Candy Corn M&M Macadamia Nut Cookies

Candy Corn M&M Macadamia Nut Cookies - made dough October 7, 2012 from Something Swanky

I have a confession to make - I made these cookies last year but they failed on me so I never blogged about them.  This breaks my rule of blogging whatever experiment I try, whether they turn out or not.  My only excuse was I was baking a lot of other things at the time that I'd rather blog about, I don't like failure, and the failure was more my fault than the recipe's.  I first discovered it on Something Swanky's blog last year.  Her blog is so amazing and the recipes always look mouthwatering.  I've tried a few and they have always turned out.  So I was in denial that this one didn't.  The failure part was all mine though because instead of using Candy Corn M&Ms, I used actual candy corn.  Just so you know, when you bake actual candy corn in a cookie, it spreads, the dye color melts all over the cookie and when the now-deformed candy corn cools, it hardens into a sticky, chewy, nasty mess.  It was just wrong.  Epic fail.

First, let's acknowledge the fact that I don't like candy corn.  I like how it looks and I like the orange and yellow colors for fall.  But I don't like that overly sweet, processed sugar taste or texture. I bought some for this recipe and I wish I hadn't.  I really did go looking for the Candy Corn M&Ms but at the time I was looking, it was close to Halloween and either my local stores didn't carry it or they were sold out.  In other words, if Target didn't have any, I wasn't able to buy them.  This year, I saw the packages of Candy Corn M&Ms at Target early on so I invested in a package just for this recipe and to see if I could redeem myself.  Because I wasn't going to try that candy corn debacle again.

The main reason I'm trying this recipe again is because the cookie part (i.e. all the parts without the candy corn) was really, really good.  So I'm back it again, this time with the proper add ins.  This is one of the rare times I'll acknowledge shortening works in a cookie recipe, partly because the recipe also contains butter for flavor and partly because the shortening helps prevent spread and gives the cooled cookie a crunch that's normally missing from an all-butter cookie.  This was pretty good with the proper M&M Candy Corn add-ins and it also pairs well with the white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts.

1/4 cup shortening
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
3/4 cup Candy Corn M&Ms
1/4 cup white chocolate chips

1. Using a paddle attachment in a stand mixer, cream together the shortening, butter, and sugar. Add egg and vanilla.
2. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until smooth dough forms. Do not overbeat.
3. Using a wooden spoon or spatula, mix in the macadamia nuts, M&Ms, and white chocolate chips.
4. Scoop by the tablespoon, and bake at 375º for 9 minutes. Let cool on cookie sheet. (Note: I always form the cookie dough into dough balls and chill or freeze them a minimum of several hours or overnight before baking.)