Lollipop Cookies

It's been toooooo long! Let's see what happen in the last 1-1/2 year ... I got pregnant and baby was born 4 months ago. It was much more tiring then my previous pregnancy ... and the smell of food just didn't do it for me. I stopped baking for a while, then I got lazy ... and lazier and lazier, haha!

Recently, Kaelen's school approached me to contribute food to their school carnival, I decided to make something that the kids like. I made M&M lollipop cookies for sales. Mom said that my cookies were too expensive - 1 for $2.50! I was worried that they be difficult to sell, guess what?? They were gone in 1-1/2 hrs.

M&M's® Cookies:

2 cups (260 grams) all purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (170 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup (130 grams) granulated white sugar
2/3 cup (140 grams) firmly packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (200 grams) M&M's® or Smarties® candies

Method

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Place one oven rack in the top third of the oven, and one oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.

In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy (about 2 - 3 minutes). Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the egg and egg yolk, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.

Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and beat just until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Form dough into balls, using 1/4 cup (50 grams) for each cookie. Place six balls of dough on each baking sheet. Gently flatten each ball of dough into a 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round. Completely cover the tops of the cookies with the M&M's® or Smarties®. Gently press the candies into the dough. Bake the cookies for about 15-17 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time. The cookies are done when they are light golden brown in color and just set. They will still seem a little soft but they will firm up as they cool. Remove from oven and let the cookies cool a few minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

Makes about 12 large cookies.