Sugar Cookies with M&Ms

Making cookies is easy. Making sugar cookies is even easier. You can’t possibly make a mistake. Did you put in more sugar than needed? So what? They will only be sweeter.

While other recipes might make you feel like an alchemist by how they require careful measuring and combining in a certain way, sugar cookies (like brownies) don’t need any intricate preparation or hard to get ingredients. It’s pracitcally just sugar and flour.

When I first started with this whole baking business years ago, the second cookies I ever made were these sugar cookies with M&Ms. I got the recipe from the official M&Ms site then but when I looked for it last weekend, it wasn’t there anymore. I don’t know why, I found them quite delightful. Sugar cookies, like cupcakes, usually serve as a base for some kind of decoration on their tops. In this recipe, the M&Ms on the top add cheerful colors to the cookies and make them visually very appealing. The sugar caramelizes on the edges so they are a bit crunchy for the first bite but then they turn out to be quite chewy on the inside.
Sugar Cookies with M&Ms
for about 24 cookies you will need:

When you look at them, they sorta look like surprised faces

• 250g flour 
• a teaspoon of baking soda 
• ¼ teaspoon of salt 
• 250g brown sugar 
• 140g butter, room temperature 
• 35g margarine, room temperature 
• 2 eggs 
• 150g M&M’s (two small packs) 

1.  Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two trays with baking paper. 
2. In a bowl, combine flour, baking soda and the salt. 
3. Cut the butter and margarine into smallish cubes and beat them until light in a bowl with an electric mixer. Gradually add the sugar and continue mixing until it’s nice and fluffy. Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl once in a while. 
4. Add the eggs in the sugary mixture and beat them in well. Take the flour and gradually add it into the bowl and mix until incorporated. 
5. With a tablespoon and a teaspoon, make small balls of dough and place them on the baking paper couple centimeters apart. Then take the M&Ms and press 3 or 4 on the tops of the dough balls, flattening them a bit. 
6. Bake for about 15 minutes but check around 10 if they’re already firm but bouncy (flick the top of a cookie with a spoon – if it bounces off, it’s done)