Happiness is...

Remember those old "Peanuts" cartoons, the ones that would say, "Happiness is..."  I guess for me, happiness is a cookie. Or baking cookies, to be more exact.

I was bummed out last week watching the snow fall, again -- another 3 inches on top of a good foot-and-half of snow already on the ground.  I wanted to get out of the house and go somewhere, anywhere, but knew it was safer to stay put. 

I was sitting in the kitchen, catching up on my favorite blogs, when I came across a classic M&M cookie recipe from Beantown Baker.  For some reason, I had the sudden urge to make these cookies. And I figured, if I'm baking one type of cookie, I might as well bake another.  I've been curious to try the Ultimate Cookie featured in Iowa Girl Eats. Toffee chips, butterscotch chips, chocolate chips and oats: Sounds like cookie heaven.

I wanted to bake cute little M&M cookies in Valentine colors.  But my small-town grocery store only had leftover Christmas M&Ms. The cookies still turned out adorable, though.  But I'm biased.

The Ultimate Cookies weren't colorful, but they sure were fun to make.  However, I wouldn't put them on my "ultimate" list.  I'm not a big fan of butterscotch chips, and I couldn't taste the yummy toffee chips with all the other competing flavors.  That didn't stop me from eating way too many of these, however.

That's sea salt sprinkled on top, if you were wondering.  I'll probably take these cookies to work, since I've got plenty of extras.  I'm thinking about starting a monthly "Cookie Friday" just to give me another excuse to try more cookie recipes.  Happiness really is a warm cookie fresh out of the oven!