Even if I weren't so culinarily challenged (baking *anything* is right out), I still can't afford six large bags of M&Ms. But it sounds... nice. And no iguanas got harmed.
 

I am immensely charmed by this recipe, mostly by its chatty informality.

"The cookies are done when they've spread out to cookie size."

That's lovely. Right up there with my mother telling me that the eggs are done boiling "when the shell is cracked and no egg gooshes out."

[verification word: "bactiest" -- referring to one's children, the one that had the most bumps and scrapes requiring topical antibiotics]
 

I remember hearing someone read from an autobiography once, in which the author's mother described how to make a dessert. The conversation went something like...

'First, mix your butter and sugar?'
'How much of each?'
'As much as necessary. Then whip in the eggs and fold in the flour.'
'How much flour?'
'As much as you require. Then cook it in the oven.'
'How long?'
'Until it seems to be done.'

The author remarked that interestingly, the listener seemed to find these perfectly adequate answers.

When you make up your own recipes you really do judge a lot by eye and texture in a way that's hard to describe to third parties, especially third parties who aren't used to cooking. It can be a bit of a bugger, which is why I deliberately measured how much I was using this time...

By the way, what does 'hapaxnym' mean?
 

By the way, what does 'hapaxnym' mean?

It means that I forgot I was still logged into LiveJournal when I posted. :-)

It's a nickname that stuck from my UseNet days -- a silly bastardized Greek for "unique user name".

(verification word: "buminwhe" -- er, nope, not goin' there)