M&M Cookies for Valentine's Day

I love cookies. I love eating them, baking them, and sharing them. Finding new cookie recipes to try is one of my favorite things to do. I don't think I've ever met a cookie I didn't like. These M&M cookies are currently my favorite. There's just something magical that happens to M&M's when you bake them. That crunch! I can't get enough. 

I make M&M cookies all the time for holidays. I love the different colors that you can find. For Christmas, we make red and green to add to our cookie platter. For Valentine's Day, I adore the red, white, and pink M&M's. I also love the colors for Halloween, Easter...it makes me happy to have these in the cookie jar. 

My kids love them too. 

Some tips to help- stir in the M&M's by hand after you've made the dough. Then lightly press on a few before you bake them, making sure not to flatten the dough balls. Also, your butter should be soft- I take mine out of the fridge about 30 minutes before I plan to make them.

Source: Celebrating Sweets 

Ingredients 

• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1 egg
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups M&M's and chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. 

Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. Set aside. 

Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together for 2 minutes. The mixture should be light and fluffy. Then add the egg and vanilla extract, mixing again until incorporated. Grab the bowl with the flour mixture and gently pour it in on low speed. I like to do this in batches so that I don't have a flour cloud over my head. 

Once mixed, stir in the M&M's and chocolate chips by hand, with a large spoon or spatula. I like to add about a cup of the chocolate chips & M&M's so that the rest can be pressed on top of the dough balls before baking. 

Scoop the dough into balls. You can use a cookie scoop, or a regular tablespoon. Whatever you have. Depending on how big you want your cookies- I do about a tablespoon, which is why my cookies weren't so big, but you can do 2 tablespoons if you want larger cookies. Keep in mind that cookies do spread while baking so make sure you have space between them. 

Bake for about 8-11 minutes (if you made your dough balls bigger, you might need more time). The centers should be slightly underdone, but if you want a crispy cookie, bake for another minute or two. 

Once out of the oven, allow the cookies to cool so that they can firm up.

Snow Day!

Last week we had our first official Snow Day in North Carolina. I waited impatiently for the snow to fall ALL DAY and it didn't arrive until late in the evening. I honestly did miss snow and I was excited to see it again and of course, excited for Miss A to see it! She was barely sitting up last winter, we weren't sleeping, and I was in no mood to go out and play in the snow with a five month old. This time around it was so much fun!

Luckily my husband didn't have to go to work at the crack of dawn and was home that morning to experience the snow through his daughter's eyes. We went out back first and as you can see by the look on her face she was very confused! 

Here I am, at 8:30 in the morning, with no makeup on, in a sweater and pants thrown over my pajamas. :)

She liked being out in the front yard better and started to explore. She walked down the driveway and into the street, like she always does when we're out front. 

She was amazed by her footprints in the snow and did NOT want to go back inside. There were many tears. I was sad to pull her away, but it was really cold! I thought we would go back out to play in the afternoon when it was a little "warmer" but she suddenly developed a slight fever (?) and I didn't think going back outside would be a good idea.

We had plenty to do indoors though! Since I knew the storm was coming I went to Target before it, searching for something new/crafty/exciting to do at home. I found the cutest Valentine cookie decorating kit, for $3.99 that I couldn't pass up.

It came with three colored icings, three different kinds of sprinkles, and four heart shaped sugar cookies. We were busy for quite a while!

I tried showing her how to decorate her cookie with icing, but of course, all she wanted to do was eat the icing.

Can you guess who decorated this one? ;)

Cookie decorating on a snow day isn't complete without some hot chocolate. I made it lukewarm for Miss A and I to share. It was her first time trying hot chocolate (or any kind of chocolate milk) and she loved it. 

Oh yes, it was straight to the bath after this. Her face, hands, and neck were SO sticky. Not to mention she picked up the mug and tried to drink it, spilling milk all down her shirt!

Messy messy!

All the snow is gone, it melted the very next day. See, now this is a winter I can handle. A little bit of fun, snow, and snow day activities, perfect! I couldn't ask for anything more...except..Spring!? What can I say, I'm a warm weather girl at heart.