Peanut butter and vanilla cake mix come together for an easy soft, delicious cookie sure to please the holiday crowd and Santa!
To quote Norman Vincent Peale, "Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful." And I would add, far more innocent. That terrible 'race of the rats' fades into the background, and a world bedecked in colored lights and holly gradually comes to the fore, slowly brought into focus through the chaotic haze of daily life. We dream sentimental dreams of a Savior's birth, and of the welcomed warmth of icy winter nights draped in the season's purest white.
In reality, this brief escape is what this season is all about. We reimagine our cities, and our own homes, into images easily plucked from a fireside film noir treasure. Then, of course, we tell vague tales to our children of a Living Saint who…creeps into our homes, eats our cookies, and then leaves behind gift wrapped toys of uncertain origin.
While that last part might need adjustment, I suppose that bit of 'suspension of disbelief' is part of that aforementioned innocence.
For this reason, when one of my niece's daughters asked for a 'special' recipe for cookies that she could in turn prepare for Santa Claus, naturally, I simply had to comply.
What I prepared was a batch of M&M's® Christmas Peanut Butter Cookies.
To do this, we start with a simple base of a yellow cake mix, a peanut butter cookie mix, and eggs. For this particular recipe I like to use plain milk chocolate M&M's®, however, you can really kick things up a notch using M&M's® Christmas White Chocolate Peppermint.
To start out, combine the two box mixes with eggs, water, and vegetable oil as shown below. Mix these well, then add in the M&M's®, and stir again. After that's done, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, and form the cookies onto the sheets as shown below. Then simply bake for about twelve minutes, and you've got a batch of M&M's® Christmas Cookies that the 'Seasonal Reverse Burglar' is sure to love.
Peanut Butter Vanilla Cookies
- Total Time: 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen 1x
Ingredients
- 1 (15.25 oz) box of yellow cake mix
- 1 (17.5 oz) peanut butter cookie mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 plus 3 tbs. vegetable oil
- 3 tbs. water
- 3/4 cup M&M’s®
Instructions
- Preheat Oven 350 degrees F.:
- In a large bowl combine the eggs, vegetable oil, yellow cake mix, cookie mix and water. Stir these ingredients until well incorporated. Add the M & M’s and stir again.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop the cookies on the cookie sheet by the teaspoonful.
- Do not over crowd the pan.
- Bake 10 – 12 minutes or until slightly golden.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Dessert
What are some of your favorite holiday confections? We would love to hear from you.
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Enjoy with Love!
christine says
Oh I love the shortcut of using those mixes. I'm more of a cook than a baker so any cookie that starts w/ a mix is a good one for me.
Melanie says
I like that you used cake mix to make these. Easy!
Nicole Burkholder says
'Tis the season for delicious cookies! (M&M's certainly make them even better!) 🙂
Taylor Kiser says
Love how easy these festive cookies are! So fun for the kids to help make for Santa!
Divya @ Eat Teach Blog says
Oh gosh, these look amazing. And so festive for the holidays! I love the PB plus vanilla plus chocolate candied combo!
Kim Lee says
These will definitely be a favorite of Santa's! And I love that they're so easy!
Veena Azmanov says
Oh so festive.. I love.... My son loves Peanut Butter.. I gotta make these for him. Thanks
Annemarie @ justalittlebitofbacon says
I do love peanut butter cookies! I think Santa is going to be happy at your niece's house! And a simple cookie like this is easy to fit into all the holiday preparations.
Luci says
the green m&ms poking out are so christmassy! I love that they're AREN'T the christmas-specific one, these are better 🙂 You write so beautifully about Christmas, I can imagine these must be equally brilliant (I did spot a typo though "Tot start out")
Your niece is a lucky girl to have an aunt like you!
Sandhya Ramakrishnan says
Love the idea of using store bought cake and cookie mix. Definitely makes the job much easier and quicker especially for people like me who bake loads of cookies during holiday season.