Cadbury Mini Eggs Cookies

It's been a while since I made cookies!  My baby brother was studying for midterms (OK, he's in college, he's not quite a baby anymore) - yes midterms now, after Michigan graduated, Northwestern has a crazy schedule - and so I thought it'd be a nice treat to send him a box of cookies to pump some sugar into those late nights studying.

Also, my amazing coworker brought me back some of the good stuff from Mexico.

No, not drugs or tequila - vanilla!

Do you know about Mexican vanilla?  My mom taught me about it and MAN is it good.

I'm not gonna lie, I usually buy imitation vanilla, so this stuff was like gold for me.  I probably ate a full cookie worth of batter. And by that I mean 4 cookies worth of batter.

But the real secret ingredient to these cookies? My absolute favorite candy of all time - Cadbury Mini Eggs.  I used to keep these in my car in high school to much on and because they'd fill my car with the most wonderful scent in the whole world - way better than any air freshner.

Now, I realize I'm doing something very cruel to you. I'm giving you a recipe that you really can't make right now - Cadbury Mini Eggs are only sold during Easter.  I got the last couple bags at the CVS near me on sale (a different coworker actually picked them up for me) and I saved them to make these cookies.  I still have one more bag - but I have to make it last all year until next easter!  I guess you could replace them with chocolate chunks or M&Ms, but the shell just isn't as wonderful and the chocolate isn't as fantastic.

When you chop up the mini eggs, it ends up being like chocolate chunks.  I threw in all the extra shell dust on my cutting board, which you could definitely taste throughout the cookies.  I think this made them extra buttery and sugary - and who ever said that was a bad thing?

Now my intention was to bang these cookies against the oven when they were halfway done.  This is a trick my mom's best friend taught me to make chocolate chip cookies extra flat and crispy.

But halfway through cooking I opened the oven door and saw this...

They were totally flattening out on their own.  I think this recipe might be a little bit off in the baking soda/powder department.  The cookies came out really crumbly and flat.  But still - man they were good.  They were so buttery, even though I halved the recipe so I only had 1 stick of butter in about 18 cookies.  Baby brother loved them and said his college buddies did as well.  I ate about 3 of the cookies that fell apart on the spot and I probably would have eaten all 18 within 24 hours if I hadn't shipped them off to Evanston.  Save this recipe for next Easter - you won't regret it!

Cadbury Mini Egg Cookies
from Itty Bitty Bakes

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup packed light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract (use Mexican vanilla if you can!)
2 large eggs
2 bags (20 ounces) Cadbury mini eggs, chopped (2 of the bags I had only added to 16 oz, and that was fine)

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. In a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until smooth. Add in the sugars and beat for another two minutes, and then beat in the vanilla. Add in the eggs one at a time, beating for a minute after each addition. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add in the dry ingredients gradually. Stir in the chopped Cadbury mini eggs. Spoon the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls on to the baking sheets about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies, one sheet at a time, for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are brown and the centers are golden. Remove them from the oven and let them rest for one minute; then carefully remove them to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remainder of the dough.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.