peanut butter and mini m&m cookies

You know the feeling. It’s a Saturday night; it’s cold, damp and dark outside. The forecast says “rain”. You don’t feel like going out. All you want to do is spend time cosying up in front of the fire, watching Saturday night movies, and munching on something, anything, just because.

As I sat there, watching dare I say it High School Musical 3 on TV, I thought to myself, what better time than the present to do some baking? I’ll tell you why. It gets you up and about (albeit the kitchen), away from watching High School Musical (I know, secretly, I love it), you’re saving money (for a few $ you get way more biscuits than in a pack of Tim Tams!) and all the ingredients are household staples (except maybe the mini m&ms. I’m lucky I work in market research and sometimes, we get to keep the leftover stimulus.)

These peanut butter cookies take no time at all to whip up and trust me, it’s fun. Ok, so it might take a tiny bit of prep time and you have to then roll the mixture into balls and wait for them to bake but then you get to reap the reward of lovingly and painstakingly making them by gobbling them up. Another plus of baking cookies yourself is you know what’s in them. Yes, you can eat a few of these and not feel guilty. I feel your scepticism rising in your bones. I know you’ve raised your eye brows at me. How can I not feel guilty eating a handful of cookies? Because in my version I’ve adapted, I lessened the sugar content and added in chocolate. Eating chocolate causes our brain to stimulate endorphins, endorphins make you happy. Therefore, chocolate makes you happy. Also, the smell of fresh cookies wafting through your kitchen alone will have you salivating and thanking me for encouraging you to bake your own. 

So what are you waiting for?

peanut butter and mini m&m cookies

adapted from the Woolworths Good Taste magazine, April 1997, Page 76

Recipe by Anneka Manning

preparation time | 15 minutes

cooking time | 15 minutes

makes | about 40 small cookies, about 35 bigger ones

125g butter or margarine, at room temperature

275g (1 cup) crunchy peanut butter

150g (3/4 cup, firmly packed) brown sugar

1 egg

260g (1 3/4 cups) plain flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup (2 tubes) mini m&ms

1| Preheat oven to 180°C (or 160°C fan forced). Line a baking tray with non-stick baking paper.

2 | Beat the butter or margarine and peanut butter in a mixing bowl with electric beaters until creamy (around 1-2 minutes). Add the brown sugar and beat until pale (around 2-3 minutes). Add the egg and beat until combined. Sift the plain flour and baking powder together. Using a wooden spoon, mix the dry ingredients and mini m&ms into the peanut butter mixture. 

3| Lightly flour your hands then roll tablespoonfuls of the mixture into balls and flatten in the palm of your hand to about 5cm in diameter and 1 cm thick. Place onto tray about 4 cm apart on the baking tray you prepared earlier. Bake in preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until golden and cooked through. Stand on baking tray for 5 minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with the remaining mixture. You can store the cookies in an airtight jar for up to 1 week (if they last that long!)

For extra crunch, add in 1/2 cup unsalted peanuts, roughly chopped, when mixing the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture.