A delicious combination of milk chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, peanuts, M&M’S®, milk chocolate candies & raisins
"When the going gets tough, the tough make cookies" –Erma Bombeck
We recently had some visitors coming over to the house and I wanted to make a dessert for everyone to enjoy. I decided on brownies but I ran out of Coco (shame) so I decided to make Chocolate Chip Cookies instead.
To my surprise and disappointment, I was also out of chocolate chips! I had already made the cookie dough and the guests were arriving in less than 2 hours so I grabbed a bag of the 'Favorite Day' monster trail mix from Target and added it to the cookie dough. I figured since it tasted great on it's own, it would taste even better in a cookie...AND IT DID! Turns out, I accidently created one of the best cookie recipes I've ever created. #NoRegrets
Baking Tips:
1. Make sure you are using a quality butter! It doesn't need to be extravagant like Echiré butter but brands like 'Kerrygold' and 'Land O'Lakes' are my favorites for baking.
2. Always sift your dry ingredients such as flour, sugar, salt and especially baking powder and baking soda. This will break up any lumps and make it easier to mix into other ingredients.
3. Invest in a nice baking pan. The last thing you want is a low quality baking pan that warps and ruins your cookies. I prefer the bakeware from 'Sur La Table' or 'Le Creuset' but no matter what brand you choose, this will save you so much headache when baking.
4. Allow the cookies to cool before moving them. Yes I know it's tempting but leave those cookies alone!
5. This recipe makes 20-24 delicious cookies.
Ingredients
2 ¼ Cups All-Purpose Flour
¾ Cup White Sugar
¾ Cup Brown Sugar
12 Tbsp of Salted Butter, softened
8 Tbsp Unsweetened Applesauce
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Tsp Baking Soda
½ Tsp Salt
1 ½ Cups 'Favorite Day' Monster Trail Mix
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375°F with both oven racks in the middle. Then line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, blend butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until creamy.
Next, mix in applesauce then add vanilla extract. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure it is well combined.
In a separate bowl, sift your flour, baking soda and salt together.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and slowly blend. Again, scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to ensure that all ingredients are well blended.
Next, using your hands or a spoon, scoop out walnut size amounts of cookie dough and shape them into balls. Place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.
Important: Bake for 6 minutes with one cookie sheet on the top rack and on the bottom rack. Then, rotate the cookie sheet to opposite racks and bake for another 7 minutes. Allow cookies to cool for a bit before transferring to a wire/cookie rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!