I Know You Wanna Cookie!

Who doesn’t like cookies?

Last week a friend of ours had a milestone birthday, and I decided I needed to bake them up some cookies to celebrate.  When I asked what  their favorite was, the first response was chocolate chip, followed by M&M, but then back to the chocolate chip.  So I decided to make both!

Only, I never have actually baked up an M&M cookie.  I know! Hard to believe- I’ve added M&M’s to tons of other cookie recipes, but never one that was specifically meant to feature the M&M.  An internet search took no time at all, and I found my starter recipe at Allrecipes.  I say my starter recipe because I didn’t follow the recipe exactly.  It called for shortening, and I decided to use half shortening and half butter- because I wanted the flavor of butter, and I also wanted my cookies to spread a little, but not too much, which they would do with all butter.

The results were a spectacular cookie! I baked them up big since they were for a gift, but since I doubled the batch, we also had a collection of cookies here at home that lasted, oh a mere day or two.  They were delicious, and we all couldn’t keep our hands out of the literal cookie jar. Texture wise, they were right in the middle of crispy and chewy- very similar to a bakery cookie, actually.

I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished cookies, but perhaps you’re a fan of cookie dough?

M&M Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup shortening

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

2 eggs

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups M&M’s, plus more for pressing into the dough after dropping. (Or more to taste)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350ºF.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter and the shortening together until creamy.  Add the sugars and mix until well combined.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix again.

Add the flour, baking soda and salt, and mix gently until combined, and then fold in the M&M’s.

Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheets.  Press a few extra M&M’s into the top of the dough balls.

Bake at 350ºF for 9 to 11 minutes, or to your liking of doneness.