Happy Valentine's Day!

This year, my husband and I didn't do Valentine's Day presents--mainly because he just bought me a new car. :-) But, I am not one to let a holiday go by without some sort of special treat for my honey, so I decided to bake some Valentine's inspired cookies.  Imagine his delight to wake up on Saturday to a whole cookie jar full of these gems!  Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Chip Valentines

Preheat oven to 375 degress.

Ingredients:
1 cup butter (softened)
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 bag white chocolate chips
1 cup red or pink M&M's

Instructions:
Cream together butter, white sugar, brown sugar,  eggs and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking soda, and cocoa power.  Then, sift flour mixture into the butter mixture and combine. (This dough is very stiff, so you will need some arm muscles!).  Finally, stir in the white chocolate chips and the M&M's.  Next, place tablespoons sized balls (I used a small ice cream scoop) on a cookie sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes and then allow to cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool the rest of the way.

Makes about 35 cookies.

(It is very convenient to buy just a small amount of the color of M&M's you want at a bulk candy store.  I happened to have a bag of Christmas M&M's leftover, so I just picked out all the red ones.  I guess I'll have to use the green ones for a St. Patty's Day treat!)