I love the beautiful decorated versions of Christmas cookies that probably take hours to make. Nonetheless, I don't have that kind of time, and the cookies often are tasteless--lovely to look at, but not so much to eat. Now I have fewer people around to eat the cookies, pretty or not. So this year I plan to make only a few varieties that I know people really like. Some of the cookies we'll eat, and some of them we'll share--from a distance. Below, I'm posting one of my favorite cookie recipes. It's easy, kid and adult friendly, and mixes up in about 10 minutes. If you want a fancier holiday appearance, feel free to use holiday colored M&Ms. I use what I have on hand or can find at the market. No one is likely to complain. They'll just have another cookie. Maybe with ice cream...
Peanut Butter M&M Cookies -- Makes about 30
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 egg
1 cup of flour
1/3 cup of white whole-wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1 1/2 cups of peanut M&Ms or similar
2 tablespoons of sugar (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, mix the sugars, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, and egg until thoroughly combined. Stir in the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt until just combined. Stir in the peanut M&Ms. Drop dough by 1 1/2 tablespoons on the prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 2 inches in between each cookie. Flatten the dough just a bit with your hand or a glass. Sprinkle a little sugar on the top of each cookie, if you like. Bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes until just golden (less time for chewier cookies, more for crunchy ones). Let the cookies cool a few minutes before removing them from the cookie sheets to cool completely.
