Chocolate Swirl M&M Cookies

I’m really nervous about today. I’m probably going to have a bit of a breakdown come 3 or 4 PM this afternoon. Why is that? Oh, no big deal, I’m just running a damned 5K after work with my office. Why do I hate myself? I am not a runner! I’ve been trying to “train” over the past month to get ready for it, but so far I’ve only worked up to about 2.5 miles and that last half mile is a total killer, in that it is slowly killing me each time I attempt it. Granted, up until a month ago I could hardly run a mile without wanting to keel over and die, so two and a half is quite the improvement, but a 5K is just over three miles, so who knows what is going to happen. The worst part is that I completely forgot to add new music to my four year old iPod mini (yes, I still have an iPod – my Android phone is too big to put in an armband for running) so I’m going to be powering through this thing blasting Blink 182’s Dude Ranch and a crappy rip of the Violent Femmes’ first album. I guess that’s not the worst music to listen to when you’re trying to convince yourself to keep running – I do know all the words. If any of you remember running your first 5K, please regale me with tales about how great you did and how I am going to do just fine, too. Otherwise I may go home sick later as my doubts become more prevalent. Stay tuned.

Kramer and I headed home on another rainy day.Other than my imminent demise via running, this week has been pleasantly uneventful. I went to the gym on Monday night, then rested up last night while making wings and doing a few random chores around the house. Kramer and I were also pleasantly surprised to find out that Falling Skies is back on the air. If you like sci-fi, especially if you liked Battlestar Galactica, do yourself a favor and start watching Falling Skies. It is produced by Stephen Spielberg, for crying out loud, and you can tell. The attention to detail and sweet, sweet shoot ’em up alien scenes are fantastic, plus my man Noah Wyle plays a great leader in the face of human destruction against extraterrestrial forces. It’s weird that it’s on TNT, yes, but just give it a chance – I promise you’ll love it. There’s not enough good sci-fi on TV. I tried watching Defiance but I couldn’t get into it. Should I get it another shot? Hannibal only has a few episodes left, so I need to get involved in a few other things so that my depression doesn’t sink too deep as I realize that I have to wait another year to see Mads Mikkelsen’s beautiful face again.

Like the peanut butter sandies I showed you two weeks ago, I made these M&M cookies for Kramer’s birthday last month, but haven’t gotten around to posting them until now. I figured that these would be perfect for a birthday party, what with their bright colors and whatnot. I don’t think anybody can say no to an M&M or ten when they see a bowl of them out, so I figured these cookies would have the same effect. They did. They were gone by the end of the night, which I was happy to see. The chopped chocolate melts in your mouth with each bite, while the crunchy M&M shells add a nice textural element and the sea salt cuts through the milk chocolate’s sweetness. The outsides of the cookies are nice and crisp, while the insides remain chewy and soft. If you want, you can under-bake these a bit and they’ll be just like the Subway cookies that everyone loves so much, but I needed mine to be a bit sturdier for travel, so I let them go the usual length of time. However you decide to make them, the bright colors of M&Ms dotting these chocolate swirled cookies make them simply irresistible. Make some and see for yourself.

Cocktail testing for a post I did on Business Insider, a nice day, meats, and a margarveza (beer + frozen margarita) in Park Slope.
I’ll be real with you; it was hard not to just eat this cookie dough.

But I did my best.

I can’t just make a dozen cookies. Go big or go home.

You can’t resist these colors.