Soft M&M Cookies

Ingredients

Buy

• 2 large  eggs
• 3.4 oz.  instant pudding mix  1 small box
• 3/4 cup  MM candies I used M&M minis
• MM candies for garnishing dough balls up to 1/3 cup
• sprinkles

On Hand

• 1 cup unsalted butter  at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar  packed
• 1/2 cup  granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons  vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon  baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon fine grain salt

Instructions

• Line 2 or more large baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter , brown sugar , and granulated sugar . Beat well until creamy and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat until well incorporated. Scrape down the bowl and mix again briefly.
• In a separate mixing bowl, combine the flour , baking soda , salt , and the dry pudding mix. Whisk well to combine. Add the dry mixture to the creamed butter mixture and beat until a lightly golden-hued dough is formed. Scrape down the bowl and mix again briefly. Add the 3/4 cup of M&Ms. Fold in using a rubber spatula.
• Portion the dough by level 1/4 cup measures, or with a standard-size trigger ice cream scoop (which has 1/4 cup capacity) onto the prepared baking sheets. Space them at least 2 inches apart (fit no more than 6 dough mounds to a 13×9 baking sheet, or 4 mounds to be extra-sure cookies won’t spread into each other). Dot the tops of the dough mounds with more M&M candies. Refrigerate dough mounds on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, or speed chill time by freezing them for 7-10 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• Bake the cookies for about 13-14 minutes, or until they are well spread and slightly mounded in their centers. Bang the pan on the countertop once to flatten the centers slightly. The edges should look set and matte, while the middles will look pale and slightly under baked. Don’t overbake.
• Remove the cookies from the oven. They will be loose and pliable, and will need to remain on the baking sheets for 10-12 minutes, or until firm enough to transfer to wire racks for cooling. (See recipe notes or blog post for perfectly round cookie hack, while cookies are still hot on the pan.)
• Store cookies air-tight, in a zip-top bag or in a large resealable plastic container.