Happy Birthday! M&M Cookie Bars

I can't believe tomorrow we'll be celebrating our son's 4th birthday!  

Wow, is time going too fast!  Today he went to mommy's day out/preschool like he does twice a week, and I wanted to take a fun treat for his class to celebrate his birthday!

Here they are at Kylie's party.  She just turned 3!

Sometimes it just hits me.  I can't believe I'm baking treats for our children. What a long time coming, thank you Jesus!  They truly and honestly are two of the most precious little children I know!  

Our son is funny, entertaining, compassionate, he doesn't miss a beat, and he's a handsome little devil!!  

He loves us so much he really does treat his sister so sweet!-- most of the time! ;)

I am so proud that he's our son!!!

Back to our "sweet talk".  

I've always loved chewy m&m cookies from childhood!  I recently found a delicious recipe that I love making and I shared with you last fall.  So I thought I should use those fun primary colored, chocolate  candies in his birthday treats, too! I found this incredibly delicious m&m cookie bar recipe, and now I'm so hooked on these yummy bars!  Just look at how colorful and fun they are.  They're also really chewy, and bars are much faster to bake than a batch of cookies.  

I am so happy that I got to send my precious son to school with these yummy cookie bars to share with his sweet friends!  He was so excited and proud that I made them, and that makes me one happy mommy!!

M&Ms Cookie Bars

Whatmegansmaking.com

2 1/8 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. baking soda

12 Tbsp. butter ( 1 1/2 sticks), melted and cooled slightly

1 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 12 oz. bag M&Ms, divided

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.  Adjust the oven rack to lower-middle position.  Grease a 9x13 pan set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda.  Set aside.

In a large bowl. ( I used my stand mixer here.). Whisk together sugars, melted butter until well combined.  Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. And mix well.  Using a spatula or turning your mixer to low, add the dry ingredients slowly until combined. Do not over mix.  Gently stir in 1 c. M&Ms  and pour batter into prepared pan.  Smooth the top with a spatula and sprinkle remaining M&Ms over the top, pressing them in slightly.

Bake 25-30 minutes, until bars are a very light golden brown, slight firm to touch and beginning to pull away from sides of pan.  I would rather take them our too soon than not to have a chewy bar!  Cool completely before cutting.

Note: my brown sugar was too hard to use much of (fail!).  What I had to do this time was use 1/4 c. Brown sugar and 1 1/4 c white sugar and they still turned out chewy and delicious.