The perfect M&M cookie (supposedly)

I was on Pinterest one day and I came across one of the most beautiful cookies I have ever seen! They were full of mini M&M's and mini chocolate chips and they were absolutely perfect. I had to try them! I knew I had to make a dessert for a ward activity we were having today so I thought what better time to try a new recipe?

I got all of the ingredients and made the first batch on Thursday. The only way to explain it was a epic Pinterest fail. The dough was all crumbly and they didn't spread at all and they were a bit dry on the outside. Basically, they looked like a ball of dough, which isn't the worst thing that could happen, but there was no way I was going to let people see that those were made by me!

After doing some research, I found out that those are signs of too much flour in the dough. I followed the recipe exactly (other than realizing today that I used baking powder instead baking soda.. whoops!). But I really did use the right amount of flour. So, I had one more shot at them before I was going to run to the store and buy some for the activity. They finally turned out, not as perfect as the original recipe, but they turned out decent.

 The recipe (Adapted from Picky-Palate)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1- 1 1/4  cups all purpose Gold Medal Flour (I used closer to 1 cup)
• 3 tablespoons Instant vanilla pudding mix
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (I used one of the tubes)*
• 1 or 1-1/2 cups Mini M and M’s (I used about 1/2 to 3/4 cups)*

*I have read many comments of people saying that using that many M&M's and chips makes their dough not stick together. I didn't use nearly as much as the original recipe called for, but I can see that being the case, it's up to you. 

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. In a large mixing bowl (I did this by hand) cream your butter and sugars until well combined. Add your egg and vanilla mixing to combine. Add your flour (I found doing this a little at a time makes it not crumble as much), pudding mix, baking soda and salt, stirring to combine. Add chips and m and m’s stirring to combine. 
3. With a medium cookie scoop, place dough 1 inch apart from each other. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cooked through. Let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. *I did let the dough chill between batches to keep them from spreading too much. 

Makes 2 dozen cookies

Like I said, these cookies are supposedly perfect, but mine didn't look quite like hers. They were the first cookies gone though so they have been pretty good! I am looking to maybe experiment with some other cookie fillers like mint chips or peanut butter and chocolate chips because it is a great base dough. Enjoy!