Leftover Easter candy cookies

Leftover Easter candy cookies

These leftover Easter candy cookies are light, soft, and buttery! They are the perfect way to use up candy from those Easter baskets. This recipe calls for M&Ms and chocolate Easter eggs, but you can really toss in anything chocolaty!

These pretty pastel cookies are so gooey, airy, tender, and crumbly, they just melt in your mouth. The slightly chewy edges complement the crunchy, chocolaty M&M candies. Be sure to gobble up a few when they’re fresh from the oven so that the chocolate is still warm and melty. The kids will love to help bake these simple cookies, and they make the perfect sweet dessert for classmates, friends and family, or the perfect addition to a springtime potluck, picnic or barbecue!

Leftover Easter Candy Cookies

Ingredients

  • ¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
  • ¼ cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup Easter milk chocolate M&Ms
  • ⅛ cup pastel sprinkles
  • M&M’s Eggs, if desired

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, combine the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Beat with a hand mixer for 7 minutes (or 5 minutes with a stand mixer and paddle attachment).
  2. Add the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
  3. Fold in the milk chocolate M&Ms. Grab a large plate and using a medium 2” cookie scoop, form mounds onto the plate. Flatten the mounds slightly with your palm. Sprinkle the pastel sprinkles on top and if you are also using the M&M eggs, place a couple on each cookie top.
  4. Cover the cookie sheet with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours (or up to 5 days). If you don’t refrigerate them, the warm dough will spread out like crazy.
  5. When you are ready to bake, take the cookies out of the refrigerator for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 350°F and line a cookie sheet with a Silpat non-stick baking mat or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
  6. Place the cookies 2 inches apart (8 cookies per sheet) and bake for 8 minutes or until the edges have set and the tops are just beginning to set (they may still look pale and glossy in the center). Do not over bake. Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Enjoy!