Bring Your Cookie to Work Day

Hello, long lost friends. I apologize for my lengthy absence-- unfortunately, going to school full time, working a job 20 hours a week, and doing other miscellaneous jobs is not so conducive to baking very much. However, school is now over, so I only have to go to all of the jobs, which means I'm back in the kitchen!

In honor of my newfound free time (kind of) and of the lovely people who work with me, I decided that I would bring them some cookies in honor of my first full week at work-- peanut butter m&m cookies, to be exact. Who doesn't love a good cookie, after all, and who doesn't love peanut butter m&ms? I was a little nervous, though, having never baked for this group before, that they would not like my offering.

As it turned out, I needn't have worried. The cookies were demolished, and despite some complaints about ruining people's diets because they were so good (I work with a lot of women), they were received and consumed with much enthusiasm.

I was a little concerned about the cookie to candy ratio because peanut butter m&ms are so much bigger than the regular ones, but these worked out great. I just made the cookies a little bigger than usual and watched them carefully in the oven. Delicious!

Peanut Butter M&M Cookies:
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 medium (11.4 oz) bag of peanut butter M&Ms

Preheat the oven to 375.

Blend the butter, vanilla, both types of sugar, and eggs until smooth. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Once the ingredients have formed a smooth dough, add the M&Ms. Mix by hand until the candy is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

On an ungreased cookie sheet, lay out tablespoon-sized balls. Make sure to leave space in between, as the cookies will grow.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.