4th of July M&M Cookies

4th of July M&M Cookies - made dough July 1, 2017, adapted from Buns in My Oven (originally titled Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies)

In the interests of being holiday appropriate, I redirected this recipe for chocolate chip cookies to be 4^th of July M&M cookies to take to a barbecue on Independence Day. I’m late blogging it but timely in making it on the right day. The original recipe says you don't have to chill the dough. I re-wrote the directions to chill because that's what I always do, regardless of the recipe, but feel free to follow the original directions if you want more immediate gratification.

As I’ve blogged about multiple times before (you’ve only to search for “M&M cookies” on my blog to see how many times), I cheat by using holiday M&Ms to make cookies or other baked goods appropriate for the holidays. Red and green for Christmas, pink, red and white for Valentine’s Day, fall M&Ms for Halloween and, of course, red, white and blue M&Ms for 4^th of July. It’s an easy cheat and saves you (me) the trouble of messing about with food coloring or other decorations.

Plus, M&Ms are easy to add to cookie dough in addition or in lieu of chocolate chips. Just be sure you reserve some to press on the outside of the cookie dough balls after you form them and before you freeze them before baking.

I didn’t time these in the oven – what else is new – but just went by appearance. Once the edges had browned and the middles didn’t look raw anymore, I took them out of the oven, maybe around 10-11 minutes in my oven on the convection setting. Overall, I thought they were pretty good. Because I didn’t bake them for very long, they were of chewy and moist, almost like baked on the outside with a cookie dough texture on the inside. The nice part is they’re very versatile so you can make these with just chocolate chips or with any color/flavor M&Ms you choose.

8 tablespoons butter, melted and browned
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 egg
1 2/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup M&Ms

1. Combine browned butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar and espresso powder (if using); beat until well combined.
2. Beat in the vanilla and egg until just combined.
3. Add flour, baking soda and salt; mix until just combined. Do not overbeat.
4. Stir in the chocolate chips and half of the M&Ms. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls and press remaining M&Ms on the outside of each dough ball. Cover, chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space chilled or frozen dough balls on baking sheets and bake for 10-11 minutes, until edges are golden brown and middles are just barely no longer raw. Do not overbake. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.