Slice'n Bake *M&M Cookies
My little girl loves cookies and since I have been making her be my freelance, pro-bono photographer lately, I thought these would be sufficient payment...she agreed but only if she could have a "wad of cookie dough" too! The apple doesn't fall far from the tree I tell ya!
Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or not, if you are using stone bakeware like me!...Next in a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer, beat a 1/2 cup of butter, softened then add 1/4 cup of softened shortening ("Crisco" is shortening...don't confuse it with lard, which is "Tenderflake") I find that the mixture of butter and shortening makes the cookies more chewy.
Beat this until creamy...
add a 1/2 cup of packed, dark brown sugar...
and a 1/2 cup of packed, light brown sugar (if you don't have dark brown sugar, don't panic and squeal your tires into a "Dukes of Hazzard" parking job at the grocery store to get some...just use 1 cup of light brown sugar...it's just not worth a night in the slammer!
Next, add a 1/2 cup of granulated sugar...
Beat until fluffy...
Add 1 whole egg and 1 yolk...
add 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract...mix until all blended.
In a smaller bowl, measure 2 cups, plus 3 tablespoons of all purpose flour and add a 1/2 teaspoon of salt...
...1 teaspoon of baking soda (not to be confused with baking powder) and 2 teaspoons of corn starch...Stir dry ingredients together with a fork to blend...
..add to your creamed mixture and mix just until incorporated...if you overbeat the dough, the cookies will be tough...and no one appreciates a tough cookie...especially an over worked, under paid, 8 year old photographer!
Stir in 1 package of mini *m&ms...or 3/4 of a package if you have stuffed a handful in your mouth when your daughter wasn't looking!
Plop half the dough on to a sheet of waxed paper...
...and roll into a log, folding ends of the waxed paper under to seal.
Repeat with remaining dough...put dough logs in the fridge for at least 8 hours but preferably over night (24 hours is even better!!)...this allows the cookie dough to firm up and stop your cookies from spreading out too much while baking...take note of my neatly folded waxed paper ends, my Mom would be proud!
Remove from the fridge and using a sharp knife, slice the dough into 1 inch discs...
These cookies do spread a bit so leaving a generous amount of space between dough discs is a good idea...unless you like one big cookie baked together...then it's a bad idea!
Bake in your preheated oven for approximately 10-12 minutes, watching carefully toward the end of baking time...the cookies should be golden brown around the edges but will appear to be slightly under baked in the centre...remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cooling racks where the cookies will continue to firm up as they cool.
Store in an airtight container and enjoy with a cold glass of milk...unless you are too full from eating "wads of dough" with your daughter!
Slice 'n Bake *m&m cookies
1/2 cup softened butter
1/4 cup softened shortening
1/2 cup packed, dark brown sugar
1/2 cup packed, light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 whole egg, plus 1 yolk
2 tsps. vanilla
2 cups, plus 3 tbsps. of all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsps. of corn starch
1 pkg. mini *m&ms
1. In a large bowl, cream butter and shortening...add sugars and beat until fluffy.
2. Add the whole egg, yolk and vanilla.
3. In a smaller bowl, sift the flour, salt, baking soda and corn starch together and add to creamed mixture stirring just until incorporated...stir in one bag of mini *m&ms.
4. Put half of the dough onto a sheet of waxed paper and roll up into a log...repeat with remaining dough.
5. Store in the fridge for at least 8 hours or over night (24 hours is even better as these cookies will spread out too much if not refrigerated...the flavour and texture improves greatly when the dough has been properly chilled!)
6. Remove from fridge and slice into 1 inch discs and bake in your preheated, 375 degree F oven for 10-12 minutes or until edges are golden brown and the centre is just set.
7. Remove from oven and let sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire cooling racks. Store in an airtight container. These cookies are best eaten within a day or so.
*NOTE: this recipe has been revised (May 14, 2016)...I have added a bit of cornstarch to the dry ingredients and slightly decreased the flour...the cornstarch creates a softer cookie!