Lightening Online

Alrighty, after much testing, here is the recipe for Lightening’s m&m Cookies. BEWARE: they are rather more-ish (assuming the dough ever makes it to the oven cos that’s rather more-ish too).

Lightenings Mega M&M Cookies

250g (8 ounces) margarine or butter
3/4 cup caster sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 tsp vanilla essence (imitation)

3/4 tsp salt

1 egg

3 cups self raising flour (or plain flour with 3/4 tsp baking powder)

1/2 cup m&m’s

Cream butter and sugar together. Add vanilla essence, salt and egg and mix. Add flour 1 cup at a time, mixing lightly between cups. Add m&m’s. Add heaped large spoonfuls to a tray and bake in a moderate (150-180 Celsius) oven for 10-15 minutes. For smaller cookies, use a teaspoon.

Lightening’s Added Notes:

250g margarine is half of 500g tub (or half a pound).

You can double this recipe easily if you have a mixer large enough to handle it. I prefer to make up this quantity twice rather than double the mixture for ease of handling.

You can use butter although that may make them even MORE more-ish!!!

3/4 cup caster sugar - you can use regular sugar if you don’t have caster sugar. The caster sugar dissolves into the butter easier and you don’t get granules of sugar in your cookies. I usually use regular sugar when baking cookies but switched to caster sugar in this recipe for perfections sake.

3/4 cup brown sugar - make sure you pack this down in the cup measure a little (doesn’t have to be hard packed). Brown sugar gives a more “caramellised” flavour to the finished product. These will work without the brown sugar (obviously they won’t taste quite the same but they’ll still be nice). Just bear in mind that brown sugar has a higher moisture content so if you don’t use it, you might need slightly less flour (or you’ll have a crunchier cookie - whichever you prefer).

Cream Butter/Margarine and Sugar

I use a Kenwood electric mixture (with the “K” beater) to mix mine. You want to give it a decent mix. It’s a bit harder to tell by colour when you’re using brown sugar (with just white sugar, I watch for the colour to lighten off).

Usually I do this step by taste test (including quantities) and when you can’t really distinguish between the margarine and the sugar, you’re there. It’s hard to teach this via blog though (what it should taste like).

30 seconds to a minute of mixing should about do it (sorry, I didn’t time it).

Add 2 tsp vanilla essence & 3/4 tsp salt

Vanilla Essence and salt are vital ingredients in cookies. I usually err on the side of more when it comes to vanilla essence. 2 tsp’s seems to be about right though. If you’re using GENUINE vanilla essence (as opposed to imitation) you will need a LOT less (sorry, I’ve never used REAL vanilla essence so can’t help you there).

Salt is an absolutely MAGIC ingredient. I’m astounded by how well salty and sweet go together. Don’t overdo it though. You only want a subtle effect to highlight the other flavours.

Add 1 egg

The one downfall I find to having your own free range eggs is the variation in sizes. I tend to hunt out a larger egg for these. Just be mindful that the size of your egg may affect how much flour you need (and no, 2 smaller eggs really doesn’t work).

Don’t overmix at this point.

3 Cups Self Raising Flour (or 3 cups plain flour with 3/4 teaspoon baking powder or equivalent raising agent)

A combination of factors will influence how much flour you need. The age (and therefore dryness) of the flour, what sugar you use and how large your egg is. It’s not something you need to worry about too much but you may find the consistency of your dough varies from time to time. The good thing about cookies is that they are fairly forgiving (you can get away with a wide variation in your dough). If the dough is more moist, you may just end up with a slightly flatter and softer cookie.

1/2 cup m&m’s (heap it up - the more the better )

A 250g packet of m&m’s is just over a cup. As long as you don’t eat too many () you should get 2 heaped 1/2 cups from the one pack (so enough to make a double batch if you want).

I tried the mini m&m’s but found they didn’t show up as well in the cookie dough so I’m using regular m&m’s.

You can also use a cheaper alternative such as generic beanies if you prefer. You can also substitute choc chips (mmmm…..white choc chip cookies), nuts or anything else you want to try.

When you mix in the m&m’s, I suggest you mix them by hand (with a wooden spoon or whatever) rather than an electric mixer to avoid them getting broken up and becoming less effective.

Spoon Onto Tray and Bake in Moderate Oven 10-15 minutes

Size of cookies is a personal thing. If you want LOTS then go for a heaped teaspoon of mixture. For medium cookies, go for a heaped dessert spoon.

Ovens are also a varying factor in baking. Bake until the biscuits are a golden brown colour. This recipe gives you a biscuit with a “chewy” type consistency.

Wow Factor

These have a “wow” factor all of their own but for an extra “wow” factor, try making “giant” versions of these cookies. Your kids will be the envy of the entire school playground.

One Last Tip

It’s heaps of fun making these in your PJ’s. I’ve been so intent on figuring out this recipe, I keep forgetting to get dressed.

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