M&M Cookies

What's that? Another candy/cookie combo? What can I say, I like candy and I like cookies. Two of my major food groups.  This is actually my standard Chocolate Chip recipe, and I just substituted M&M's for the chocolate chips.  Oddly, a few years ago I searched for an actual M&M cookie recipe and when I tried it, I was highly disappointed.  The cookies were flat and greasy (the recipe called for shortening) and spread out very thin during baking.  So why bother with that when I have a perfect cookie recipe in my arsenal?  Occasionally, when I make this recipe with chocolate chips, I will add 1 cup of chopped nuts.

This recipe comes from Capitol Cookies, a cookbook collection of a cookie from every state, submitted from various non-profit groups who had created cookbooks as fund-raising tools.  The recipe is originally titled Abbey's Chocolate Chip Cookies and comes from a 5 year old girl in New Hampshire who had submitted the recipe, in her own words, for her school's cookbook.  Her mom double checked the recipe and the one that was submitted is the version Abbey and her mom would make often.  Hey, I'm not going to challenge a 5 year old!

M&M Cookies

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 eggs
10 ounces M&Ms

Mix flour with baking powder and salt in a medium mixing bowl and set aside.

Beat butter until light and fluffy, then add sugars and beat until creamed thoroughly, scraping sides of bowl as necessary.  Mix in vanilla and eggs.  Stir in flour mixture until incorporated.  Add M&M's and stir to combine.

On a parchment or Silpat lined baking sheet, drop by spoonfuls (I use a small cookie scoop) about 2 inches apart.

Um, yes, that's residual powdered sugar from the Cocoa Snowflakes I'd made just before.

Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 8 minutes or until lightly browned.  Turn baking sheet 180 degrees halfway through. If using more than one sheet at a time, rotate positions in the oven for more even baking.

Cool on pans for 2 minutes then remove to wire racks to complete cooling.

Makes 6 dozen.

Happy Baking,
The Cookie Princess