Mint M&M Brownie Cookies

Mint and Chocolate are a combination made in heaven.  With St. Patrick's Day right around the corner, I found my self wanting a quick and easy treat to celebrate the day.  These Mint M&M Brownie Cookies meet all the requirements, and taste YUMMY!

These taste just like a brownie, but in cookie form, and have a pop of mint that offer and unexpected pop of mint in your mouth.

Using a brownie mix, these cookies come together quickly, and are perfect for parties or just a fun after dinner treat.

I made these on the bigger side of my normal cookies, and rather then stirring in the M&Ms, I chose to place them on top of the dough before baking them.  This way, they look pretty, and you get a pop of mint in each bite!

Try these cookies soon, they have the classic brownie taste, with the classic brownie "crackle" top, crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside...with the wonderful minty chocolate flavor!

*a word of advice...DO NOT OVERBAKE THESE....bake for only 12-13 minutes then pull them from the over, letting them cool for 5 minutes on the cookie sheet before removing them to a cooling rack to cool completely*

Mint M&M Brownie Cookies

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Ingredients

• 1 (19.5 oz) Family Size Fudge Brownie Mix
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 oil
• 3 tablespoons oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 Package (8 oz) Mint M&Ms

Instructions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with silpat, parchment or spay with nonstick cookie spray. In a large mixing bowl combine brownie mix, flour, oil, water and eggs. Gently stir until all are combined, but do not over mix. Drop by rounded tablespoons (I used a large cookie scoop) on to baking sheet, leaving at least 2 inches between cookies. Carefully place M&M on top of unbaked cookies, I used 4-6 per cookie. Bake for 12-13 minutes, resist the urge to bake more! Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

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Dipped Reese's Oreos

My favorite candy is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups!  My favorite Reese's Peanut Butter Cups are the mini ones, the individually wrapped ones.  My favorite temperature to eat Reese's Peanut Butter Cups is COLD, right out of the fridge.

 I do have a small confession though, I HATE peanut butter.  Peanut butter sandwich..EWWW!  Peanut butter and crackers, I would rather starve!  I think it is a texture thing, because I love anything Peanut Butter flavored!

Have you seen the new Reese's Peanut Butter Cup Oreos?  I got to work one day last week and my sister, who is also my boss, placed a package on my desk.  Ya'll they are GOOD...BUT..I knew they could be better!

How?  By dipping them in chocolate of course. Everything is better dipped in chocolate, right?

Were they better?  OMG...YES!

I had to take them and give them to my dad, I could not stop

eating them.  Then, I wanted more, so I had to buy more to dip!

Was the second batch as good as the first?

Um...YEAH!

If you find these Oreo's in your store, get them

dip them...eat them...but be careful, they are

highly addicting!

What is your favorite candy?

Are you a fan of Peanut Butter Cups?

Almond Joys?

Do you enjoy desserts made with candy bars, or do 

you prefer to enjoy candy bars on their own?

Just as a reminder, Party in Your PJs is still open this week.

Come join the fun!

Party in Your PJ #7

This post might be linked up at the link parties found Here

Chocolate Cherry Crackle Cookies

I have a theory, if you add fruit to chocolate, it becomes healthy.  Period.  And, I also think that if you add
fruit to a cookie, it has negative calories. So, basically, if you eat a cookie with fruit in it, you are burning calories. Now, I want to stress that this is just MY THEORY, I have no scientific proof, I am not a nutritionist, so I really have no evidence for this theory, but it makes sense to me, so, my blog, my rules.  This cookie has no calories, and actually makes you burn calories by eating them.

I love chocolate paired with cherries. My mother in law loves chocolate and cherries, a Christmas can not go by with out us giving her a box of those chocolate covered cherries.  My dad, he is allergic to cherries, he breaks out in hives and gets all kinds of sick.  Do you know how many things have cherries in them?  Not fun at all. Now, here is a fun twist, my mother in law is not a fan of dark chocolate, but, my dad loves dark chocolate.

 I am a big fan of dark chocolate, the darker the better.  I love cherries, the tarter the better.I am also a big fan of dried fruit, the strong, concentrated flavor is like a little dance on my taste buds. I could eat dried cranberries all day long.  I know a lot of people like chocolate and raspberries paired together, but sadly, I am allergic to raspberries. I love these cookies, but unfortunately, neither my mother in law or dad can eat them, so I was forced to eat them all myself.  A bloggers life is hard ya'll.

