When I was in 7th grade, I traveled to Annapolis for a “B” Buster swim meet(I won’t go into details about what that means, but it was meet for the slower kids). It was one of the most memorable swimming competitions I had ever participated in. Whenever I see my coach, Karen, she reminds me about that trip. She always tells me that you would have thought I won an Olympic gold medal due to my excitement over the course of the weekend. After finals one night, I have a distinct memory of walking around downtown in Annapolis and getting the largest, warmest, most delicious cookie I have ever tasted from a local bakery. It was an M & M cookie, I am pretty sure that was one of the only times I gravitated from a classic chocolate chip cookie, it just looked that good.
Last week, I got a real craving for M & M cookies, I’m not sure why, but I just had to have some in our cookie jar. I took our very favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe that we adore and replaced the chips with M & M’s. The secret ingredient is the cornstarch, it makes them so chewy and puffy. Once I tried these, I have never turned back. The great part about M&M cookies is that they are usually festive for any holiday or celebration you have coming up. They have been slowly quickly disappearing from our cookie jar, both of us have been trying to hold off, but they are just too good. Blair is convinced that I put crack into these cookies, and sometimes I wonder that myself!
Chewy M&M Cookies
Ingredients:
3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 egg
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. cornstarch
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups M &Ms
What you’ll do:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy and light in color. Add egg and vanilla and blend in. Mix in flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Stir in the M & M pieces. Using a standard-sized cookie scoop or tablespoon, drop dough onto a prepared baking sheet. Press down slightly with the palm of your hand to flatten. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges. (The tops will not brown, but do not cook longer than ten minutes). Let cool on the sheet for five minutes. Remove from baking sheet and let cool completely.