Double Chocolate M&M Cookies and a BIG BIG DAY!

WOoooo!!! Today is my 2 year blogoversary!

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

I can not even believe that two years ago, I was just posting my first post on Beautiful Disasters. I still have fun looking back on some of my first posts and looking at the photos

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

The other day I had to go through a lot of old posts and get rid of all the pictures and just keep one for every post because I was running low on memory on the blog and needed to clear up some space..YIKES some of those pictures had reaaaaallly extended their stay on the blog a wee bit too long.

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

Those were the days before I snagged my mom’s fancy, nice Nikon D80 camera (thanks mom!). Slowly, I have become more used to the camera and have picked up on what works and what doesn’t work. The most important thing I have picked up on for good pictures is to take picture with NATURAL lighting when possible. For me, this has meant that I bring my food outside and set up my photo shoot out there. There certainly are days that I get lazy or it is too dark or there is just some down-right icky weather out where I just say screw it, I’m gonna take pitiful pictures in my cozy house.

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

I have researched ways to take high-quality photos inside, but I have found it requires a bit of set-up and more supplies than good ‘ol Mr. Sun. So whenever I can, I try to take pictures outside.

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

But I digress from all this photography talk…on to these cookies!

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

I was having a little trouble deciding what to make for my 2 year blogoversary (granted, I realized my blogoversary was happening 3 days before today). So I turned to my mom for some suggestions. I was thinking something along the lines of a cake or cupcake, maybe something with funfetti to bring out the whole “blogoversary-birthday” theme. But, my mom came up with an idea that I liked even better. Soft chocolate M&M cookies!

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

One of the keys to making these cookies fabulous is to make them fairly generous sized cookies. I’m talking 2 Tablespoons to 1/4 cup size of dough here. Be sure that you flatten them slightly, so they bake up nicely. And then, of course, you can’t forget the M&Ms! These cookies sure are a winner and I’m glad that I can share them with you all for my 2 year anniversary of Beautiful Disasters.

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies

(Makes 1 dozen large cookies)

1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter, room temp

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 cup plus 2 Tablespoons cocoa powder (I used dark cocoa powder)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

pinch of salt

about 1/4 cup M&Ms

  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together flours, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  3. Using a mixer, cream together butter and sugars. Mix in egg and vanilla extract. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and mix until thoroughly combined, be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.
  4. Drop the cookie dough by large spoonfuls (between 2 Tablespoons and 1/4 cup of dough) onto the ungreased cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven for 8-10 minutes or until edges of cookies are set and slightly firm to touch. Let cool and sit on cookie sheet for 2 minutes and then transfer cookies to wire rack to finish cooling for 5-10 minutes. Store in sealed container.

Double Chocolate M&M Cookies | Beautiful Disasters

Random Fact of the Day: The opposite sides of a dice cube always add up to seven!

Candy Bark-SRC Post!

Woohooo! Another fun month for SRC!! This month I was assigned the blog, I Am a Honeybee, written by a 27-year old New Englander who is crafty, sarcastic, a shoe hoarder, an iphone addict, a home cook, and who loves to keep track of it all in scrapbooks! Woohoo for iPhones! I’m the same way. I love having foodgawker and pinterest on the tips of my fingers ;) .

There were a few recipes on her blog that looked pretty intriguing to me, I was SO SO SO close to making her healthy pumpkin pie milkshake. It sounds AH-MAZING! Plus any dessert that has the word “healthy” in it makes me feel accomplished as I chow down. Unfortunately I didn’t have any vanilla ice cream or frozen yogurt in the house. So then I turned to this recipe.

Bark was a perfect choice for several reasons. One, it is chocolate. Two, we have a TON of candy in our house. Three, it is chocolate-wait, I already said that. Four, no oven needed to be turned on. It was hotter than heck that day and I was ready to melt! So, candy bark it was.

Bark is something that is super adaptable to anything you have in your house. For hers, she used Butterfingers, Kit Kats, Baby Ruth, Whoppers, and Milk Duds. Those would be an awesome combination, however, I didn’t have all those.

So for mine, I used the candies that I do have that I thought would taste good together. I ended up using 1 fun size bag of m&m’s, 1 fun size bag of peanut m&m’s, 1 fun size bag of peanut butter m&m’s, 5 mini Reese’s peanut butter eggs (equal to about 2 regular peanut butter cups), 2 kit kats, 2 mini milky ways, 2 mini 3 Musketeers, 2 mini Snickers, and 2 mini dark chocolate Milky Ways. Whew! Lots of different stuff loaded in there!!

