Mini Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe comes from the humblest of beginnings. It wasn’t a thunderbolt moment when I had an unbelievably delicious idea to try. It wasn’t from reading one of the treasured cookbooks in my collection.
No, it was because I was disappointed to open a new bag of Easter candy to fill a Mason jar for the farmhouse kitchen only to discover that many of the pieces had been damaged. A lot of the crunchy candy coating had come loose and I had a pile of the pretty colored candy coating at the bottom of the bag.
I hate to let something yummy and useful go to waste especially when it is so pretty to look at. I didn’t have a way to put it to use. Yet.
I started to wonder how these candy coated chocolates would bake up in cookie dough. It stood to reason that they would bake up like an M&M or other chocolate candy with a crisp candy coating. There was only one way to find out.
I gathered my ingredients to do a little experimenting. I baked a full sheet of cookies with whole egg candies in them. That was too much. They were just large enough to create misshapen cookies and the candy coating kept them from breaking down. So, it was more than a mouthful to bite down on a piece hiding inside the baked cookie.
The next batch featured crushed candies to more closely resemble the size of a large chocolate chip. While I had aimed to split them approximately in half, I had a nice assortment of sizes from about a quarter of an egg up to slightly larger than half. I also had a good amount of tiny shell fragments. I decided to press a bit of those fragments into the top of each cookie. I hoped that they would add a beautiful touch of pretty spring color to each cookie.
I waited impatiently as they baked. As I moved the baked cookies from the oven to the a wire rack to cool, I had reason to believe that they were exactly what I had hoped they would be. I made myself a cup of black tea to enjoy with one as soon as they were ready to be taken from the parchment paper.
The color had remained vibrant as they baked. They had the appearance of a chocolate chip cookie with bumps and lumps from the chocolate that was waiting just beneath the surface of the dough with the added bonus of the pretty colored shell on top. I couldn’t wait to take a bite.
When I did, I knew that these cookies were sure to be a hit with my family. They had the flavor of a delicious chocolate chip cookie with the added crunch from the candy coated shell. They were also pretty and perfect for spring.
Easter isn’t always associated with cookies at the farmhouse. Instead, we usually have Old Fashioned Pound Cake, Lemon Curd, or my Great Grandmother’s Daffodil Cake. These cookies were pretty enough and delicious enough to be added to that list. In my opinion, you can never have too many delicious cookie recipes especially when they’re this pretty.
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Mini Egg Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 10 ounces candy coated mini Easter egg chocolate pieces
- 1 cup butter , room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg , room temperature
- 2 cups All-purpose flour
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Prepare the chocolate candies by chopping or crushing. I like to place the candies on a square of parchment paper and use a cast iron skillet to break them apart. The bulk of the pieces should be approximately half the size of the whole eggs. They tend to break apart a bit more when they are mixed into the dough. I like to reserve the powdery, tiny fragments of the candy coating to sprinkle on the top of the cookies before baking. This isn't necessary, I simply like the way the cookies look with the pretty colored candy on top.
- Place the butter and both sugars in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle or dough beaters. Mix on medium speed until the mixture is completely smooth, approximately 2-4 minutes depending on the temperature of the butter and strength of the mixer.
- Add the egg to the bowl and beat on low for 30 seconds, just until combined. The batter may break up a bit, but don’t worry. It will come together when the dry ingredients are worked into the mix. Scrape down the bowl and beaters if necessary to gather the batter together before continuing.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Use a dry whisk to mix the dry ingredients and break up any small lumps. You can sift the dry ingredients if you prefer.
- Add the dry ingredients in one addition to the mixer bowl. Mix on low speed until the dry ingredients have completely integrated into the dough. This should only take 30-60 seconds depending on the strength of your mixer. Take great care not to overmix the dough as it will encourage the dough to strengthen the gluten in the flour and become tough.
- Add the crushed candy pieces to the dough and mix on low speed just until combined and well distributed. Reserve the tiny fragments for adding to the top of the cookies if you wish.
- At this point, the batter can be baked, chilled in the refrigerator for baking in a few hours, or portioned and frozen for baking at a later date. I often make a batch of dough and keep it in the refrigerator, baking a single evening’s cookies each night. Portioned balls of dough can also be frozen on a small tray and then transferred to a freezer bag for long term storage.
- When you are ready to bake cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and position the oven racks to the top and bottom third of your oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment or a Silpat style reusable baking liner.
- Create balls of dough by using two tablespoons of the chilled dough and rolling into a ball. Flatten the ball slightly to help encourage even baking and place four to six balls on each baking sheet, spacing evenly to prevent the cookies from merging as they bake. I like to press the powdery, tiny bits of the candy coating created when breaking apart the chocolate eggs into the top surface of the cookie dough before baking. This isn't necessary, I simply like the way the cookies look with the pretty colored candy on top.
- Bake the cookies for 9-10 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through the baking time to help to ensure that the cookies are evenly baked. The cookies should bake up to an even thickness and dry ever so slightly on top. They may appear to be under baked, but they will firm up upon cooling to room temperature.
- Remove the cookies from the oven, allowing them to cool for 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet to set up. As with any cookie, these are even more delicious when eaten while still warm with a cup of coffee or tea or with a cold glass of milk.