M & Ms | Just About Baked

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Monster Cookies

December 22, 2014
Mir
C is for COOKIE!
16 Comments

Folks, I just threw a heckuva party.

Adam Sandler wasn’t kidding when he called Chanukah “eight crazy nights.” And last night, I had all of our relatives (and believe me, there are a ton of them) over for our annual family party. And it was so much fun. But I think I’m going to be recovering for at least a week.

For one thing, children were literally pouring out of every floorboard in my house. When did I get so lucky? I have my own brood, and then some super-delightful nieces and nephews, cousins…they’re everywhere. And all but one range in age between 7 and 2. At one point, I actually saw a latke plastered to the ceiling. Kids in college don’t get this wild.

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M & M Cookies

December 8, 2014
Mir
C is for COOKIE!
20 Comments

Some things kind of sneak up on you. Like gray hairs. Boy, did I get upset the first time I saw an entirely white hair sticking up out of my head. And you know, those babies don’t have the same texture as your real hair. They’re wiry and stand tall, holding a giant sign that shrieks, “Look at me! Time is winning! Gravity is losing! You’re older!”

Speaking of older, my kids getting older is also one of those parts of my life that is creeping up on me against my will. The other day I was shocked to look at my tall, lanky son. He was the size of a loaf of bread, like, yesterday. He weighed 6 pounds! What happened? His growing resemblance to my husband is kind of startling.

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Peanutty Magic Bars

November 9, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies
6 Comments

I have to love my office the day after Halloween. Teacher after teacher troops in and I watch as each one sighs and drops a bag of leftover candy on the table for people to share. “Gotta get rid of this,” they say, eyeing the candy with great misgiving, “or I’ll eat it all.”

I scoop up the Reese’s and Snickers and Twix and M & Ms, shove them in my desk drawer, and have snacks for the next few weeks. Believe me, I have no qualms about having candy around. It doesn’t bother me at all. Candy was meant to be eaten!

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Candy Overload Blondies

October 12, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies
6 Comments

I like to keep my chocolate in the freezer. Have you tried it? If not, I highly recommend. The whole consistency and texture and flavor just changes in this magical way when chocolate is frozen.

What eventually happens is that the front drawer in my freezer is full of goodies: M & Ms, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips. If it’s got chocolate, it’s in there! So every now and then I have to get rid of whatever is in there and then replenish gradually. It’s the circle of life.

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Autumn Candy Pizza

October 10, 2014
Mir
C is for COOKIE!
10 Comments

I don’t eat much pizza. Not for want of loving it, believe me. I love pizza. Honestly, I know very few people who don’t. Like my kids. They eat a lot of pizza.

But pizza leads to heartburn, and tummyaches, and vast regret. I guess that means I have to pretend to be a grown-up and not eat much of it. Well, the traditional kind. Nobody ever said anything about cookie pizza!

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Candy Corn Wownies

October 6, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies
25 Comments

I’m all about food hybrids, y’all. It’s even more fun when they have cool names.

The Cronut? Sign me up. I just wish I’d thought of it first. But beware, because the Bronut (i.e., a brownie/donut mash-up) is totally mine for the taking. What can I say? It’s a dream, a glint in my eye, but it’ll happen. And the Pake? I didn’t make that one up, but who can object to pie and cake together? Or the Pookie? I love cookie and pie in the same place!

It is with this spirit of cooperation and togetherness that I bring you…drumroll, please…

The Wownie!

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Pumpkin Spice Magic Bars

September 29, 2014
Mir
Bars n' Brownies
24 Comments

Do any of you feel like a trip to the grocery store is a vacation? Especially if you have kids and they’re not there?

You can wander up and down aisles, picking things up at leisure and putting them down. You can try free samples. You can hunt for new products. And if there’s a Starbucks in the store, you can do it all with a lovely hot cup of beverage.

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Kitchen Sink Ice Cream (No Machine Needed!)

Many of my friends in life have come and gone, and I guess it’s sad, but that’s the way the overbaked cookie crumbles. The very best ones stick around, though, and I express my appreciation the best way I know how: rampant consumerism.

Do I buy most of my friends? Heavens, no. But two of my pals, good old Ben and Jerry, like it when I spend my hard-earned cash on them. So I try to be a loyal buddy.

Over the years, Ben and Jerry’s flavors have gone through quite a rotation. They’ve taken away some of my absolute favorites, and I’ve been very vocal on their website about bringing those flavors back. But thank the powers above that my very favorite is still in existence. It’s known as Everything But The…

No, I didn’t cut off in the middle of the sentence. That’s the flavor. But we all know that expression ends with the words “kitchen sink.” In baking, that’s a term we use to describe the scientific process by which we take all the leftover crap in the house, dump it into a batch of whatever, and call it a night.

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Mega M & M Peanut Butter Bars

Camp started this week, and every morning is a blur. My husband and I take turns working out, and whoever is not exercising or getting dressed is getting the kids ready. Lunchboxes are packed, bathing suits put on, sunscreen slathered into every crevice, and then there is so much more to remember. Is it pizza day? Did we sign a permission slip to let our son go on a boat? For our daughter to ride a pony?

Now that I’m on a teaching hiatus, I’m actually less efficient. Routines make me work harder and better. Not that I’m complaining. Summer is kind of cool. But when I’m running around in the morning like a nutter butter, I need to have some quick baking projects. This is one of them.

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Monster Cookie Dough Fudge Bars (Gluten-Free!)

My husband is very romantic, but not in the way people might consider stereotypical. He’s never stood outside my window with a giant boom box blasting “In Your Eyes,” nor has he borrowed his friend’s dad’s Ferrari to impress me as we cruise around downtown Chicago on a school day…

Wait. I’m confusing real life with John Hughes movies again.

Yesterday, my husband installed a much better spam filter for my site. You know, so I can stop getting comments like, “There are many women body types and depending on your shape, you will definitely get the best design that fits you perfectly.”

Say what? And that’s one that makes more sense than most. Most are not in English.

So yeah, my husband has filtered my Spam. And in return, I’ve made him another gluten-free treat. A really fun one, if I do say so myself!