Christmas M&M Cookies with Glossy Candy Tops

Most Christmas M&M cookies come out of the oven with cracked, dull candies on top, because the M&Ms went onto the raw dough and baked for 12 minutes. This version mixes red and green M&Ms through a thick, chewy brown sugar dough and saves the candies for the top until after baking, when the cookies are still hot and soft. The shells stay shiny and whole. One batch makes 24 cookies in about 1½ hours, 30 minutes of it chilling.

I scoop this dough once, in early December. The balls wait in the freezer, and a dozen gets baked whenever a cookie exchange, a school party or a neighbor’s tin comes up. The candies do all the decorating. There is no icing to pipe and nothing to dry overnight, which makes these one of the few easy Christmas cookies that still look like they came from a bakery case. Kids can do the pressing.

Brown Sugar, an Extra Yolk and a Little Cornstarch

Chew comes from moisture. Most of it comes from brown sugar. This dough uses 1 cup of packed light brown sugar against only ½ cup of white sugar. Brown sugar holds on to water, so the centers stay soft for days, and its molasses adds a caramel note.

The extra egg yolk adds fat without the water of a second whole egg, so the crumb is richer and less cakey. Two teaspoons of cornstarch keep the middle tender and help the cookies stand tall. Butter matters too. Use it at cool room temperature, about 65°F, so it dents under a finger but does not look shiny. Warm, greasy butter is the main reason drop cookies spread thin.

Mixing the Dough Without Crushing the Candy

Beat the butter with both sugars for 2 minutes on medium, until it looks paler and fluffy. Add the egg, the yolk and the vanilla, then scrape the bowl once so no butter hides at the bottom. Add the flour mixture on low speed and stop the mixer the moment the dry streaks disappear. More mixing builds gluten, and the cookies turn bready.

Fold in 1 cup of the M&Ms by hand with a spatula. A mixer chips the candy shells, and broken shells bleed red and green dye into the dough. Keep the other ½ cup for the tops. I buy the holiday bags of red and green, but a regular bag sorted by color works just as well.

Scoop Tall and Chill for 30 Minutes

A 3 tablespoon cookie scoop gives balls of about 50 grams. Roll each one between your palms so it stands taller than it is wide. A tall ball bakes into a thick cookie with a soft middle. A flat puck bakes into a thin one.

Set the balls on a parchment lined sheet and chill them for 30 minutes, because cold dough holds its shape longer in the oven and the edges set before the butter has a chance to melt out. Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) while they rest, and bake 12 per half sheet pan, about 2 inches apart.

Pressing the Candies In While the Cookies Are Hot

Bake for 11 to 13 minutes. Pull the pan when the edges are light golden and the centers look puffy and a little underdone. They keep cooking on the hot metal, and a cookie that looks fully done inside the oven is dry by morning.

Work fast. Within the first minute, press 4 or 5 of the reserved M&Ms into the top of each cookie while the surface is still soft. They sink in just enough to stay put, and they stay glossy because they never sat through the oven heat. Mix red and green on every cookie.

Leave the cookies on the pan for 10 minutes. Before that they are too soft to lift and will tear. Then slide them onto a wire rack to cool completely, and bake the second tray.

When the Cookies Go Wrong

Flat, Greasy Cookies

Two usual causes. The butter was too warm, or the dough skipped the chill. Too little flour spreads them as well, so spoon the flour into the cup and level it, or weigh it at 344 grams. If the first tray spreads, give the rest of the dough 15 more minutes in the fridge.

Cracked or Faded Candy Shells

Candies baked on top of raw dough crack in the heat, and the color can fade. Press the top candies on after baking. The ones inside may crack too. Nobody sees them.

Hard Cookies on Day Two

They baked a minute or two too long. Pull the next batch while the centers still look soft. Rescue a tin with a slice of sandwich bread overnight; the cookies pull moisture from it.

Freezing the Dough Balls for December

Scoop and roll the whole batch, freeze the balls on a sheet pan until hard, about 1 hour, then move them to a freezer bag. They keep for 3 months. Bake them straight from frozen at 350°F and add 1 to 2 minutes. No thawing needed. Baked cookies freeze for 1 month in an airtight container. Thaw them with the lid on, so condensation forms on the container, not on the M and M cookies.

Packing a Cookie Tray or Gift Tin

These cookies are sturdy and flat, so they go at the bottom of a tin with lighter cookies on top. Line the tin with parchment and stand them on their edges in rows. On a tray they sit well next to crisp Christmas butter cookies, jam filled Christmas thumbprint cookies and peanut butter blossoms, while a few chocolate chip meringues add something light and white. More ways to wrap them: these Christmas cookie packaging ideas.

Kept airtight at room temperature, like most M&M cookies, they stay soft for 4 days. Save the recipe, and tell me in the comments which tray they landed on.