M&M Cookies (fluffy and puffy and wonderful)

My baby girl calls these chocolate candies that melt in your mouth - not in your hand - "MM's."

Well, I turned this package of MM's into some totally awesome cookies.

I have Pinterest to thank.  Yet again.

So here's the thing with these cookies: they don't spread too much, they remain soft and light and puffy (not cakey at all), and they were pretty much perfect.

I pick my cookies by what the bottom looks like.  This one's pretty much perfect: lots of M&M's and chocolate chips and perfectly under-baked.

I don't do cakey cookies.  And I don't do cookies that spread out too much and get too thin.

The secret to these cookies is sort of weird, but it totally worked.  Dry instant vanilla pudding powder.

Random, I know.

But pudding mix contains cornstarch, and cornstarch has a wonderful effect on cookies.  A chewy, gooey, puffy, not-thin-at-all effect.

You don't have to chill this dough.  You don't have to do anything except cream the butter and sugar,

add the egg and vanilla,

and then stir in the MM's, chocolate chips, flour, soda & salt until it's all just combined.

Drop them on a sheet tray and bake for 11 minutes.  They will look a bit underdone when you take them out, but they will continue to cook on the hot cookie sheet AND they will set up as they cool.

Perfect.

I used a medium cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons of dough) and got about 18 cookies out of this recipe.

M&M Cookies (fluffy and puffy)
Adapted from Picky Palate

2 sticks (1 cup) butter (cold or room temp - it doesn't really matter; just don't melt it)
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 T (yes, that's Tablespoon) vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 3/4 cups PLUS 2 T flour
6 T dry instant vanilla pudding mix
12 oz. package mini M&M's (about 1 3/4 cups)
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Cream together the butter and both sugars until completely combined - you will have one homogeneous mixture.  Add the eggs and vanilla and combine.  Add the baking soda, salt, flour and pudding mix.  Pulse your mixer a few times until almost combined (you don't want to over-mix the dough at this point).  Add the M&M's and chocolate chips and stir together by hand.

Drop in mounds on baking sheet covered in parchment paper.  I used a medium cookie scoop, which is about 2 T dough.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 9-11 minutes.  Take them out when they look undercooked - they will continue to cook and set up as they cool.  Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet and then transfer the parchment paper to a counter for the cookies to finish cooling.