Cafe Fernando received its first mention in the press last Friday. It is a short interview that appeared in Hürriyet (one of the highest circulated national newspapers in Turkey). After the interview, I received tons of emails and comments to my blog. Thanks to Hürriyet, I’ve gained lots of new readers…
So, how does a food blogger say “Thank you”?
By sending a huge box of freshly baked Chocolate Chip Cookies, of course! But not just any chocolate chip cookie. These have M&M’s on top that read Cafe Fernando!
Thanks again guys, and Bon Appetit!
Cafe Fernando Chocolate Chip M&M Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. salt
- 8 oz. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 10 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks
- 4 oz M&M chocolate
Method
- Preheat your oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix flour, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-low speed until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add the brown and granulated sugars, increase the speed to medium and beat until slightly fluffy, about 1 minute, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then beat in the vanilla, stopping the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl.
- Reduce the speed to low, gradually add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto the prepared pan, spacing the cookies about 2 inches apart. Bake until golden brown, 10-11 minutes. Transfer the pan to a wire rack, press 6-8 M&M chocolate chips onto the cookies and let the cookies cool on the pan. After 5 minutes, transfer them to the rack and let cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Makes 24 cookies.
Congratulations Cenk. I read the interview last Saturday through another blog. Although I didn’t understand a single thing, I was happy for you. Well done.
So when will I get my box of cookies? Please!
They are lovely.
Congratulations on your interview! Cookies make the best thank yous!
Rose, Clumsy – Thanks for the lovely comments!
How exciting – Congratulations!
And the cookies look fabulous!
congrats! Oh, and I love the lovely cookies. They are so pretty.
yum yum
chocolate chip cookies + m&ms
Nicisme, Mandy – Thank you!
Fanny – Thanks for stopping by. I am a huge fan of your blog!
Way cool Cenk & Congratulations!! Most definitely deserved praise! The cookies look delicioussss… Send them my way..
Smiles..Aysegul
http://www.nysdelight.com
How exciting !!!Congratulations.You deserve this,your blog is amazing and I read always.
These are stunning! I just love them!
I had personalized M&M’s made for my youngest grandson’s birthday party one year—very fun idea! I did not know they would actually print your blog’s name on them, tho
Congrats, Fernando! That is brilliant! 🙂
I’m having trouble keeping up with my diet tho’ whenever I see all this food! 😉
Thank you all!!!
Congratulations and those cookies are adorable!
Congrats on your mention! And I love your chocolate chip cookie marketing…I’m sure it will make waves! 🙂
Where were you able to print on M&Ms??? Please let us know!
Hi Nicole – Details are in this post:
http://cafefernando.com/chocolate-chip-mm-cookies
Food master, you owe huge bone to Ralph and cookies for me. Thanks and like Ayşe Arman said CONGRATULATIONS
muhteşem görünüyor..bir daha Hürriyet ilanı için tebrik ederim.hakkınızdır..
You are awesome. I never would have though to put M&Ms with words on them in cookies! Maybe I’ll make up “Thank You” M&Ms if I ever need a thank you gift and make these cookies! Congrats on the interview!
haha
good thing because i love your blog too
xxx
Cenk–Those are adorable! I have to remember this idea. Congrats on the media attention–you totally deserve it!
Cheers,
Sharon
Michele, Sara – Thank you!
Master of the Mansion – Something bigger and better is coming to the Mansion soon.
eni – Çok teşekkür ederim.
Hillary – Glad you liked it. Thank you M&Ms would be much more practical. Also, shorter words print much better on them..
fanny – Thank you! It means a lot…
Chocolate Chipped – Thank you!
Love those m&ms with your name on them 🙂
That’s great, congratulations!
Your cookies look wonderful and so cute!
Congratulations! You deserve every bit of it!
I was so proud of you that I gave your adress to my international friends, a few minutes ago. Then, I realized that I should have asked you first! Sorry about that :(…. But it was totally your mistake; you shouldn’t have made these delightful cookies….
Congratulations on your interview! You and your fantastic blog definitely deserve the press 🙂 And those M+M’s with your blog’s name on them are adorable! 🙂
I can’t remember how I stumbled upon your blog (as it always happens with blogs..), but I fell in love with it. I love your photos… and your passion for baking. And Ralph is adorable. Well, you already know that of course.
I know you lead a busy life, with all that baking and blogging 🙂 but would it be possible if we could get an English translation of the interview? I’d love to read it. Unfortunately, online translators are not very good and my Turkish is non-existant. Just English and Spanish. Perhaps a bit of French? Just enough to read a recipe.
Warm, chocolaty-sweet regards from across the world.
loooooooooooooooove the cookies and the personalized m&m’s!
keep it up and congrats with the interview!
Cenk, congrats with the interview!! You totally deserve it! Keep up with the good work:)
congratilation.
I tried pastry cream you made before. I got wonderful texture creamy not pulpy.
one question.what are you using for brown sugar.you know in Turkey brown sugar texture is not the same with USA.I can’t catch the same taste and shape.I always use hershsey’s recipe.so what do you suggest ?
Hey Cenk!
Congrats first of all, and I’ve got a request from you. I’ve been following your blog for a long time now and I can’t help having my mouth get all watered while looking at the pics! The problem though is that I’m diabetic and I need to watch the sugar and fat content of what I eat. Could you come up with some recipe for me? Pleaseee? Thanks a bunch (even if you can’t come up with a recipe 🙂 And congrats again!
Congratulations on your recognition!!I love the M & M’s as well!!
Oh wow! I so want to eat these up!
What a smart idea! Those personalized M&M’s are adorable. And the cookies look killer!
Thats so awesome. Congratulations!!!!!!
Hello friend,greetings from California. I grew up in sonoma county witch is about 45 min north of SF!! So I have and still spent much time in our beloved city. I love these cookies. I saw this recipe and ran right in the kitchen to chop chocolate. Ok they are so good. Here is what
I noticed. I cooked a batch. Right afTerm baking the dough. Yummers.Then
I actually read on your blog about how you chilled the dough for 36 hours. Did that. Then I rolled them and baked. Yummers but the next batch I decided to flatten with a jar laced with sugar. Omg!! Yes yes yes. This was the method. They cooked evenly and light and crispy. The difference was amazing they were larger as well?? It was strange I rolled them all the same 2tbs. And once I flattened them they cooked larger. Not a bad thing to have more cookie. Lol thanks love for the Yummers recipe
I just wanted to write to say thank you so much for this recipe, Cenk! I’ve used it so many times now. And they just make the most delicious (& gourmet!) chocolate cookies ever! Like I can’t actually believe they are homemade. 😀 But anyways, as nothing beats a great cookie, I figured even though we may not know each other, I should say something already just to show my gratitude. And so just thank you sooo much again with all my heart!!! And Happy Easter too! 🙂 🙂 <3
Thank you!