Sunday is one of my favorite days of the week because it is the only day that I always take completely off from school work. This means I get to spend the whole day with Thompson and Trevor. Because Trevor usually has meetings after church, Thompson and I get a few precious hours of one-on-one time. This almost always ends up to be us baking together. He helps me choose what to make, who in the neighborhood we should share our treats with, and then insists on being the one to add every ingredient. It is the best time of the week, and I love having his little helping hands in the kitchen.
Thompson’s favorite candy has always been M&Ms (why? I will never understand), so when I suggested these cookies for our weekly baking time, he was pretty much thrilled. We measured out the M&Ms at the beginning, but somehow, every time I went to grab another ingredient the measuring cup had less and less. I wonder how that happened.
Even for non-M&M lovers (like me and Trevor), these cookies are a nice childhood throwback and have a good balance of chewy and crisp.
The dough will be fairly soft when you first make it, so be sure and leave time to chill. This is a basic recipe, but could be adapted in many ways (peanut M&Ms instead of regular, add in some chocolate chips, etc).
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup white sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups AP flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1¾ cups M&Ms
- In a large bowl, cream together sugars, eggs, shortening, butter, and vanilla. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined. Stir in M&Ms. Cover and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, until firm enough to scoop out dough.
- After the dough has chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Drop dough by rounded teaspoonful onto cookie sheet.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for a few minutes on the sheet, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
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