Chocolate Chip Cookies with Valentine's M&Ms

I left work yesterday and drove home in a blizzard.  Blizzards make me want to bake.  After dropping my daughter off at kid yoga (I tried to con her into staying home to help bake so I wouldn't have to go back out, but she declined), I had a 45 minute window between the end of yoga and the rush to get ready for basketball practice.  I mixed a half-batch...which is really a single batch since I normally make a double batch with Chocolate Chip Cookies.

For some reason, the recipe never seems to work for me with a single batch.  Not sure what is so difficult about half-ing a recipe.   Finally!  The single batch worked all the way around- time, taste and servings.

 Recipe:

1 cup white sugar

1 cup light brown sugar

1 cup shortening

2 eggs

(cream together)

Dissolve 1 teaspoon of baking soda in 1/4 cup warm water

1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3 1/4 cup flour (I bake at high altitude, so 3 cups if you are a flat-lander)

1 cup chocolate chips

Several handfulls of Valentine's M&Ms

Bake 350F for approximately 11-12 minutes

I know, it is cruel to see the calorie count of home baked goods.

 Yields 4 dozen (51 for us) soft, warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookies.

Why not-  it was a Monday.

It took 2.2 seconds for the kids to exclaim "Chocolate Chip Cookies!" as they stepped through the front door from kid yoga and snow fort building.  On to the next activity to burn the 120 calories per cookie!

For more Valentine's Day treats, click here or visit my Valentine's Pinterest board here.