M&M Cookies

I would like to be the type of person who has such a well-stocked pantry that I could, on a whim, decide to whip up any recipe desired. Nope, not me. I'm much more the kind of cook who looks up a recipe (or steals one from a friend), goes out and buys the necessary ingredients, and then cooks up something good to eat...hopefully!

Yesterday, at a very absurdly late hour of the night, Brian decided we should try making cookies. This comes on the heels of a rather strange development over the past couple of days. My consumer but not creator of food has suddenly taken to cooking and baking. I liken it to the time period when Tim got hooked on sports. Both boys went from complete disinterest and/or unawareness of a new passion to being overcome with a newfound love for sports in Tim's case and cooking in Brian's.

Brian debated between two recipes last night - Michelle Obama's "Mama Kaye's White and Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies" or Ann Romney's "M&M Cookies". Ann won out, simply because Brian was a bit concerned about the Obama recipe needing two whole sticks of butter. The Romney version had half that amount which made Brian feel downright virtuous about choosing the "healthy" cookie.

Surprisingly, I could pull up every one of the ingredients necessary, though I was a bit short on the oatmeal, especially after spilling a big portion on the floor and then having to frantically sweep it up before our 11 pound dog ate every morsel and exploded.

The cookies remind me of ranger cookies I ate as a child. They also kind of remind me of those Pinterest recipes that take one cookie and throw in every ingredient in the kitchen, presumably to make sure everyone is happy with some aspect of the finished product. Either that or no one is.

The peanut butter means Martin will not eat these cookies but we'll take them to a friend's house tonight for our Fourth of July fireworks viewing and I'm sure a few will be eaten there.

M&M's Cookies

Ann Romney (from Family Circle magazine)

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/2 cups crunchy peanut butter

1 tablespoon light corn syrup

3 eggs

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

2 teaspoons baking soda

6 oz. chocolate chips

2/3 cups M&M candies

1. Heat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, cream sugars, butter, peanut butter and corn syrup on high speed until well combined. Beat in eggs, 1 at a time. Beat in vanilla extract.

2. In a separate bowl, mix together oats and baking soda. Stir into peanut butter mixture until combined. Mix in chocolate chips and M&M's.

3. Using a standard size ice-cream scoop, drop dough onto baking sheets (about 9 per sheet). Bake 325 for 18 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool two minutes then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.