Happy Saturday! It’s 9 days until Valentine’s Day, have you picked out a yummy treat yet? If not this sweetheart M&M cookie cake will surely do! The past few weeks I’ve been tweaking this recipe and I’m proud to say I think we have a winner! It was all inspired by this gorgeous heart shaped pie dish! FACT: I can not resist cute heart shaped bakeware. I even had to buy one for my daughters’ apartment… so cute!
We’ve spent weeks of back breaking work stripping and updating our old 1900 staircase, so I must say cookie cake recipe tasting has kept us going! Haha.. but seriously this cake is perfect for Valentine’s Day or any time really.. it is a big giant cookie after all!
This recipe is baked in a heart shaped pie dish, but if you don’t have one no worries! You can use a regular 9 inch pie dish or even an 8×8 square baking dish. Either way it’s cookie goodness!
Growing up in Texas we used to visit a local bakery, and they would always add a pinch of cinnamon to every recipe. The baked goods didn’t have a heavy cinnamon taste, but just the small amount I could detect gave the desserts a homey, rich quality, especially in the cookies. So I’ve kept up with that tradition and add a pinch of cinnamon. It especially shines in chocolate recipes. Not a lot… just a pinch. If I had to guess a pinch to me is about 1/8 teaspoon, you can definitely eyeball it though!
Make sure you use one egg and one egg yolk, not two eggs. If you use two whole eggs the texture will be more cake like. Even though this is a cookie cake we still want a denser more cookie like texture, and the extra yolk adds richness without adding volume.
Not a fan of M&M’s? No problem, substitute 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips! Find the printable recipe below.
Sweetheart M&M Cookie Cake
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 10.7 oz package Valentine's Day M&M's
- pinch of cinnamon (optional but recommended)
- nonstick spray
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350° and spray a 9 inch pie dish with cooking spray and set aside.
- In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat butter on medium until smooth and creamy.
- Add brown sugar and beat at medium speed until creamy. Mix in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla until combined.
- In a separate bowl combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt, whisk together until blended.
- On low speed slowly mix dry ingredients until blended. Do not over mix! The dough will be thick and crumbly.
- Press the cookie dough evenly into prepared pie dish. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the cookie cake is set and lightly golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack and serve warm or at room temperature.
- Cover leftovers tightly and use within 3 days.
Looking for more Valentine’s Day yummies? How about this Triple Chocolate Valentine Bundt Cake? XOXO!
