Murstees (or the most amazing cookies you will ever eat)

You will love these cookies. I promise. They rock. Carolyn and I adapted this recipe from a few others that we had found and then we tweaked it about three more times. This is the end result. Murstees (Mur, Carolyn's nickname + the -stee from Estee, in case you were wondering) are soft and chewy, but not so rich that you hate yourself immediately after eating them. Seriously, these cookies rock.

You will need: 1 c. butter, softened (2 sticks), 1/2 c. granulated sugar, 1/2 c. light brown sugar, firmly packed, 2 eggs, 1 package (3.4 ounces) instant french vanilla pudding, 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract, 2-1/4 c. all-purpose flour, 1 c. quick-cooking oats, 1 tsp. baking soda, 1/2 tsp. salt, 1 heaping cup of a mix of peanut butter and chocolate malted milk balls (Whoppers) and 3/4 c. English toffee bits (Heath bits).

First, let's chop up the heaping cup of Whoppers. These things are so extremely aggravating. They roll all over the place. I suggest that you cut each one in half before attempting to chop them into smaller pieces. Since you are using both the peanut butter and the chocolate, just approximate how many of each. Don't stress about it, just throw them all in. And I never use just one cup, it always ends up being about a cup and a half. Chop. Chop. Chop.

Now, we'll get our dry ingredients together. Newsflash: NO sifting necessary! Insert happy dance here. Put 2 and 1/4 c. all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking soda and 1/2 tsp. salt into a medium bowl.

You will also need 1 cup of quick cooking oats. Make sure that they are the quick cooking kind. Set the bowl aside. Please and thank you.

Let's get going. In a mixing bowl, you will need the 2 sticks (1 cup) of softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar. Cream ingredients together.

Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Now you need to add the vanilla and the instant french vanilla pudding. It smells heavenly. Trust me. Mix well.

Add in the dry ingredients, slowly. Don't over mix, because you are still going to have to add in more ingredients. Mix until just combined. You are done with the mixer now, you will need to add the remaining ingredients by hand, or rather, by spoon.

Add the chopped Whoppers and the 3/4 cup of Heath bits (that you can find in the baking aisle with the chocolate chips). Fold all of the ingredients together. The dough will be very stiff.

Yum. Yum. Yum. This is also one of those amazing recipes that you don't have to refrigerate before baking. You are ready to rock and roll. Oh wait, you did preheat your oven to 350 degrees, right?

Roll the cookies into balls and place 2 inches apart on your cookie sheet. I have no idea how big they are, about the size of a walnut. I would tell you that they are 1 inch or 2 inches, but that would mean absolutely nothing to me, so I doubt it would help you either. Let's stick with the size of a walnut. Make sure that you use parchment paper, it makes your life so much easier. Bake at 350 degrees for 12 - 15 minutes, until they are slightly brown around the edges.

After 2 minutes, remove to wire racks to finish cooling. Everyone in your house will come to gaze at your masterpieces. Guaranteed.

This recipe makes about 4- 1/2 dozen cookies. Enjoy!