M&M Cookies

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Ballston! We are now entering COOKIE WEEK in the Holiday Saute! I want to feature some of my favorite cookie recipes, and now seems to be the perfect time to do it. Expect a few of my favorites over the next week (or week and a half). 

These M&M Cookies were actually  picked out by my husband a couple months ago, and we've made them a couple times since then. They taste great, and the chocolate M&Ms really make the cookie fantastic. Try dark M&Ms for a nice treat (I LOVE dark chocolate) or buy holiday colored M&Ms to make these cookies a little more festive!

M&M Cookies (found on  www.allrecipes.com)
Servings-About 4 dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
2 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups candy-coated milk chocolate pieces

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, mix sugar, eggs, shortening, and vanilla thoroughly. Add flour, salt, and baking soda to creamed mixture. Blend well. Add 3/4 cup of M&M candies.
2. Drop dough by teaspoonful onto cookie sheet. Slightly push a few candies on top of each dough ball with remaining candies.
3. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 9 to 11 minutes.

Rate it!:
Rating: A
Level of Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Roughly $10.00 
Cost per Serving: .21 cents per cookie
Bad Breath Factor: Not a problem.

Suggestions:
1) DO NOT OVERCOOK!!! I'm telling you-the cookies might look underdone after 9 minutes, but pull them out anyway. You do not want them to overcook, because they taste a little better chewy. Take the first batch out after 9 minutes, let them cool, and try one. You'll see what I mean. I overcooked this last batch on accident, and they were still good-but not great.
2) Use milk or dark chocolate M&Ms. We like dark. Or try festive colors for the holidays (red and green for Christmas or blue for Hanukkah, for example).
3) Kids really like these. They are pretty easy to whip up last minute, so keep these in mind for when your nieces and nephews come by for a visit. They'll love them!

These cookies are really easy, very tasty, and are a nice, colorful change from traditional chocolate chip. Try them out, you'll love them!