Smarty Pants Cookies

These are the cookies I made Elliot to take to school as part of the end of year celebration feast he is enjoying today. I was supposed to make cake, but I started worrying about refrigeration and although they were using eskies etc. I thought it would be less trouble to make this lovely Smarty Pants cookies although as you can probably tell I actually used M&Ms I asked P to buy smarties and this is what I get - what is that saying "Never send a man....! .

I became a bit anal with the colour of the M&Ms I put on the cookies although the results of that are not reflected here exactly, what is reflected is that in the end due to my being anal i.e. ensuring I put a different coloured M&M on each biscuit in the exact same order, I was left with way too many blue ones. So these are the cookies that didn't make it to the feast and decided to keep at home, cos you know how much 8 years will care that I put a different coloured M&M on each biscuit in the exact same order.

Anway the recipe incorporated almonds which I substituted coconut for, the reason being that there are too many kids out there with nut allergies so it is better to avoid that problem with group feasts at school. I found them a little sweet for my taste as well I think next time I will cut down on the sugar. Other tips include making sure you don't do too many at once or they will spread and join up and then you will have to cut them apart, also make sure you use a small ball of dough so that proportionately the cookies and the amount of smarties don't look odd and finally a lighter coloured cookie is better looking than a golden one - so 10 mins and a bit lower temp than the recommended 180 c.

This is a very much Elliot cooking story today, because the background picture to this photograph involves some of the art work that he took home yesterday. I am loving the progress they are making with their artistic work at school. I may use some other interesting pieces for some recipes - I thought this piece went perfectly with these predominantly blue coloured M&M cookies.

Smartie PantsIngredients:
125g butter,
½ cup caster sugar,
½ cup brown sugar lightly packed,
½ tsp vanilla extract,
1 egg lightly beaten,
1 ¾ cup self-raising flour sifted,
½ tsp salt,
¼ cup slivered almonds,

180g Smarties©

Steps: Preheat oven to moderate, 180 degrees Celsius. Cream together the butter, sugars and vanilla using electric beaters until combined. Add lightly beaten egg, and beat until smooth. Mix in sifted flours and salt with a wooden spoon. Add slivered almonds and mix until combined. Shape tablespoonfuls of mixture into balls, and place onto a baking tray lined with baking paper. Flatten gently, then press smarties into the surface. Leave about an inch between cookies as they do expand upon baking. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden