Halloween M&M Chocolate Cookies

I am a big fan of the Halloween M&Ms this year. They’re not just black and orange, but black, orange, neon green and purple. The combination of colors looks fun, bold and a bit spooky. I honestly love the look of them. I wanted to showcase their bright seasonal colors in something other than my candy dish, so I incorporated them into a batch of chewy, chocolate cookies. The dark color of the cookie really lets to bright colors of the candies stand out, making the cookies appear a little more exotic and in keeping with the Halloween season than your ordinary chocolate chip cookies.

Don’t let the not look of the cookies in the photo fool you, because these cookies are darker in person than they appear. They have a lot of cocoa powder in them than gives them their color, not to mention their deep chocolate flavor. These cookies are rich tasting and chocolaty, with a hint of fudginess that comes from their chewy texture. The fact that there are some miniature chocolate chips thrown in to add a little bit of extra chocolate doesn’t hurt, either. The M&Ms are, of course, both crunchy and chocolaty. If you get a cookie when its warm from the oven, you’ll get a nice bite of melted chocolate inside the M&M shell. for  The cookies look a little more Halloween-ish than plain chocolate chip cookies would with M&Ms added.

Halloween M&M Chocolate Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2/3 cup cocoa powder
2 cups Halloween-colored M&Ms
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla extract.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cocoa powder. Stir the cocoa mixture into the butter mixture, blending until everything comes together into a smooth dough.  Stir in mini chocolate chips and Halloween M&Ms.
Drop dough into 1-inch balls on the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 11 minutes. The cookies will appear to be just set. Do not overbake. Allow to cool on the sheet for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.
Store cookies in an airtight container.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen cookies.