Chewy M&M Sugar Cookies

I totally admit it. I am addicted. To Pinterest. That site is AMAZING. You can find anything and everything on there. All kinds of DIY crafts, hairstyle ideas, funny quotes and saying, and of course recipes. Tons and tons of wonderful recipes. It's like foodie heaven. Where would I be today if I didn't have Pinterest?! (I'm sure my family will tell you I would not be by my computer as much, haha!)

Anyway, I currently have 225 pins up on my DESSERT board. I am a sucker for a yummy looking picture and a promising recipe. This recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures (love her blog!) caught my eye and I wanted to give it a try. My kids love M&M's and they love sugar cookies. I thought it was a great combination of the two. It incorporates cream cheese and melted butter so of course it's gonna be good! It ended up being a softer, fluffier, chewier M&M cookie versus the ones you can buy at the store that are hard and crunchy. I love me a soft cookie!

It's also my Mom's Birthday next week but she'll be in Utah on vacation for the actual day so I wanted to send her an early package. I found her a really cute gift and put in some of these cookies into a box and shipped it off to good 'ol Mesa, Arizona where I'm from. The best part is, these cookies will stay nice and soft until she gets them!

Chewy M&M Sugar Cookies:
recipe source: Tracey's Culinary Adventures
Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups sugar + 1/3 cup for rolling
• 2 oz. cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces (I used light cream cheese and it came out great)
• 6 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and still warm
• 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
• 1 large egg, at room temperature
• 1 Tbsp. milk
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1-1 1/4 cups M&M Candies

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Combine 1 1/2 cups of sugar and cream cheese in a large bowl (no need to stir them together yet). Put the remaining 1/3 cup sugar in a pie plate and set aside. Pour the warm butter over the cream cheese mixture and whisk to combine - the mixture won't be completely smooth yet, that's fine. Whisk in the oil then the egg, milk and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.

Use a rubber spatula to start folding the dry ingredients into the wet. When the dry ingredients are partially incorporated, add 3/4 cup of the M&M's to the dough. Continue mixing until a soft dough comes together. (Don't wait to add the M&M's until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated - you'll end up overmixing.)

Portion the dough onto the prepared baking sheets with a cookie scoop, using about 2 tablespoons for each cookie. Working quickly (if you handle the dough too much you're more likely to wind up with flat cookies), roll the dough into a ball with your hands then roll in the sugar set aside in the pie plate previously. Repeat until you've used all of the dough, placing 12 cookies on each baking sheet. Use the bottom of a glass to flatten the dough balls into discs that are about 2 inches in diameter. Gently press 2 or 3 more M&M's into the top of each cookie. (I waited to press the candies in until after they were cooked because otherwise the M&M's melted a bit and cracked, which wasn't as pretty :)

Bake the cookies, 1 tray at a time, for about 11-13 minutes, or until the edges are set. The tops will be puffy and slightly cracked. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack (press in 2-3 M&M's now...) and let the cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes then transfer them to the rack to cool completely.

Makes about 24 delicious cookies

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