Mega M and M Blondies

I had seen Mega M&M’s on sale a short while ago.  Now the sale wasn’t a huge savings but the lure of Mega M&M’s was too strong, so I bought them.  Of course, I wasn’t going to open the package until I was ready to bake with them because they would disappear.  Hence, these yummy Mega M&M Blondies were born.  The hubby, family and friends loved these chocolaty bars.

Mega M and M Blondies | Bakewell Junction

These bar cookies are pretty large, so you may only be able to eat one.  I used my favorite chocolate chip cookies as a base for this recipe and it turned out wonderfully.  It’s an easy recipe, so you can whip it up pretty quickly.

Look at how much bigger the Mega M&M’s are than the regular ones!

 

Enjoy!

Mega M&M Blondies

Yield:  24 servings                Cook Time:  20 minutes

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 4 ounces chocolate bar (I used Hershey’s)
• 1 cup room temperature butter (2 sticks)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour
• 2 1/4 cups old fashioned oatmeal
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli’s)
• 1 cup Mega M&M’s

Topping:

• Mega M&M’s

Directions:

Step 1:  Grate the chocolate bar and set aside.  Grind the oatmeal to a fine powder in a blender, food processor or mini chopper.  I use a mini chopper and grind this in two batches.  This isn’t mandatory but to make sure the oatmeal is ground finely enough, I put the oatmeal through a sieve and whatever is left gets ground again.  I repeat this process until my mini chopper can’t grind it anymore.  At the end if there’s a small amount that can’t be ground finely enough, I discard it.  In a large bowl, combine the ground oatmeal, flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda and set aside.

Step 2:  With an electric mixer beat the butter and sugars together for about 4 to 5 minutes until the mixture is fluffy.  Beat the eggs and vanilla into the butter mixture.  Add in the flour mixture using a spatula or wooden spoon until incorporated.  Mix in the chocolate chips, Mega M&M’s and grated chocolate bar.  Optionally chill dough for several hours to overnight.  This helps the flavors meld.  Try not to eat too much of the dough.

Step 3:  Line a 9 by 13 cake pan with parchment paper.  The paper will help taking the bars out of the pan later.  Lightly press the cookie dough evenly into the bottom of the pan.  Leave about a half inch to an inch of space on all sides of the pan – this will help prevent the dough from climbing up the sides of the pan.  I forgot this step and my edge pieces were huge.  Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 30 minutes.

Step 4:  While the bars are still warm, approximate where the middle of each bar will be after cutting and place a Mega M&M, pressing in slightly.  I like to add the decorative M&M after baking so it doesn’t crack.  Let the cookie bars cool completely.  Place the bars in the fridge overnight or at least a few hours before cutting.

Enjoy!

Tips:  Store cookie bars in a sealed plastic container for a few days.  Liz from That Skinny Chick Can Bake always has perfectly cut cookie bars, so I used her Tip of the Day to cut the bars.

Recipe adapted from the fake Neiman Marcus Cookie recipe e-mail that’s been all over the internet.

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