While I’m a sucker for a gourmet cookie, sometimes something simple and nostalgic hits the spot. Especially if it reminds you of somewhere you really love.

When we lived in St. Paul, Minnesota, Will and I regularly stopped by Bread and Chocolate for an M&M cookie and a cappuccino.

Sweets in hand, we strolled the neighboring streets and debated which gorgeous home—Victorian, Neoclassical, Spanish—we’d live in if money were no object.

The perfect pick-me-up, particularly during the seemingly endless winter, I could never quite pinpoint what made those particular M&M cookies so addictive.

Hoping to find the perfect alchemy of taste and texture, I tried a number of recipes over the years. But the end result was never quite right.

Until…I stumbled upon this recipe.

Turned out, the key is the extra M&Ms pressed into the cookies right after they come out of the oven. Here I thought it was a missing ingredient. An extra splash of this or that. Instead, it was a simple detail that helped recreate the famous Bread and Chocolate gems.

After I cracked the code, I made these for Will three times in ten days (!!!). But whenever we’re back in St. Paul, I know we’ll still stop by Bread and Chocolate. And see if that particular Spanish-style home we loved happens to be for sale. Even if we’d probably never move back because, you know, the winters are still brutal.

What’s your favorite cookie and what makes it so crazy good?