Soft M&M’s Pudding Cookies

March 2022. Card forty-seven. The last card. I have been putting this one off for a month, which is not something I admit easily, but which is true. Card forty-seven is the banana pudding. The first recipe, the one that started everything, the one on the index card that is slightly stained at the top, the one I made for the first time alone and got right after months of trying and took to Sunday and Gloria tasted and said your custard is good.

I made it on a Sunday morning in my Birmingham apartment. The custard came together the way it always does now, by feel, by smell, by the change in consistency when it is ready. I layered the wafers and the bananas and the custard the way she does it, each layer even and careful. I put it in the refrigerator and went for a walk and came back in the afternoon and took it out and tasted a spoon and it was exactly right. It was exactly as right as the first time I got it right, which was five years ago, and it is still right, and it will always be right now because I know it.

I brought it to Sunday. I put it on the kitchen table and Gloria lifted the plastic wrap and looked at it. She did not say anything for a moment. Then she said: that is the pudding. Yes. That is the pudding. That is forty-seven cards. That is six years of Sunday dinners and a childhood I survived and a kitchen that took me in and the specific way that love transmits through food when you let it and when you pay attention and when you show up every Sunday without fail. That is the pudding. Yes.

Card forty-seven is done, and the pudding is right, and I keep thinking about what comes next — not more cards, but more Sundays, more tables, more reasons to make something sweet and bring it somewhere. These Soft M&M’s Pudding Cookies are the thing I reach for when I want that same feeling in a smaller, shareable package: the pudding in the dough does what custard does, it makes everything tender and forgiving, and the result is a cookie that holds together the way a good tradition holds together, which is to say completely, which is to say by feel.

Prep Time: 15 minutes | Cook Time: 11 minutes | Total Time: 26 minutes | Servings: 36 cookies

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 (3.4 oz) package instant vanilla pudding mix, dry
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups M&M’s candy, plus extra for pressing on top

Instructions

Preheat oven. Heat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Whisk dry ingredients. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, dry pudding mix, baking soda, and salt until evenly combined. Set aside.
Cream butter and sugars. In a large bowl using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on medium-high speed for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla extract and beat until combined.
Combine wet and dry. Reduce mixer speed to low and gradually add the dry ingredient mixture, mixing just until no dry streaks remain. Do not overmix.
Fold in M&M’s. Using a rubber spatula, fold in the M&M’s until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Scoop dough. Drop rounded tablespoons of dough (or use a #40 cookie scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Press a few additional M&M’s onto the tops of each dough ball for appearance.
Bake. Bake for 10—12 minutes, until the edges are just set and the centers still look slightly underdone. They will firm up as they cool.
Cool. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. They will be very soft — that is correct.

Nutrition (per serving)

Soft M&M’s Pudding Cookies — The Sweetness You Carry Forward