 14oz package of shredded coconut
1 14 oz can of condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
1 bag Cadbury Mini Eggs

Process

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with aluminum foil or parchment paper
Combine the shredded coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl.
Create 15 mounds of the coconut mixture. Using a spoon or your fingers, create each mound into a bowl shape to resemble a nest.
Bake for 10 minutes, turn the oven down to 325 and bake for 5-8 more minutes, until golden brown. Turn the oven off and then let them sit for another 5 minutes prior to removing from the oven. Gently remove the cookies from the sheet to let them cool.
As the nests are cooling, mix the frosting together. Using a mixer, beat the butter until light and fluffy. Sift the sugar and cocoa powder into the butter and continue mixing. Add vanilla extract and the water and mix until completely incorporated and the frosting is fluffy.
Put the frosting in a small piping bag or a sandiwch bag and cut the tip so you can pipe the frosting onto the coconut nests.
Pipe approximately 1 tablespoon of frosting into the nests. Then place 4 mini eggs into the frosting to secure them into the nests.

Cinnamon M&M Oatmeal Cookies

December 30, 2011

This was the first year I noticed that M&M’s had some great holiday themed candies. I picked up a few bags of each, including mint M&M’s, which I used in my Chocolate Chocolate Mint Cookies. They were a hit with the contractors for my project, so I decided that I should give cookie making a try again with another kind of M&M’s. I gravitated to the cinnamon M&M’s and decided that an oatmeal cookie would work well.

I started the journey of making these cookies by pulling out several cook books looking for an oatmeal cookie base that could be used with the cinnamon M&M’s. In the end, tweeting what I was doing ending out being fruitful since Rachel (Baked by Rachel) tweeted me back saying she had some great oatmeal cookie recipes on her blog. One being a crisp oatmeal cookie and another being a softer, chewier oatmeal cookie. I was looking for a chewy cookie so I went with the recipe on her blog. Perfect choice!

The cookie is soft, chewy and has nice cinnamony, chocolately pieces that dot throughout the cookie. The cinnamon flavor in the M&M is subtle but adds a nice touch to the cookie. I think the 1 bag is enough for the batch of cookies, but I can’t help but think that adding another 1/2 bag or so could not hurt!

I really enjoyed working with these M&M’s and I imagine that other’s did too since there is a Cinnamon M&M’s facebook page! I hope that you had a chance to try these since they are so good. I just grabbed a few more bags of these at Target for 30% off since it’s post Christmas. If you can’t find these still in stores then you should do a bit of googling for them. One place I found them was on The Candyland Store. I certainly hope they bring them back next year!

Cinnamon M&M Oatmeal Cookies

*makes approximately 3 dozen*

Ingredients

2 sticks of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of sugar
2/3 cup of light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/4 cups quick cooking oats
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 9.9 oz of bag of cinnamon M&M’s

Process

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets.
In a large mixing owl or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together.
Add the eggs and beat until incorporated. Scrape the sides of the bowl down to evenly mix together.
Add the salt, baking soda, flour, and cinnamon into the mixture and beat until fully incorporated.
Gently mix in the oatmeal, milk, and vanilla extract. Again, scrape down the sides to ensure all the mixture is coming together evenly.
By hand, mix in the M&M’s into the cookie dough.
Using 2 spoons, scoop out heaping tablespoons onto the baking sheet. Do not crowd the cookies together.
Bake for 11-13 minutes, depending on the size of the cookie, or until the cookie is set up in the center. Let cookie sit on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes prior to removing to fully cool.