Now that St. Patrick's Day is over, it's time to jump the gun on the Easter bunny and get these pastels a'hoppin! St. Patrick's Day is one holiday every year that I have grand plans to craft for but before I know it, it's March and my prop shelves have already been taken over by mini cadbury eggs and all hope is lost. But hey, in the famous wise words of my sister, "you win some, you lose some". She usually says that phrase when I ask her to get me a glass of water & she declines, but that's besides the point.
I'm not going to go on and on about these easter egg cookies today, because they are essentially the same thing as the Mega M&M cookies from last month - just with peanut butter m&m eggs instead. Same cookies, different shape.
Most people probably think that sugar cookies are the only cookies that can be cut in fun shapes, but these are here to prove that wrong. After scooping the dough, I simply pressed each ball of dough into a egg shaped cookie cutter, flattened out the top, and then popped it right out. No rolling or sticky surfaces, just a little improvising to turn the cookie cutter into more of a mold. And bam, we've got Easter egg cookies!
The cookies will expand quite a bit while baking, so I used a 3" tall egg cookie cutter to shape the dough. I found this size to work well to still create a big, yet thick cookie.
Once fresh out of the oven, I popped on a few candy eggs (shown here are Easter themed peanut butter m&ms) to give the cookies some color. Aren't these neon colors of m&m's fun? Turquoise? Yes, please and thank you.
These cookies are best served warm with milk, but you can also make them ahead of time and pop them into the freezer. I honestly can't decide what is better - hot cookies or half-frozen cookies. So different, yet so good.
Chocolate Chip M&M Easter Egg Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter softened
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 3.5oz. packet instant vanilla pudding mix (not sugar-free or cook & serve)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup crushed peanut butter egg M&M's
- ½ cup whole peanut butter egg M&M's
- ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
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Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together softened unsalted butter (¾ cup, i.e., 1 ½ sticks), granulated sugar (½ cup), and light brown sugar (½ cup) with an electric mixer for 30 seconds. Add egg (1 large) and stir until combined.
- On low speed, add in vanilla extract (¾ teaspoon) and instant vanilla pudding mix (1, 3.5-ounce box). Add baking soda (¾ teaspoon) and stir for 10 seconds. Slowly add in all-purpose flour (1 ½ cups) and mix for 30 seconds, or until the dough is combined. On low speed, add in crushed peanut butter egg M&M's (½ cup) and mini semi-sweet chocolate chips (½ cup) and mix until incorporated.
- Scoop and roll into 3-tablespoon sized balls and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet. Press each dough ball into a 3" egg shaped cookie cutter, flattening out the tops of each cookie so they look like smooth, thick dough eggs. Place pan in the refrigerator for 1 hour to chill.
- Bake at 350℉ for 10-12 minutes or until edges start to brown (mine took about 12 minutes, but you will want to watch your oven for doneness).
- Immediately after removing from the oven, press whole peanut butter M&M eggs (½ cup) into the tops of each one. Allow for the cookies to continue to cool on baking sheet for 5-10 minutes until removing cookies from the baking sheet.
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Nutrition
I'm not sure how the cookie cutter trick would work with other shapes (I'd imagine not very well with the spreading), but it sure works good for creating round-ish easter egg cookies. I'm about half-way through the cookie decorating course I mentioned a few posts back, so don't be surprised if sugar cookies start popping up around here soon. I'm not sure how pretty they'll look, but if I have to spend a weekend in the kitchen fighting with royal icing, I'll do it. Operation: Cookies has begun and there's no turning back now.