It’s been a while since I’ve blogged…over four months to be exact. The demands of the real world slapped me right across the face when I began my teaching position this Fall. My energy focus quickly shifted from making food to making lesson plans, and from writing blog entries to writing IEPs. I love my job (and most importantly, my students!) but it is exhausting. To all of the teachers out there who go about their jobs while maintaining teaching blogs throughout the school year, creating clip-art ladden, Common Core aligned resources for TeachersPayTeachers along the way, I salute you. Nay, I praise you with every fiber of my being. You are a special breed.
Needless to say, it’s a new year, and I have resolved to spend a little more time doing things that I really love in whatever free time I can scrounge up. So here I am, with my first post of 2015.
This recipe is inspired by a recipe I found over on AverieCooks. AverieCooks is one of my all time favorite food blogs. Her recipes and photography are tasty and beautiful, and very easy to make. Loaded Oreo M&M Cookie Bars appealed to me not only because they looked delicious in her photographs, but because a recipe this simple was about all I could manage to follow after New Year’s Eve celebrations essentially destroyed my mind, body and soul the night before. But enough about that.
The wonderful thing about these bars is that they are extremely versatile. The base of the recipe is a simple blondie bar. What you do with the blondie after that, is up to you. I added Oreo’s and M&M’s, because that’s what I had in my pantry. I needed some way to get rid of all of the holiday-colored M&M’s that were lying around. You know, so I can start the ole eat-healthy-New-Year’s-resolution without being tempted by holiday sweets that were lying around. What better way to disguise the fact that I’m still going to eat dessert every night than by throwing all of the desserts in the house into another dessert? Don’t mind my cleverness.
Set aside 30 minutes–from preparation to taking these out of the oven, that is all of the time you will need!
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F, and line an 8×8 pan with foil (be sure to grease the foil with cooking spray.
Ingredients
- 1 stick of butter, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup of light brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 20 Oreo’s, chopped into bite size pieces
- 1 cup of M&M’s, divided in half
Directions
Melt the butter in a large, microwave safe bowl for about a minute. Add in the brown sugar, egg, and vanilla. Stir until smooth. Add the flour and stir until just combined. Then, add in the Oreo pieces and 1/2 cup of M&M’s. This is where you can also be creative. Don’t like M&M’s? Throw in chocolate chips! Love peanut butter? Add in some chopped Reese’s Cups! The mix-in’s are totally up to you.
Once you’ve combined the mix-in’s into the batter, pour it into the pan. Add the rest of your M&M’s (or whatever candy you’re using) on top, and press down lightly. Throw the pan in the oven for about 20 minutes, or until the edges are browned and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow them to cool in the pan for a half hour before slicing. Enjoy!
