M&M Cookies

My 3 year old wanted to bake cookies. She asked for "white" cookies since white is her favorite color. Yeah, white. She's cool like that! Anyway, I came across this recipe for M&M cookies and there were two reasons why I decided to make these with her:

1. My daughter likes M&M's
2. I just so happen to have a large bag of M&M's in my kitchen cabinet

Get the recipe HERE

So to the kitchen we went with this recipe. I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome of these. They are small cookies, but remain soft even days later. The dough itself has a light flavor so the M&M's really give it that extra sweetness you might be craving. 

I later made these as plain chocolate chip cookies, leaving out the M&M's and they were also very good. I used mini semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of regular size. Since the cookie is small, I didn't want a large chip to distract from the actual dough.

Because of their size, you will get a lot of cookies from one batter...

... so go ahead and share!

Moist Chocolate Muffins

Get the recipe HERE

I was so in the mood for some chocolate chocolate chip muffins. I don't know why I decided on muffins and not cupcakes. Maybe I wanted a more dense flavor than what a cupcake could give me. Anyway, I came across this recipe at allrecipes.com. I had all the ingredients except for plain yogurt. I did, however have my choice of strawberry, peach, or blueberry. I opted to make these with strawberry yogurt.

Was I in my right mind by thinking these chocolate muffins would taste just as good by using a flavored yogurt? Strawberry, no less? It was worth a try and I was a little surprised by the outcome. They didn't taste half bad. I could definitely taste the strawberry, heck, I could smell the strawberry. My husband though, couldn't place the flavor until I said something to him and even then, he said it wasn't that noticeable.

These muffins are really good, but I do wish I had the plain yogurt. I guess because I know it's in there, the strawberry flavor sorta overpowers the chocolate. Well now I know for next time.

Pros:

1. These bake up nice a big.
2. Very filling and will please any chocolate craving.
3. Chocolate chips in every bite, how can you go wrong?
4. They keep getting better and better each day.

Cons:

1. Do not use anything other than plain yogurt. Unfortunately plain yogurt is not something most people keep on hand like all the other ingredients, so a trip to the market is needed.
2. They may be too big to eat all in one sitting, but you're going to want to try.

To Die For Blueberry Muffins

I had a bag of Fresh Frozen Blueberries for a couple of months now and haven't used them for anything. Fresh Frozen? Isn't that what Gordon Ramsey makes faces at when chef's say that on his T.V. show Kitchen Nightmares? Anyway, they are blueberries, just, well, frozen. No biggie. If they didn't come out tasting good in this recipe then I knew I would never buy them frozen again.

You can get the recipe HERE.

OK, so I tried this recipe from allrecipes.com. It got really great reviews so I decided, "what the heck!" My husband was in the mood for me to make blueberry pancakes, but I decided this would be a much better alternative. Boy was I right! As we were eating these, I told my husband that he was so lucky to have a wife who can bake and make him such yummy goodness. He agreed. Thanks, Mom, for handing down your baking skills to me!

Pros:

1. Very easy to make. About 10 minutes to prepare the batter.
2. The batter was thick and really easy to work with.
3. The recipe calls for fresh blueberries, but I used frozen. It didn't seem to make a difference.
4. These muffins melt in your mouth.
5. The cinnamon crumb topping really makes these muffins stand out.

Cons:

1. This recipe only makes 10 muffins, not a full dozen.
2. The cinnamon crumb topping recipe makes a lot. Too much to use it all so if you don't want to waste ingredients, double the muffin batter and make 20 muffins.
3. They are so yummy, they will not last and I will be forced (happily) to make these very often.

My takeaway on these muffins is follow the recipe and you can't go wrong. These are very moist, melt in your mouth, blueberry-lisious. If you are in the mood to bake blueberry muffins, bake these. You won't be disappointed! 

Baked & Reviewed: Chocolate Linzer Tart

OK, this one is for a friend who suggested I bake Linzer Tarts. I didn't have any raspberry or strawberry preserves in the house so I opted to make chocolate ones. I'm so glad I did. Holy moly goodness in my tummy!

I adapted a recipe from a few different linzer tart recipes I found on the web. They are firm enough to hold but when you bite into them, the cookie is soft. The chocolate is melt in your mouth tasty. I can't wait to eat another one!

Here's the recipe: