"Smart" cookie

I have a special little place in my heart for Smarties - not the American candy rolls you see during Halloween but the sugar-coated chocolate ones that are basically the European version of M&M's.

Growing up as a kid in Hong Kong, they were probably my favorite candy/chocolate after the Toberlone.  I certainly enjoyed the taste but I think the colors - those bright yet pastel hues that make me think of Easter - appealed to me just as much.  The ones we had in Hong Kong came in a round paperboard tube, with a little plastic pop top that I'd take on and off (I think the tops came in different colors too but I can't be sure now).  I loved shaking my little tube around.

While it's not impossible to find Smarties around here in the States, they're not exactly everywhere in your local drugstore either.  Whenever I see them, I can't resist snapping one up, particularly if I'm on vacation and feeling indulgent.  So when I saw Smarties while shopping in Paris recently, I grabbed a few packets to bring home.  Just couldn't resist...

So I found myself with extra tubes of Smarties even after divvying up some of my stash, and thought it'd be fun to make some Smarties cookies.  I've dubbed them "Smart cookies" but I'm certainly being tongue in cheek about the whole "smart" thing since we are talking candy in our cookies here (although you'll notice they're no longer made with artificial colors or flavors - that's something, right?).  So we won't take the name too seriously; I wouldn't make these very often but I was in the mood to do something silly and fun.  I made an oatmeal cookie dough and stirred in some Smarties as well as mini chocolate-chips (since my cookies are on the small side) to make these.

My "Smart" cookies

I thought about incorporating the Smarties as part of monster cookies and throwing in some salty pretzels (another thing I have a lot of lying around since my son decided he was no longer into them - right after I'd bought a 50-pack sack of them for his school snack, of course).  In the end, I kept it simple and used an easy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe and substituted some of the chocolate chips with Smarties.  Truth be told, you can't see the Smarties too well in the cookies after baking but I think they're fun nonetheless.  And if Smarties aren't your thing, stick with regular chocolate chips and make yourself and your family a nice batch of chewy oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies instead.  I divided my cookie batter in half and did both.

Plain oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies