No worries about a white Christmas this year. Thank heaven for supremely nice neighbors with snow blowers.Best early Christmas present ever.
More time to stay inside and bake cookies, and then worry about how to deliver them.
This recipe is one I've been making since 1993 when I saw the ad in a magazine that used red and green M&M baking bits. Like many traditions, I didn't realize I was starting one until it was too late. But they turned out to be a big hit with the small children (and larger ones) on Dave's side of the family, so I kept making them. As the boys grew, they were prone to fighting over them, so I started making a double batch to keep up with demand. I realize it wasn't really the cookies themselves so much as three boys that closely spaced in age wrestling over anything not nailed down, but I started giving each of the offspring and their father their own package of cookies, so then we were up to three to four batches. Of course now there are several grands involved, so we're now at four to five batches so they have a fighting chance at getting some.
There have been challenges over the years, like when M&M baking bits stopped being available in local grocery stores -- not just the green and red ones but ANY baking bits. I had to turn to an off brand supplier from overseas via Amazon to make them for a few years. And then there was the year the squirrel tore into the Amazon package, the one and only time we've ever had a package attacked by squirrels, This one seems to have gone into a sugar frenzy, but thankfully the packages were individually wrapped so not all was lost.
Luckily M&M baking bits returned to stores eventually, and although the pandemic posed supply chain issues, they weren't insurmountable.
So as a first annual installment of my multitude of Christmas cookie recipes, here are the M&M cookies. I know they aren't everyone's must have, but they're a reliable kid pleaser, and they provide a splash of color to the cookie tray.
Peanut butter M&M cookies
From an ad in Midwest Living magazine, Dec. 1993. If you can find the green and red holiday version, they're more Christmasy, but they'll disappear readily either way.
Ingredients
1¾ cup flour
¾ teaspoon salt
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup peanut butter (I use chunky style)
1¼ cup brown sugar
½ cup shortening
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 egg, beaten
1 cup M&M baking bits, plus more for garnish
Method
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine flour, salt and baking soda in medium
bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine peanut butter, brown sugar and shortening. Cream until fluffy. Add milk, vanilla and egg. Mix well. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until blended. Stir in 1 cup baking bits.
Using a teaspoon (the kind you eat with, not a measuring teaspoon), form balls of cookie dough and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet two inches apart. Press additional M&M bits onto the cookie surface. Bake until they get the slightest hint of browning and are set. The original recipe said 6 to 7 minutes but I’ve found setting the timer for 9 minutes works well in my oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes at least 36, depending on how big you make them. If they're smaller, you can eat more of them, right?
Rating: Better than the gas station variety, certainly. A reliable delivery device for peanut butter and chocolate. After 29 years, I can't imagine not making them.
A few other holiday cookies:
Almond double (or triple) deckers
