Peanut M&M Cookies

I baked a massive batch of these peanut butter M&M cookies in preparation for a camping trip with a load of sailors to ease the pain of shivering under a leaky tent. They were gone within the first couple of days and I can honestly say I don't think I've seen a group of boys so happy to see me as they were when I got out of my car clutching two giant boxes of these cookies! I even got a marriage proposal- yep, they're that good!

Peanut M&M Cookies

Ingredients: (makes about 14 cookies) 

• 110g olive spread
• 100g caster sugar
• 100g soft light brown sugar 
• 195g plain flour
• 30g self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 egg 
• 1 1/2 tbsp peanut butter
• 1 pack of peanut m&ms 
• Note: it is easiest to use an electric mixer to make these. 

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius and line a large baking tray with baking paper. 
• Weigh out all the ingredients. Cream together the butter and sugar. In a separate bowl whisk the egg then add into the mixture and mix in. 
• Add both flours, the baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and mix until everything is adequately mixed together. 
• Once the flour is all mixed in add the peanut butter. Note, if the mixture is looking very gloopy then add some extra plain flour until it is binding together more and has a more doughy consistency. The mix however does not have to reach the consistency of a traditional biscuit dough that can be rolled out onto a board. 
• As the final ingredient, pour in the bag of m&ms and give a quick mix to spread them out a bit. 
• Once you have your cookie mix, use a slightly heaped tablespoon to measure out the size of each cookie and dollop onto the baking tray. You may need to use the back of the spoon to flatten the cookie and make it into more of a circular shape. The un-cooked cookies should look like the picture above. The cookies will need to be very spread out on the baking tray as they have a tendency to balloon into one giant tray of cookie- if that's what you're going for however then go right ahead! It's certainly a great excuse to munch on cookie segments as you attempt the important job of trying to separate the cookies! 
• Bake in the oven for 11-14 minutes (depending on how soft you like your cookies) until golden brown. Leave to cool for a good half an hour before attempting to get the cookies off the baking tray- the cookies will still be very soft once they are out of the oven. 
• Store in an airtight container and consume within 4 days.