海角大神

I don鈥檛 think there鈥檚 any doubt around here that, though I may not be blue or have googley eyes, I鈥檓 a bit of a 聽myself. They鈥檙e just so good! Chewy cookies, crunchy cookies, oatey or chocolatey or sugary cookies! I like them all. And they go so well with coffee, for snack, after meals, all the time.聽

And what does a cookie monster need? A monster cookie!

The Monster Cookies at Corner Bakery Caf茅, a dangerously few short blocks from my office, are my (now ex)-co-worker Tracy鈥檚 favorites. Unlike other monster cookies, this recipe doesn't have oatmeal or raisins or nuts 鈥� they鈥檙e all about the chocolate. Chocolate chips inside, mini M&Ms outside.聽They taste like every chocolate chip cookie should 鈥� buttery, and chocolately, and a tiny bit salty. The outsides are a bit crispy and the insides are super-gooey-chewy.

I made these to bring to work last week and they were great! I made the dough a day in advance, refrigerated it before shaping the cookies, then I froze the shaped balls of dough overnight. That whole process isn鈥檛聽necessary, that鈥檚 just how timing best worked out for me. But if you don鈥檛 have time to chill or freeze the dough, I suggest adding a 1/2 cup more flour, otherwise they may spread out too much in the oven.

Ready for some other wise words from the muppet himself? "A cookie with one bite out of it looks like a C! A round donut with a bite out of it also looks like a C!"聽See what I mean? We鈥檙e totally on the same page. After my marathon this Saturday it鈥檚 going to be donut time.

Monster cookies
This recipe makes 3 to 4 dozen cookies. It can easily be halved if you鈥檙e feeling like controlling your inner monster, and it鈥檚 a one-bowl recipe.

Ingredients:

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted softened butter

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light brown sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2-1/4 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 bag (about 2-1/2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup mini M&Ms (I used four packages of little tubes)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Spray or line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Mix butter and sugars for about 2 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, mixing until well combined.

3. Add in flour, baking soda, and salt to bowl, and stir until combined. Mix in chocolate chips. Mix three or four times, then add chocolate chips, mixing until just combined.

4. Refrigerate dough for at least one hour, preferably a couple hours or overnight.

5. Scoop out 2-tablespoon-sized chunks of dough and use your hands to shape them into balls. Pour out M&Ms into a shallow bowl. Roll the balls in the M&Ms (I did M&Ms just on the top and sides of each ball, so not quite all the way around).聽

6. (Optional) Freeze cookies overnight.

7. Place cookies on sheet, 1 to 2 inches apart (they spread a lot).聽

8. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until nice and golden brown but still semi-soft in center. Remove and let cool on baking sheet for five minutes before transferring to cooling rack.聽

9. Serve and enjoy! (They are best fresh out of the oven, obviously. You should eat these or freeze them in the first day or two, after that they鈥檙e still good but they dry out a bit.)