It’s the weekend…finally! I have not had the best working week of my life so I cannot wait to enjoy the next two days as much as possible with friends, food and music.
Working in an office, as I do, takes a bucket load of patience at times. The answer? Go to the kitchen, make a cup of tea, count to ten and eat some chocolate. I currently have a big bag of peanut M & M’s on my desk which have been helping me in my most stressful moments, and they inspired me to adapt this already ridiculously awesome cookie recipe from the newly released (in the UK anyway) Smitten Kitchen Cookbook.
These cookies bring together popcorn, chocolate and peanut butter….really there is nothing better than that. They are crispy at the edges with a slightly chewy centre. The popcorn adds crunch, M & M’s colour and, most importantly, chocolate and there is a background peanut butter flavour to finish things off.
Yum.
Popcorn making.
Making the popcorn should only take about 5 minutes. A pan with a glass lid is the best solution, otherwise just listen out for the popping to stop.
This is a really quick and simple batter to whip up.
Hand moulded pre-baked cookies.
Popcorn Peanut Butter & M&M’s Cookies
adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook
makes 20 cookies
1tbsp oil
45g popcorn kernels
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp melted butter
90g softened butter
40g smooth peanut butter
100g light brown sugar
65g caster sugar
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
155g plain flour
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
100g of M & M’s
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C and prepare two baking trays with sheets of grease proof paper.
For the popcorn:
Add oil and popcorn kernels to a large pan over a medium heat and cover with lid. Shake pan whilst popcorn pops, to ensure it doesn’t burn at the bottom, until popping ceases – about 5mins.
Transfer popcorn to a large bowl and top with melted butter and salt. Stir to coat.
For the cookies:
In a large bowl or mixer beat together butter, peanut butter, sugars, eggs, salt and vanilla on high until smooth. This should take a couple of minutes. In a separate bowl whisk together flour and bicarbonate of soda. On low, mix flour in to butter/sugar batter until combined.
Fold popcorn in to batter. This will seem kinda impossible at first but go slow, you’ll get there! When popcorn is almost fully combined, add M & M’s and continue until everything is evenly distributed.
If you have a little ice cream scoop, that would be perfect for shaping the cookies. I don’t, so I used my hands (I’d normally use a two spoons but with all the popcorn it just wasn’t happening). Place cookie scoops/balls onto the prepared baking tray, about 5cm apart and flatted down slightly.
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Leave the cookies on the tray for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
Enjoy!