I totally underestimated this recipe. It is SO, SO, SOO simple. Like you literally hardly need to do anything, then you end up with something magical. I am addicted to the stuff. I almost want to freeze the container to keep myself away from going back to the fridge to grab “one more piece”. But then I’d probably crack half my teeth trying to eat frozen chocolate.

Okay, so now that you have looked at my post from I Am A Honeybee, make sure you take a peek at everybody else’s Secret Recipe Club posts down below :)

Candy Bark

(from I Am A Honeybee)

2 3/4 cups chocolate chips

about 15 small candy bars, chopped

1/4 cup white chocolate

  1. Chop candy into small pieces.
  2. Line a baking sheet (one with rimmed sides works best) with foil or parchment paper.
  3. Melt chocolate chips. Pour and spread melted chocolate on lined baking sheet. Sprinkle chopped candy evenly over melted chocolate and lightly press candy into chocolate.
  4. Melt white chocolate and drizzle over melted candy bark. Place bark into fridge to set for at least a half hour.
  5. Once bark is set, break into pieces and store in fridge in an airtight container.



Random Fact of the Day: If in 1957 you invested $1000 with Warren Buffett, you would have gained $30 million today.

Fabulous M&M Cookies

I love the word fabulous! Thing is…I never actually say it myself

But I love it when other people say it to me. For example: Your outfit looks so fabulous today! Your cookies taste just fabulous! Or just simply, “You’re fabulous!”

Anyways, these cookies are fabulous. I went into these cookies with mediocre expectations.

I’ve already got an awesome M&M Cookies recipe, why try another?

Because people, Jessica is an evil genius!! Seriously, how could I doubt one of her recipes?

Giant Puffy-ish M&M Cookies

(adapted from How Sweet It Is)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup plus 2 T. whole wheat flour

1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of  butter, melted and cooled (I used 11 tablespoon..I don’t know why)

pinch of salt

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup m&m’s (or something else that you love)

  1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
  2.  Mix the butter and sugars until they are combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir until mixed. Gradually add flour, baking soda, and salt, and mix until a dough forms – it will look crumbly at first, but it will come together. Fold in the m&m’s.
  3. Scoop dough with cookie scoop and place on cookie sheet with the flat side down, scoop another scoop of cookie dough and have the round side facing the other scoop’s round side. It should look like the picture I have above.
  4. Bake for 12-15 minutes (large cookies) or 8-12 minutes (small cookies) or until the edges are slightly brown. The centers should be soft and puffy. Do not over bake. Let cool completely on wire rack.Random Fact of the Day: The first Fords had engines made by Dodge.

WAIT! If you wanna keep your legs nice and toasty this Fall, enter for this giveaway!! (They’re fabulous, ;) )

Mademoiselle Mermaid Handmade Giveaway

mmm m&m’s!

Some days you just want something classic. Something that reminds you of something your mom would bake for you as a kid, that gives you that nice, warm, cozy feeling inside. I can’t help you get all that motherly-love taste inside your cookies but I can bring you pretty darm close to those tasty memories.

What is one of the most classic pieces of candy? Why, an M&M of course. And what is the most classic cookie? Obviously, a chocolate chip cookie. It is almost destiny for the two to come together and join hands.

 

These cookies are the ultimate no-fail cookies. Even my dad could probably make them. And that is saying something, considering he cooks scrambled eggs in the microwave and eats bratwurst on regular loaf bread when there are no buns left. Whatta guy…

M&M Cookies

(adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 c. butter

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla extract

2 1/2 c. flour

1 t. baking soda

1 t. salt

2 c. M&Ms

  1. Mix sugar, eggs, butter and vanilla thoroughly. Add flour, salt, and baking soda to creamed mixture. Blend well. Add about 3/4 or 1 cup of M&M candies.
  2. Drop dough onto cookie sheet. Slightly push a few candies on top of each dough ball with remaining candies.
  3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 9-11 minutes, to how you like it.

What’s your favorite kind of candy?

Apparently technology hates me and I cant get the comments to work on this post, I still love you technology anyways :) …am i talking to technology. I think i need a cookie