 The chewiness of the dried cherries add a nice texture and chew to the cookies...so really...they are perfect for Valentine's Day.  Dark Chocolate, tartness, and sweet powdered sugar coating, these are sure to gain you some bonus love this year!

Chocolate Cherry Crackle Cookies

Printable Version

Ingredients

• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cups sugar
• 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, cooled to room temperature
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder, I use Hershey's Special Dark chocolate
• 3 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup dried cherries, chopped
• 3/4 cup powder sugar, for coating

Cooking Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar baking powder and salt, mix to combine, set
2. aside.
3. Scrape melted and cooled butter into a smaller bowl and add cocoa powder, stir until combined well and no lumps remain. Mix vanilla with eggs, then whisk into cocoa butter mixtures.
4. Add wet mixture to the flour mixture and mix thoroughly, by hand with a rubber spatula. The mixture might seem a little dry, but keep mixing, pressing and folding the mixture until it is thoroughly combined, and forms a thick, brownie like mixture. Fold in cherries. Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
5. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare cookies sheets either using a Silpat, Parchment Paper, or lightly spay with non-stick spray.
6. Pour powdered sugar in a shallow, and stir to remove any lumps. Using a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, form dough into balls and then roll in powdered sugar until completely coated. Place on cookie sheets, 1-1/2 to 2 inches apart.
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes. The cookies will spread, puff and crack on the tops. The longer you bake them the crisper they will be. Let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before using a spatula to move to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in a covered container.

I hope you will give these cookies a try, and let me know what you think.  Are you a fan of dark chocolate, or would you rather have a sweet milk chocolate.  Dried fruit, fan or not?  Give me some feedback, chocolate and fruit, yes or no?

This post might be linked up at the link parties found Here

Chewy Pumpkin Pie Pudding Toffee Cookies

 

Thanksgiving is one week away!

 

Are you ready?

 

I am!

 

I love Thanksgiving!

 

I love food in general, but Pumpkin Pie is my

favorite EVER!

 

Hold the Whipped Cream please.

 

Odd, maybe, but I want to tastes and savor

every bit of pumpkin and spice, and the

whipped cream just gets I the way.

 

Nothing gets between me and my

pumpkin pie!

 

These cookies are perfect if you are a

pumpkin pie lover.

 

No fork needed!

 

 

 

 

 

They are soft and chewy, and have a

great pumpkin flavor.

 

They get better as they sit.

 

When I first made them, I fell in love.

 

Then next day, we got engaged.

 

Then, on day three...we got married had 2.5 kids and a white picket fence.

 

So....I have to make more!

 

 

 

 

When I found the Pumpkin Pie Pudding in the stores, I

knew I wanted to make cookies, and I went

straight to my best friends Blog and found

this amazing recipe for

Simply the Softest Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever,

make them...they are wonderful!

 

But, I changed it up a little, as just like whipped cream,

I am not a huge fan of chocolate and pumpkin.

 

So I added chocolate toffee chips, they add a little sweetness, creaminess and crunch.

 

Perfection!

 

 

Chewy Pumpkin Pie Pudding Cookies

(adapted from Simply Sweets by Honeybee)

Printable version

 

2 3/4 c flour
1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt
 1 cup unsalted butter {softened} *
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla {I used Mexican vanilla}
1 small {3.4 oz} pkg instant pumpkin pie pudding mix
2 eggs
1 {8 oz} pkg Milk Chocolate Toffee bits
 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine the flour,baking soda and salt. In the bowl of your mixer add the butter, sugars, vanilla and pudding mix and beat until smooth and creamy. Then beat in the eggs until combined well. Add the flour mixture. Stir in the toffee bits. Drop about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes.

Yield approximately 3 dozen cookies depending on how big you scoop them. I used a #30 scoop {2 tbsp} and got 34 cookies.

 

 

This post might be linked up at the link parties found Here





Inspirational Message Crosses by Simply Sweets by Honeybee {Guest Post}

You are in for a very special treat today at The Cookie Puzzle!

Today..I have a VERY special person guest posting here!

I am sooo excited!

Wanna know who it is?

It is Melissa of Simply Sweets by Honeybee!

I first fell in love with Melissa's cookies when I saw

These cookies, in March of last year.

I was totally smitten with them...and I totally started stalking all

her cookies and blog posts.

THEN...

I met her...well, not met met her...like online met her!

And...she is just the sweetest person.

She is so talented..and caring.

In just a few short months...she has become my PERSON!

