M&M Cookies

These easy one-bowl cookies make the best gifts and add nostalgia to any cookie plate. But they’re also great for when you just want a really good homemade cookie as quickly as possible. This part is essential: The butter must be soft enough to whisk by hand. Use butter that’s been sitting at room temperature for a long while, even overnight or up to 24 hours. Chopping the M&M’s into rainbow shards creates a more even distribution of chocolate and candy coating throughout the dough. When these cookies bake, they will rise slightly then fall as they cool, one of the most beautiful indicators of deep chewiness.

Ingredients

• ½

  cup/115 grams unsalted butter, very soft

• 1

  cup/200 grams granulated sugar

• ¼

  packed cup/57 grams dark brown sugar

• 1

  large egg, at room temperature

• 1

  tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1

  teaspoon kosher salt (Diamond Crystal) or ¾ teaspoon coarse kosher salt

• ¼

  teaspoon baking soda

• 1 ½

  cups/185 grams all-purpose flour

• ½

  cup/96 grams M&M’s

Preparation

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 large sheet pans with parchment.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, sugars, egg, vanilla and salt by hand until smooth and fluffy, at least 1 minute. Whisk in the baking soda, then switch to a rubber spatula. Add the flour, then carefully and coarsely chop the M&M’s, and add them, too. Gently stir to combine. Place the bowl in the refrigerator while you wait for the oven to finish heating.
3. Using two spoons or a cookie scoop, plop out 2-tablespoon/50-gram rounds spaced a couple of inches apart on the sheet pans. (You should get about 8 cookies per pan.) Bake until lightly golden at the edges, 10 to 12 minutes. Let cool completely on the sheet pan; they will continue to cook as they sit.