Mocha Swirl M&M; Cookies
Well, thank you Blizzard of 2013 for dumping over two feet of snow in my yard. And my hubby thanks you for all the work you have given him. As if that wasn’t enough, the day of the blizzard our oil furnace decided to stop working. Blizzard and no heat, yay bonus! Oh and the best part is our street was not plowed. The only way out was the path my husband had snow-blown on the sidewalk, leading to the main street that was plowed. Thank goodness we are the first house on the block. So I packed my bags, layered up the kids and myself in our snowsuits, and trekked up the hill to meet my brother in his truck. He drove us to my mom’s house, where I had to wait in the truck with two impatient kids while my father and two of my brother’s finished snow-blowing my parent’s very long driveway.
My husband had stayed behind to try to fix the furnace, but wasn’t able to get it completely working till the following day. But he was able to come enjoy a sleepover at my parent’s house with the rest of us. At least we had a warm place to stay. We were able to go home Sunday, but didn’t venture out very far. Most streets are still not plowed, those that are have only one car width open. Our neighbors got desperate to get out and everyone with a snow blower was in the street trying to clear a path out of the neighborhood.
My daughter was out of school on Friday, today and now tomorrow also because the school parking lots were not cleared. No one knows where to put all this snow. And today we had freezing rain on top of it. Sorry for the rant, but I have been stuck in this house for too long. Hopefully, it will be safe to go back to work tomorrow. If not, I may have to bake again. We only have four more of these cookies left.
Wanna make some of your own? Here are the ingredients. Not too complicated. If you can’t find the Jif Mocha Cappuccino spread, you can always substitute with Nutella.
You can go the easy route and just make regular cookies. Or you can fancy them up a bit. I found a Wilton heart shaped whoopie pie pan on clearance at Target and used it to make some heart shaped cookie.
I used the same amount of dough as the other cookies, except I flatten it out into the heart shaped cavities.
You can leave them plain or decorate them with some frosting and sprinkles. I used some Betty Crocker Decorating Icing. It worked out well. You just can’t stack them, because the frosting doesn’t harden. But it sure is easy and quick to use.
Plain or decorated, they taste just as good. So make some for your sweetheart or treat yourself to some.
Mocha Swirl M&M Cookies
by The Sweet Chick
Prep Time: 15-20 minutes
Cook Time: 7 minutes
Keywords: bake dessert snack mocha cappuccino spread cookie American
Ingredients (36 cookies)
For the cookies
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup Jif Mocha Cappuccino spread
- 1 cup M&M’s
For the topping
- 1 can Betty Crocker Decorating Icing
- sprinkles
Instructions
For the cookies
Preheat oven to 375ºF
Blend together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
In a stand mixer, beat together butter and shortening until creamy.
Add sugar and vanilla and beat medium speed until well blended.
Beat in eggs, one at a time, mixing well in between.
Add flour mixture, and beat on low until all incorporated.
By hand, mix in the Mocha Cappuccino spread just until you get a marble effect.
Then mix in M&M’s by hand as not to break them.
Then drop by cookie scoop full into the heart cavities of you greased baking pan or on a greased baking sheet about 2 inches apart.
If using the heart shaped baking pan, flatten out the dough by hand so it evenly fills out the heart cavities.
Bake at 375ºF for 7 minutes, then remove from oven and wait 5 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Allow the cookies to cool completely before adding any toppings. (Or just eat one now, no one will notice.)
For the topping
Attached one of the enclosed nozzles to the Decorating Icing can. I used the star tip. Decorate as desired, then add sprinkles if you want.
Tomato Soup
Yesterday, I was working at Starbucks (Freelancers Central) when a lady standing by the doors tipped over into a drug-induced trance.
The baristas immediately called 9-1-1, but the woman sitting next to me, the one who’d seen the whole incident go down because she’d been standing outside making a phone call when it happened, just shook her head and informed me that the lady was ‘as high as a kite.’
Now that’s a feeling I can relate to. That world-weariness. After all, I had gone to school in the most psychedelic college town in the country (Berkeley), and lived in what is probably the most homeless-friendly big city in the WORLD (San Francisco). I’ve seen it all—so what if I’m only 26?—all the different variations of drug-induced catatonia and rants and everything in between.
This old man with white hair, he’s a regular who just hangs out in the cafe all day chatting with other regulars (except me, because I avoid eye contact with strangers, much in the style of Amelie Poulain), leapt up from his seat and raced outside, wanting to take charge of the situation. He reminded me of one of those alert guard dogs, the kind that’s been bred to inspect signs of disorder, and cleared aside the small crowd that had gathered around the woman to get a closer look.
He re-entered the cafe a few minutes later. “She’s on drugs,” he said disgustedly.
A few minutes later, the lady dizzily pushed herself up and teetered away. “She’s only on drugs,” Mr. Regular repeated, shaking his head.
This was when the firemen rushed onto the scene. They pulled up in their shiny truck with their sirens blaring, and parked gracefully into the empty space in front of the building that just happened to be big enough for one regular-sized fire truck.
“Did they need to bring so many men?” the woman beside me asked. Sure enough, five firemen stepped out, clad in their heavy protective gear. Men who meant business. Men who looked like they were ready to put out a fire.
“She doesn’t need firemen,” said Regular Man. “She needs to be slapped in the face and drenched with tomato soup!”
Tomato soup, now that’s an idea.
Did he mean what he said sadistically? Was he implying that the lady should be burned with a hot, acidic liquid as a sort of punishment? Or maybe he thought it would revivify her, the equivalent of pushing her into a molten pool. Or maybe he just wanted tomato soup for dinner and had made a Freudian slip.
Whatever the case, guessing does not change the fact: these are the kinds of moments that can inspire meals. I’m very easily persuaded, and I happen to really like tomato soup.
This recipe is one I’ve been making since my student days, so you can be sure that it’s low-maintenance. And it came in handy during my time in San Francisco, a city whose 365-days-per-year fog and gloom is enough to drive a person mad. You see, you need a soup as heartening as this to keep your spirits up, lest you succumb to drastic measures. Like quitting your job and chasing summer in the Southern Hemisphere. Well, that latter part was unintentional.
I don’t remember how I came upon this recipe anymore. I copied it long ago into a little pocket notebook that I have on me at all times—we all have one of these, I suspect—and have been faithfully following the same set of directions for a long time. I’m sure its source is not as obscure as I make it seem, but I prefer to keep it a mystery, for the sake of having a “family recipe” that I can pass down for generations. Or not. I don’t think that far ahead. (But it would be cool nonetheless.)
TOMATO SOUP
Serves 4
Ingredients:
- 1 28-ounce can of chopped tomatoes
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- salt & ground pepper to taste
- 2 stalks celery, diced
- 2 small carrots, diced
- 1 large yellow onion, diced
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 cup chopped basil
- 1/4 cup cream or milk, optional
Directions:
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Strain tomatoes, reserving the juices, and spread onto baking sheet. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with about 1 Tbsp olive oil. Roast until caramelized, about 15 minutes.
In a saucepan, heat the rest of the oil on medium-low heat. Add celery, carrots, onion, and garlic. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes. Add the roasted tomatoes, reserved juices, chicken broth, and bay leaves. Simmer until vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Add basil and cream if using. Puree with an immersion blender.