Doomthings™

Easter is coming and in terms of food, for me that means one thing:  Cadbury Mini-Eggs.

Mini-eggs are my absolute favorite candy, and I never get sick of them because they only show up twice a year (Christmas).  I’m not a fan of the dark-chocolate variety, so I’m glad I could only find the milk chocolate variety.  [Side note: I love dark chocolate, but not in coated candy form of any kind… weird.]  I really wanted to use these in a way that wasn’t stuffing my face with them and regretting it later, so I turned to my mom’s trusty box of cookie recipes.

One of my very favorite holiday cookies from my mom is her Chewy Chocolate Cookies.  They are a delicious pecan-meal chocolate cookie that she only makes at Christmastime (another food I haven’t gotten sick of yet), and I found myself craving them.  Suddenly a “new” cookie was born.  Behold:

Ingredients (*adapted from my mom’s original recipe):

•  1 ¼ cups butter*
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups bread flour*
• ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt*
• 1 cup finely chopped nuts (optional)  (i.e. pecan meal)
• handfuls of mini-egg candy

Directions:

1. Cream butter/margarine and sugar in a large mixer bowl.
2. Add eggs and vanilla and blend well.
3. Combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt; blend into creamed mixture.
4. Stir in nuts, if desired.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8 to 9 minutes.  (do not overbake, cookies will be soft.  They will puff during baking, flatten upon cooling.)
7. Cool on cookie sheet until set, about 1 minute; remove to wire rack to cool completely.

I love these nostalgic cookies already, so I was really excited to try them with chocolate candy tucked inside.  At first, I didn’t know how they might do because mini-eggs are so much bigger than most in-cookie candies (i.e. M&M’s or chocolate chips).  When I mixed in the candies, I ended up using the mixer and not a spoon, which actually broke up most of the pieces.  This worked out well and created a fun effect in the cookies.

I was right to be excited.  Warm from the oven, the chocolate from the mini-eggs was a perfect amount of melty and went perfectly with the cookie.  The colors from the candy make them look like they’re ready for spring (and to be devoured).  I really want my mom to try this take on her delicious Christmas cookie turned Easter cookie.  Fortunately, I’ll get to see her this weekend.  Let’s hope they last until then!