M&M's® Cookies are so cool looking.
I love how the candies
are sitting right on top of each cookie rather than being buried in the
dough like with a chocolate chip cookie. Kids especially like these giant cookies with their crisp
edges and soft and chewy centers. The batter is actually a
chocolate chip
cookie batter, only we are replacing the chocolate chips with M&M's®
candies.
M&M's®
candies
are small rounds of milk chocolate covered in a hard candy coating with an
"M" printed in the center of each candy. They were the invention
of Forrest Mars Sr. The story
goes that Forrest Mars traveled to Spain during the Spanish Civil War and
noticed that the soldiers were eating small rounds of milk chocolate
that were covered with a hard sugar coating which prevented the
chocolate from melting (aka Nestle Smarties® ). He decided to invent a similar type of candy with
his partner, Bruce Murrie, who was the son
of the president of Hershey chocolate company. The M&M's®
name was the product of combining the first letters of their last names (Mars and Murrie's). M&M's®
started production in 1940 and were actually part of American soldier's rations
during the Second World War. By the late 1940s they were widely available
to the public and were an instant hit. Fast forward to today and both
M&M's® and Nestle Smarties®
are still going strong. If you have tasted both you know that although
they may look similar, their texture and taste are different as they
each use their own brand of milk chocolate and the candy coatings are
also different. Both, though, have yellow, red, green, blue, and orange colored
candies, but Smarties®
also has pink and purple candies. While I could talk all day about these
two candies, what I will say is that I enjoy these cookies topped with
either candy.
M&M's®
Cookies: Preheat oven to 350
degrees F (177 degrees C). Place one
oven rack in the top third of the oven, and one oven rack in the bottom third of
the oven. Line
two baking
sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl,
whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of
your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugars until
light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg
and egg yolk, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.
Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat
just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. (If batter
is soft, cover and refrigerate for 30 to 60 minutes or until firm.)
Using a 1/4 cup
(60 ml), an ice cream scoop, or two spoons, form batter into large balls. Place
six balls of dough on each baking sheet. Gently flatten each ball of dough into
a 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round. Completely cover the tops of the cookies with the
M&M's® or Smarties®.
Gently press the candies into the dough. Bake the cookies for about 14 - 17 minutes,
rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time. The cookies are done
when they are light golden brown in color and just set around the edges. They will still seem a
little soft in the center but they will firm up as they cool. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few
minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
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