Valentines Day Bake Sale Treats

You may be thinking WHAT? right now. After taking almost two months off from blogging, why is she posting two days in a row? I suppose it's because I've gotten most of my apartment unpacked by now from our December move. Regardless, I should really learn to pace myself. This is not the right time for pacing though, because next week is Valentine's Day, and at my kids' preschool that means the Valentines Day Bake Sale! Hooray! I love to bake. Love it. But there is the whole issue of eating the goodies afterward and health of my children and the size of my rear end to be considered, so sadly I don't do it very often. Bake sale day is awesome, because then I just donate the goodies and don't have to worry about giving my children heart disease before they hit elementary school.  Last year I made these little babies for the sale. I even have a picture of them, I was so proud of how I packaged them. There is nothing really special about the recipe. I just used a basic chocolate cookie chip bar recipe and substituted the special red and pink M&M's they sell around Valentine's day for the chocolate chips.

I'll include the recipe here. And I might even post what I decide to make this year as my next entry!


Ingredients
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for the baking sheet
4 cups flour
2 tsps baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
12 oz of M&Ms (or to your taste)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. A note about this: when you are baking it is really important to preheat the oven. Make sure it is actually 350 degrees when you put in the cookies. Butter a 12-by-17-inch rimmed baking sheet. You can also use cooking spray, but the butter works a little better. Put the sheet aside. Combine together flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set that aside as well.
Cream butter and both sugars together until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla; mix until well combined. Add flour mixture and beat until they are just combined- you don't want to overbeat or they get a little tough. Stir in most of the M&Ms by hand so you don't break them. Leave some for putting on the top.
Put the raw dough into the baking sheet, and smooth it so it's even. Lick spatula. Add the remaining M&Ms to the top wherever things look sparse. Bake 30 to 35 minutes, depending somewhat on your oven. I recommend taking a peek halfway through and rotating it around so it bakes evenly. Yummmmmm!