Valentine’s Day Cookie for Kids: M&M Cookies

Valentine’s Day is just around the corner. What better way to celebrate than making these simple and festive Valentine’s M&M cookies? These cookies make an excellent gift for friends and family; plus, they’re a great weekend activity to do with your kids.

We don’t make a big deal out of Valentine’s Day in our house, but we do give each of the girls a few small Valentine’s Day gifts.  Valentine’s Day is a nice opportunity to establish some family traditions and fun memories, like baking Valentine’s Day cookies for kids.

Why You’ll Love These M&M Valentine’s Day Cookies for Kids (and people of all ages)

These cookies are my basic chocolate chip cookie dough with Valentine’s M&Ms substituted for chocolate chips. I love this easy recipe because the cookies taste great. The recipe comes together quickly; there’s no need to chill the dough before baking, and you can substitute a number of ingredients for the M&Ms.

These cookies are a great afternoon snack, and so are Oatmeal Craisin Cookies, Molasses Spice Cookies, and Carmelitas with a cold glass of milk. They’re also a great addition to a packed lunch. And they make a great addition to Valentine’s Day celebrations. These Valentine’s M&M cookies are sure to become a family favorite!

Ingredients

• Butter: Use unsalted, room-temperature butter here and in general when baking. I usually buy Kirkland brand butter from Costco because it’s cheaper than other stores. When baking, you want to use unsalted butter because it lets you control the amount of salt. 
• Dark Brown Sugar: Anytime a recipe calls for brown sugar, I use dark brown sugar. Because it has a higher molasses content than light brown sugar, it imparts a deeper, more complex flavor to cookies and other baked goods. 
• Vanilla Extract: I’ve used Neilsen-Massey, Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Extract, since I began baking professionally in the early 90’s. You can buy it on Amazon, King Arthur Flour, or in some grocery stores. It’s very expensive now because the majority of vanilla beans come from Madagascar and because of increased storms and deforestation, it’s difficult to meet the demands. I’m going to try making my own with Deb Perlman’s recipe. All you need is vanilla beans and vodka!
• Eggs: The recipe here uses large eggs at room temperature. Take them out of the refrigerator about an hour before you begin baking. If you forget and have only cold eggs, don’t worry! The cookies will still be delicious. 
• All-purpose flour: To measure flour accurately, spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it with a knife or your finger. You want to avoid having too much flour in the measuring cup because it will result in dry cookies.
• Baking soda: A leavening agent that acts with liquid, acid, and heat to create carbon dioxide, which helps baked goods rise. It also helps make the cookies tender. 
• Salt: For baking, I use table salt. I use Morton’s or Diamond Crystal Everyday Salt. The salt crystals are smaller than Kosher salt or sea salt, so they dissolve more easily. 

Expert Tips from a Registered Dietitan to Raise Kids to Have a Healthy Relationship with Sugar

I usually bake something with Caroline and Ellie.  Last year, we made heart-shaped rhubarb turnovers.  Those were a big hit! (We’ll make them again sometime and post about them). We don’t wait for a special occasion to come around to have sweets or to bake.  It’s important to me to raise my daughters to be conscious, competent eaters.  Part of this involves being able to navigate baked goods, chips, candy, and other similar foods.  

If we only give our children cookies on special occasions, they can’t learn to regulate themselves around these foods.  We put our children at risk of feeling out of control around the cookies when they do get them or sneaking them all because they don’t know when they’ll get cookies again. Instead, if we offer foods like cookies more regularly, we make these foods neutral.  When the food isn’t built up to be something overly interesting or off-limits, it allows children to pay attention to their own internal hunger and satiety cues.   

You don’t have to wait for a holiday to bake cookies. If we only give children cookies on special occasions, they can’t learn to regulate themselves around these types of foods.  We put our children at risk of feeling out of control around sweets when they do get them or sneaking them all because they don’t know when they’ll get cookies again.  Instead, if we offer foods like cookies more regularly, we make these foods neutral. Despite what diet culture tells us, sugar isn’t bad; it’s the messaging around sugar that’s harmful.

Valentine’s Day Cookies for Kids

This past weekend we were invited to friends for dinner.  They asked us to bring dessert.  Saturdays are typically pretty busy with activities and errands, so the day called for baking something simple.  The host said she might make ice cream with her kids if she had time.  What goes well with ice cream? You guessed it; we made cookies.  We were going to Ellie’s friend’s house for dinner, so Ellie helped me decide what we’d take: chocolate chip cookies.  

Since it was a few days before Valentine’s Day, we decided it would be fun to use the pink, red, and white M&M’s you find this time of year instead of chocolate chips.  My favorite chocolate chips, by the way, are Ghirardelli semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips.  But use your own favorite if you already have one!  Both girls helped me bake the cookies, and they were a hit.  Luckily, there were some leftovers!  We enjoyed them throughout the week.  Sometimes, I put leftover cookies in a ziplock bag and freeze them for later.  

Steps to Make Valentine M&M Cookies

Tips for making Valentine’s Day M&M cookies

• Remember to remove your butter from the refrigerator and let it come to room temp for an hour or so. Don’t worry if you forget to take the butter out of the refrigerator beforehand! You can always soften it in your microwave for about 10 seconds. (The time will vary depending on each person’s microwave). If you’d like to read more about softening butter and the ambiguity of “room temperature” butter, here’s a great piece by Christine Byrne, MPH, RD, LDN.
• A reminder to spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off with an off-set spatula or dinner knife. If you scoop the flour out of the container with the measuring cup, the flour will be more densely packed and you’ll end up with a dry cookie.
• I like to use parchment paper on half-sheet pans when I bake cookies. Then I don’t have to wash the cookie sheets! I buy King Arthur Flour parchment paper.
• If you don’t have a cookie scoop, you can use a tablespoon measuring spoon or just scoop out what looks like a tablespoon using a regular teaspoon.

VARIATIONS of Easy Valentine’s Day Cookies:

Enjoy these crisp and chewy cookies year-round by switching up the M&Ms depending on the season. For instance, you can make these at Thanksgiving using the fall-colored M&M or Christmas M&M cookies using the red and green M&M’s you find around the winter holidays. Other variations include Reese’s Pieces, white chocolate chips, and freeze-dried strawberries; butterscotch chips, and toasted pecans; or chocolate chips and dried sour cherries. The possibilities are endless!  

What do you make for Valentine’s Day?  I’d love to hear if you make these cookies!

More simple recipes and tips to navigate picky eating and diet culture