Night time pictures make for yellow looking cookie bars...

Cookies - cookies are good.  I like them.  They are on the go easy all in one snack.  Need a quick snack - grab a cookie.  I like soft cookies and sometimes that's hard to achieve without getting too crispy or too thin.

Enter in the bar.  Oh yeah, the cookie bar.  Toss in an entire bag of M&Ms and some chocolate chips - we are in business - let me tell you!

I brought these bars up to Wisconsin for the yearly summertime gathering of Andy's family.  I like bringing new recipes - to give them a good test - and in disposable containers so I don't have to think about getting the containers back.  These bars were certainly a hit.  I even saw my father-in-law brought a few home from the party in a bag for a little late night snack.

This recipe would be easy to mix up with different add-ins, different chips, different candies, even ... raisins... Ugh!  Raisins!  It has enough edges to please those crazy edge people who want that crispy edges (this is not me) and enough middle to please the people like me who want a soft chewy cookie.

Also a bonus is you don't have to spend an hour scooping these out on trays and messing up more dishes.  One bowl and one pan done and done.

Enough rambling - go make these.

Large Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Ingredients
1 1/2 C butter
2 C brown sugar
1 C white sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
4 tsp vanilla
4 1/4 C flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
2 C milk chocolate chips
2 C M&Ms
Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place 1 1/2 C butter into a large glass bowl. Melt the butter in the microwave.
3. Add 2 C brown sugar and 1 C white sugar and stir to combine. Then add 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks and 4 tsp vanilla. Whisk it together until well combined.
4. In a separate bowl combine 4 1/4 C flour, 1 tsp salt and 1 tsp baking soda.
5. Stir the dry mixture into the sugar mixture. Don't mix it in all the way. The trick to making these bars nice and soft on the inside is not to over mix and not to over bake. So, at this stage...leave a bit of the flour showing. It will incorporate nicely for you as you stir in the chocolate.
6. Add 2 C milk chocolate chips and 2 C of M and M's (almost all of a medium sized bag). You can use any kind of chocolate chips.
7. Stir the chocolate in to combine.
8. Spray a large cookie sheet with cooking spray (mine is 12 x 17). Press the dough evenly into the pan.
9. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until the outside is slightly golden. You want to be sure not to over bake. They are much better if the inside is nice and soft.
10. Allow them to cool for about 10 minutes then slice into bars and enjoy!