M&M Cookies

If you're like me, you've been lusting after the discount candy left over from Valentine's Day. It took all my willpower to walk away from those new cookie dough oreos at Target, but I was only able to tear myself away because I knew I had these M&M cookies at home. I used plain mini M&Ms, but you can use the special Valentine's Day M&Ms or any other variety you happen to like. I'm pretty sure the salty-sweet combination of pretzel M&Ms in cookies would be fantastic. If you want nice big chunks of chocolate, you can use regular M&Ms or even jumbo M&Ms, but I find that the mini ones add just the right amount of chocolate.

The cookies themselves are soft and chewy with just a tiny bit of crispiness around the edges. It's a modified sugar cookie dough, which means that I took a typical sugar cookie and gave it a twist. I use the same proportions of brown sugar to granulated sugar as I do in my chocolate chip cookies, so they are chewier and have that hint of caramel flavor that you can only get from brown sugar. There's also a little bit of cornstarch, which makes a huge difference in texture (in my opinion). If you want a crispier cookie, you can always leave them in the oven for a few extra minutes, but I personally love soft cookies.

Whether you had a valentine or not, you can always enjoy the aftermath in the candy aisle. I stock up on chocolate bars and Hershey kisses, but I make sure to buy a few bags of M&Ms to bake with. Although these cookies are enjoyable year-round, you can't beat a handful of M&M cookies to eat with your Valentine's Day candy.

2 Cups Flour
1 T Cornstarch
¾ tsp Salt
1 tsp Baking Soda
1 ½ Sticks Butter, Softened
½ Cup Sugar
¾ Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 T Vanilla
1 Cup Mini M&Ms

Combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, and baking soda. Beat the butter, sugar, and brown sugar together until fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, then stir in the flour mixture. Fold in the M&Ms.

Scoop the dough into balls and chill until firm.

Heat oven to 350°F and line cookie trays with parchment. Place the balls of dough on the prepared trays and bake until golden, 10-12 minutes.

Makes 30
Recipe Adapted from Rachel Gurk