Do you have a person?

If not, I suggest you get one.

Have you noticed that my pictures have gotten better?

That is because of Melissa!

More frequent blog posts...yep  Melissa!

We "talk" eleventy million times a day..she grounds me, uplifts me, makes me laugh

and just "gets" me.

Everyone needs a Melissa in their life...if you don't have one..well go get one

but get your own...this one is mine.!

So...enough Kim babble..

lets get to the real reason for this post

Take it away Melissa!

*********************************************************************************

Thanks Kim for inviting me over to your blog. I'm happy to be here giving this whole guest blogging thing a whirl. I can't say enough nice things about Kim. She is so genuine, caring and kind. She is my person too. We do chat eleventy million times a day and have become great friends. We bounce ideas off each other for cookies and blog posts. We talk about personal stuff and TV shows. We have discovered that we have so much in common and we have similar beliefs. I don't know if we've decided yet but I think she's Meredith and I'm Christina (that's a Grey's Anatomy reference if you don't watch the show). I have met some amazing people all because of cookies. That's why I'm here today to talk about cookies so let's get into it.

One thing I love about Kim is that she loves things simple. So in honor of her motto simple is better, I'm showing you how to make these inspirational message crosses. They are made using a base coat of royal icing and food color writers. That's it. You don't have to have amazing decorating skills. All you need is your imagination to turn cookies like this into whatever you want them to be.

They don't have to be perfect because you are basically doodling on the cookie and they don't have to be religious at all. I made some square cookies too and one was made especially for my bestie Kim.

This technique would be great for Valentine's Day, with words of love on them, or for any other holiday or special event. 

If you don't follow my blog then you might know that I frequent Hobby Lobby a lot. I find a lot of my inspiration there and these inspirational crosses were no exception. All it took was me seeing this cross in the store and it instantly became a cookie in my mind. I collect crosses and this gem came home with me.

I put together a video tutorial for you to see how simple a cookie like this is to make. I hope you will give this technique a try.

I have plenty of other tutorials on my blog and would love for you to come on over and visit. 

Thanks for letting me take over your blog today Kim. It was fun. Hugs!

*******************************************************************************

Thank you so much Melissa!  Once again your cookies blow me away!

So, what do you think, should I have more guest bloggers on my blog?

Did you enjoy it?

Let me know what you think...I love to here some feedback.

If it is something that you enjoy, I might invite other guest bloggers.

Until next time......

Hugs

Kim

Toodles 2012...you have been great!

 

 

So....2012 is coming to an end..and 2013 is upon us.

 

Is it just me, or did this year just

fly by?

 

 

I mean really....it seemed like just yesterday,

I was celebrating Valentines day?

 

I think time moves faster as you get older.

 

I remember when I was younger,

 

Summer Vacation lasted FOREVER,

now...you blink and it is over!

 

And the period of time between Thanksgiving and Christmas,

 

oh my...they say it was 4 weeks this year,

personally...I think it was 4 days...but whatever!

 

 

I baked and decorated TONS of cookies this year.

 

Not a lot compared to some of the great cookiers out there,

 

but all of these cookies were done while

working a full time job.

 

And...I only have 3 hours each night to work on cookies,

because my lovely son, Collin, closes the kitchen and cookie room at

9 pm...SHARP from Sunday-Thursday.

 

He is STRICT

Friday and Saturday I can work late into the night, or till early in the morning,

but other then those two night..

 

HE SHUTS ME DOWN!

 

No matter how many cookies I have to do, or

how far behind I am.....9 PM....no exceptions!

 

 

So....no matter how the volume of cookies coming out of my

kitchen compares to others,

 

I am pretty proud of what I can do in a limited

amount of time!

 

So...I put together some collages of some of my

favorite cookies of 2012 for you

 

 

Lets take a look, shall we?

 

 



 

So, there you have it

 

my 2012 in cookies!

 

I would like to be able to tell you that great and wonderful

things are in store next year for The Cookie Puzzle,

but that would be a lie.

 

I plan on keep doing what I am doing....

 

simple cookies

 

simple blog

 

simple person

 

it does not take much to make this gal happy!

 

Hopefully though

 

I will post more

 

push my self more

 

maybe do a tutorial here and there

 

but mostly...I just want to be true to me

 

and hopefully that is good enough to make

a few people happy,

that would make me happy!

 

Wishing you a Happy and Blessed

2013

 

 

until next time,

 

Hugs

Kim