the hungry mum

If in doubt, bake. That’s pretty much my mantra and it applies to all sorts of moods: feeling down? Bake. Stressed? Make some cupcakes. Happy? Turn on the oven and crack out the KitchenAid, coz we’re going to get our bake on.

I can’t remember what mood I was in when I baked these more-ish brown sugar and M&M cookies but I do recall the delicious scent that wafted through the kitchen as they were cooking. And I remember feeling so tempted that I immediately ate one as soon as they were out of the oven [note: hot bickies are hot].

Brown sugar, for those new to the whole caper, add a depthness of flavour that caster [white] sugar can’t. It also sounds much posher, dontcha think?

This is a mash-up of a couple of recipes from the Australian Women’s Weekly weighty tome Bake. Buy it – you’ll love it.

Gather:

200g butter, diced and at room temperature

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 ¾ cup plain flour

½ teaspoon bicarb soda

3/4 cup M&Ms

Let’s get to it:

Preheat oven to 170C and grease and line two baking trays with baking paper.

Beat butter, vanilla, sugar and egg in bowl of electric mixer until light and creamy.

Sift in flour and bicarb, stir until mixed then stir in M&Ms.

Roll tablespoons of dough into balls and place on trays about 3cm apart.

Bake 14-ish minutes/until golden, cool on trays.

This is Popcorn, my mini schnauzer, hoping she could sample one. #no

Tags: Australian Women's Weekly, bake, bickie, biscuit, brown sugar, cookie, easy, fast, from scratch, home-made, M&Ms, recipe