Hello Readers!

So Halloween has passed, yet you have a disturbing amount of Halloween candy in your midst. (I know in America, we would get loads of Trick-Or-Treaters at my childhood home in Wisconsin. My mother overstocked us in fear of running out.) Which meant having a big bowl full of miniature candies leftover at the end of the evening. And in the spirit of my first Halloween in London, I did splurge and order some miniatures to have in the house, even though we didn’t have Trick-Or-Treaters.

William here, commenting while editing. Mary-Kate, was it really essential to order five bags of miniature Reese’s Peanut Butter cups from Amazon for the two of us? I really don’t care to go up another suit size…

MK: William Cumberland, you will not go up another suit size with all the swimming you do! And I came up with a bloody brilliant way, as you would say, to use those peanut butter cups.

William: Bloody brilliant? I’m intrigued, darling. Go on.

MK: I actually chopped them up and put them into my favorite chocolate chip cookie dough recipe. You can use any candy you like, actually.

William: So if I fancied some cookies with SMARTIES in them, you could do that?

MK: Of course! But you’ll need to tell me what SMARTIES are first. Because I don’t think you are talking about the kind we have in America.

William:  No, those are Fizzers here. But you’ve really never had our SMARTIES?

MK: We don’t have those in America, William!

William: Now that is tragic. Because they’re brilliant. They are little chocolates coated in sugar. How can you have lived here since June and not had any yet?

MK: Maybe because my badass mogul fiancé has not given me any.

William (And I’m laughing): I shall rectify this situation immediately. Do go on with your post, though. I know your readers are waiting for your recipe.

MK (Now I am laughing!) Thank you my love. And without further delay, here’s my recipe for Candy Chocolate Chip Cookies.  I started with this basic recipe from Giada De Laurentiis and adapted it  (this is the link to the original.)

http://www.giadadelaurentiis.com/recipes/752/hazelnut-chocolate-chip-cookies

And after adding my own tweaks to it, came up with Candy Chocolate Chip Cookies. Enjoy!

MK’s Candy Chocolate Chip Cookies

*1 cup old fashioned oats

*2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

*1 teaspoon baking powder

*1 teaspoon baking soda

*1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

*1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

*1 cup firmly packed DARK MUSCOVADO sugar (This is a wonderful sugar for baking–very dark brown, strong molasses flavor–but dark brown sugar will work, too.)

*1 cup granulated sugar

*2 large eggs

*1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

*1 12 ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips

*1 cup chopped candy bars (or 1 cup SMARTIES, as William wants.)

Notes: This will make a thin kind of cookie that is crisp on the edges, chewy inside. Do check while baking as all ovens bake differently. They will be a little soft in the center when you take them out.

Preheat oven to 325F degrees.

Mix oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt in medium bowl and set aside.

Beat butter and both sugars together in an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture in parts and stir until just blended. Then stir in chocolate chips and candy by hand using a wooden spoon.

Drop 1 rounded tablespoon full of dough onto sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart. (I get about six on a baking sheet.) Bake for 15 minutes. Cool on baking sheet for five minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and cool completely.