Unfortunately, Valentine’s Day only comes around once a year. That means, that this may be your only chance, to enjoy these nutty peanut butter cup cookies chock-full of festive holiday M&M’s. So, if you love festive holiday-themed cookies, make sure to share a few of these sweet, over-loaded with goodness, irresistible M&M cookies with your special Valentine.
This is what happens pretty much every single year when Christmas rolls around. One, I buy way too many bags of seasonal M&M’s, planning to use them in my holiday baking. Two, I casually open one bag of M&M’s just for a small little sample of the goods, only to find myself polishing off the entire bag all by myself. Three, I tell myself that I will not allow myself to open any other bags of M&M’s unless I am actually using them in my baking. Four, I go back to the store to buy more bags of seasonal M&M’s because I apparently have no willpower whatsoever. Five, I find myself with way too many bags of M&M’s after the holidays are over, which leads to me standing in my kitchen dividing them into individual bowls of red and green M&M’s; red for Valentine’s Day and green for St. Patrick’s Day. Now maybe you understand why I rarely ever feel the need to actually purchase a bag of Valentine’s Day-themed M&M’s. For those of you with more willpower than I, feel free to go ahead and buy an actual bag of Valentine’s Day M&M’s to bake these cookies. Heck, if I were you, I’d make sure to pick up at least three bags. Those lil’ suckers are just too good to resist.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
- 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg, Room Temperature
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Cup of M&M’s
- 1/2 Cup Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (See Suggestions)
- 1/2 Cup Dry Roasted Peanuts, Chopped
- Additional M&M’s, Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, or Dry Roasted Peanuts for Garnish
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars for 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Add egg, mix for 1 minute.
- Add vanilla, mix for 1 minute.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture slowly to the butter mixture at low speed, mixing just until the flour is incorporated.
- Mix in the M&M’s, peanut butter cups, and chopped peanuts with a silicone spatula.
- Use a cookie scoop to drop large tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Garnish each cookie with a few extra M&M’s, peanut butter cups, or peanuts.
- Bake the cookies for 8 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
Suggestions:
- I used Trader Joe’s “Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups” for this recipe. They are tiny, delicious, extremely adorable, and perfect to use in cookies because they require no additional chopping. If you don’t have these available, you can swap in any type or brand of peanut butter cups, roughly chopped.
- Even though your oven may state that it is 350 degrees, it will often be either more hot or cold than it is registering. That’s why the baking time may vary between 8 and 12 minutes, depending on what your oven feels like doing on that particular day. I suggest checking the cookies every 2 minutes after 8 minutes of baking. The top of each cookie should be puffed up and no longer appear wet.
- This recipe will yield approximately 2 dozen cookies.
Improvements:
- Replace the peanut butter cups with peanut butter baking chips and milk chocolate baking chips.
- Use different M&M’s to celebrate a variety of holidays. Black and orange for Halloween, red and green for Christmas, or red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July. With seasonal M&M’s readily available, the sky is really the limit.
- Instead of adding additional M&M’s, peanut butter cups, or peanuts as a garnish, use festive holiday sprinkles instead.
- CLICK HERE to check out all of our amazing past cookie recipes. You’ll find a special table of contents just for our Valentine’s Day cookies.
Ingredients:
- 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
- 1/3 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg, Room Temperature
- 1 Teaspoon Vanilla
- 1 1/4 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 1 Tablespoon Corn Starch
- 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 1/2 Cup of M&M’s
- 1/2 Cup Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups (See Suggestions)
- 1/2 Cup Dry Roasted Peanuts, Chopped
- Additional M&M's, Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, or Dry Roasted Peanuts for Garnish
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars for 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Add egg, mix for 1 minute.
- Add vanilla, mix for 1 minute.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture slowly to the butter mixture at low speed, mixing just until the flour is incorporated.
- Mix in the M&M’s, peanut butter cups, and chopped peanuts with a silicone spatula.
- Use a cookie scoop to drop large tablespoonfuls of cookie dough onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Garnish each cookie with a few extra M&M's, peanut butter cups, or peanuts.
- Bake the cookies for 8 to 12 minutes, or until cooked through. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.
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Amish Buttermilk Vanilla Sundae Cookies
White Chocolate Red Velvet Cake Mix Cookies
Chocolate-Covered Cherry Bon Bon Cookies
Whether you’re looking for a rich and decadent chocolate treat, a buttery shortbread cookie, or something with a hint of fruity sweetness, we’ve got you covered with our list of “14 Valentine’s Day Cookies You’ll Love at First Bite.” From classic favorites to unique and easy-to-make recipes, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. So grab your apron and get ready to whip up some love-filled treats that will have your Valentine falling head over heels at first bite. CLICK HERE for the recipes.
OUR FAVORITE PAST SWEET VALENTINE’S DAY RECIPES
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Chocolate Chip Strawberry Cake Mix Cookies
Vanilla Bean Cherry Chocolate Kiss Cookies
Strawberry Dark Chocolate Shortbread Biscuits
Chocolate Covered Sunflower Seed Krispies Bars
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Please make sure to check out the other great “Valentine’s Day – Sweets & Cocktails” recipes below. A huge thanks to An Affair from the Heart for hosting this #ValentineSweets event.
- An Affair from the Heart – Valentine Oreo Bark
- Fresh April Flours – Red Velvet Bundt Cake
- Hostess At Heart – Easy Valentine’s Day Fudge Recipe
- Lemon Blossoms – Pink Champagne Cake
- Family Around the Table – Chocolate Peanut Butter Bundt Cake with Peanut Butter Glaze
- A Day in the Life on the Farm – Chocolate Cheesecake
- Daily Dish Recipes – Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes
- The Fresh Cooky – Red Velvet Donuts
- Devour Dinner – Dessert Charcuterie Board
- Jolene’s Recipe Journal – Copycat Flaky Puffs
- Art of Natural Living – Bailey’s Chocolate Martini
- Jen around the world – Strawberry Mojito Mocktail
- Kathryn’s Kitchen Blog – Sugar Cookie Bars
- Soulfully Made – Easy Red Velvet Brownies
- The Redhead Baker – Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Layer Cake
- Magical Ingredients – Soft White Chocolate Strawberry Fudge
- Take Two Tapas – Valentine’s Pretzel Hugs
- SueBee Homemaker – Chocolate Cake for Two
- Palatable Pastime – Strawberry White Hot Chocolate
- The Spiffy Cookie – Red Velvet Molten Lava Cakes
- Hezzi-D’s Books and Cooks – Pomegranate Moscow Mule
- Books n’ Cooks – French Martini
- Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice – Nutty M&M Peanut Butter Cup Valentine Cookies