Valentine M&M Cookies - I Heart Naptime (2024)

FAQs

Why are my M&M cookies flat? ›

If your cookies consistently come out flat, you may have selected the wrong baking temperature. If you bake cookies using too much heat, the fats in the dough begin to melt before the other ingredients can cook together and form your cookie's rise.

Leftovers: Store M&M cookies at room temperature in a closed container. Note that they dry out with time, so although they keep for up to 4 days, their quality will diminish over time. Freezing: These cookies freeze well. Let cool before transferring to a freezer-safe container and freezing for up to 3 months.

You can make these with regular M&M's, holiday M&M's, mini M&M's, or a combination of M&M's and chocolate chips. If you're using a color theme you can also dip the top of each dough ball in colored sprinkles before baking.

As Levy Beranbaum writes in The Baking Bible, replacing a little bit of the flour in the dough with cornstarch results in “a more delicate cookie that is also easier to pipe or push through a cookie press.” Adding cornstarch helps tenderize tough gluten, contributing to a softer cookie dough with a finer crumb after ...

The Problem: Your Oven Is Too Hot

If your cookies repeatedly turn out flat, no matter the recipe, chances are your oven is too hot. Here's what's happening. The butter melts super quickly in a too-hot oven before the other ingredients have firmed up into a cookie structure.

Press the chocolate chips and/or M&Ms into the top of the ball of dough closer together than you think, as they'll spread apart as the cookie bakes and spreads. If refrigerating or freezing your dough, wait to dot each ball until right before baking as the M&M colors can bleed into your cookie.

M&Ms are made with a hard candy shell that protects the chocolate in the center from melting. However, during baking the candy shell might slightly crack from the heat or become more incorporated into the dough. Don't worry, they still taste just as delicious!

Most cookie doughs freeze well, but there are a few exceptions. Thin, delicate cookies like tuiles, florentines, lace, and pizzelles usually have liquidy batters that don't freeze particularly well unbaked or baked, so it's best to make these kinds of cookies fresh.

However, you must carefully watch the M&M's, as a few extra seconds could result in the candy burning inside your microwave. Microwaves vary, so you may need to do a test run. If the candy is cracked with chocolate seeping out, use these over-melted pieces to dress up other snacks.

And don't worry, it's completely safe to eat! Indulge in the delicious and fun treat of Edible M&M Cookie Dough! Mix and match the colors of the M&Ms to match different holidays and celebrations for a versatile and festive dessert.

Can you melt M&Ms in the microwave? ›

That being said, don't go overboard. "Don't leave the M&M's in the microwave for longer than 10-15 seconds," said Contreras. "If left in longer, the chocolate will burn and seize making it hard and not able to remelt."

If you enjoy your cookies soft and chewy, chances are likely the recipe contains a common ingredient that serves a very specific purpose. No, it's not granulated sugar, nor the butter. It's not the egg, all-purpose flour, or even the vanilla extract. The simple, yet oh-so-necessary component is cornstarch.

During the melting process, the butter's water content evaporates, leaving only fat behind. This results in a more concentrated flavor and a softer texture in your cookies. It also helps distribute the fat more evenly throughout the cookie dough, resulting in a more uniform cookie.

Too Much Sugar

Sugar will caramelize when heated. In other words, it turns into liquid. Being over-ambitious with the sugar means over-saturation of liquid in the bake, leading to flat cookies. Not enough flour will lead to an insufficient amount of rising agents, which again causes flat cookies.

Too much flour causes the dough to become dry and crumbly, which prevents it from flattening out during baking. As a result, your cookies will stay in their original shape instead of spreading out into nice circles.

Baking Powder. The type of leavening you use in your cookies doesn't just help them rise while baking, it affects their texture and structure too. Baking soda in cookies yields a denser cookie with craggy tops, while baking powder causes cookies to rise higher during baking for a cakier texture.

Why are my snickerdoodles flat? Snickerdoodles can come out flat if 1) the leaveners you used (for this recipe, it's both the baking soda and the cream of tartar) are on the old side and no longer work, and 2) if you baked them at a lower temperature. First, figure out if it's your leavener.