It’s December, which in my house means that it is officially cookie season. And what pairs perfectly with cold weather and cookies (besides a glass of milk or a mug of hot chocolate)? A wholesome Christmas book! So here’s a recipe for some delicious chocolate chip and peanut butter M&M cookies plus a Christmas story that pairs perfectly.
Chocolate and Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
Ingredients:
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
¾ cup granulated sugar
¾ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 ½ cups chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but use whatever you want)
1 ½ cups mini peanut butter M&Ms (feel free to adjust the amounts or substitute this if you can’t find them or peanut butter M&Ms aren’t your jam.)
Steps
Preheat oven to 375 degrees and grease a cookie sheet.
In a small bowl mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together.
In a separate large mixing bowl, beat the butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla extract together until creamy.
Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each egg.
Gradually mix in the flour mixture (pulse your mixer or stir by hand to start to avoid the flour mixture going everywhere).
Stir in the chocolate chips and mini peanut butter M&Ms.
Drop about a teaspoon of the dough onto the greased cookie sheet and bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown.
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet, then use a spatula to move them to a wire rack (or a plate or something. The point is to get them spread out and off the tray so they can cool while you put the next batch in.) This should make approximately 4 dozen cookies, but this will vary depending on the size of your cookie. For cakier cookies, put a little more dough into each cookie. For crispier cookies, put a little less.
I devoured this Christmas Carol retelling. The characters, the plot, and the whole concept of the book is amazing and once I really got into it, I couldn’t put this down. Our Ebenezer Scrooge in this story is a seventeen-year-old girl named Holly Chase, who is quite frankly a terrible person. Materialistic, shallow, self-absorbed, and just plain mean, Holly is your classic brat who’s never really been told no. On Christmas Eve, she’s visited by the three ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, who show her what she’s done wrong and what will happen if she doesn’t change her ways. You’d think this would scare her straight, right? Wrong. Holly wakes up the next morning and goes about life as normal and spoiler alert (not really, it's in the blurb, I just like saying spoiler alert), she dies. She ends up in New York working on a top-secret project called Project Scrooge as the new ghost of Christmas past. Every year another Scrooge is saved, Holly remains 17, and the world goes on without her while she spends her time in a run-down apartment. Basically, it kind of sucks. But this year, something’s different. And this year, everything is about to change.
I won’t reveal it, because that would be no fun, but the twists this book throws at you are amazing. It’s such a good spin on a classic story and Hand really reimagines it in a way you’d never expect. This is the perfect Christmas book in my opinion, with enough intrigue and drama to keep you interested while still being a wholesome Christmas story.
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