20 Sweets in 20 Weeks - #9: Slice and Bake M&M Cookies

I couldn't believe it when we had a draw with last week's poll - 12 votes for glazed lemon and 12 votes for M&M's. I had to make the executive decision and since I am trying to lose weight I decided that I should make the ones that Zoe was more likely to want for her morning tea, in the hopes that would stop me from eating them all. And so I decided upon M&M's - and just as a side note they are named M&M's after the initials of the owners of the recipe/company Forrest Mars Sr. and R. Bruce Murrie. So there you go.

Now on to the cookies. These were really easy to make, the dough took about 5 minutes to put together and then I just left it in the fridge overnight, sliced it up the next day, baked and voila! Done. Unfortunately though I am not a huge fan of these - I don't mind the taste so much, I mean who can say no to M&M's. But the texture of these cookies I am not a fan of. I don't really know how to describe it other than a bit chalky - if that makes any sense at all. Zoe seems to like them though - so I guess that is the most important thing. Oh, and I also discovered that a very small handful of M&M's is a good way to make a toddler very happy and busy for quite some time. So without further ado, the recipe...

 

Slice and Bake M&M Cookies (from The Australian Women's Weekly - Cookies)
Makes 48

250g unsalted butter, softened
200g icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
300g plain flour
75g rice flour
50g corn flour
70g mini M&M's (I used 150g of normal size M&M's instead)
2 tbsp milk

1. Beat butter, sifted icing sugar and extract in small bowl with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Transfer to large bowl; stir in sifted flours and M&M's, in two batches, then milk.
2. Divide mixture in half. Knead each half on floured surface until smooth, then roll each half into 25cm logs. Wrap each log in baking paper; refrigerate about 1 hour or until firm (I left mine overnight).
3. Preheat oven to 160C. Grease oven trays; line with baking paper.
4. Cut the logs into 1cm slices; place about 3cm apart on oven trays. Bake about 20 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

 Cookie dough all wrapped up.

Pretty M&M colours in the cookie dough.

Sliced cookie dough waiting to be baked.

The end result - M&M cookies.