M&M and Toffee Cookies

I am on a cookie roll.  I think for my health, I'll hold off cookie baking for a while.  This recipe is heavily based on a recipe I found on allrecipes.  In the past, I have made this recipe exactly as directed.  Using butter in place of shortening really really improves the flavor.

According to Better Homes and Gardens, you can replace butter for shortening.  Shortening is 100% fat while butter is only 85% and 15% water.  Who knew?  Replacing shortening with butter creates a softer cookie that might spread out more.  I didn't notice a big difference between the two fats in how the cookies spread.

The ingredients I used are 3/4 cup butter, 1 cup light brown sugar, 1/4 cup white sugar, 2 tablespoons milk, 1 egg, 1 3/4 cups flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, 2 cups dark M&Ms, and 1/3 cup toffee bits.

The original recipe only calls for brown sugar, but I replaced 1/4 cup of brown sugar for white sugar.  Don't ask me why I chose that amount.  Brown sugar is simply white sugar and molasses.  Some sugar is made by removing the molasses from sugarcane with heat and a centrifuge.  It seems strange that manufactures would remove molasses and then add molasses to make brown sugar, but this process makes a more uniform product.  Brown sugar is more moist, which makes baked goods chewier.  White sugar makes a crispier cookie.

I creamed the sugars, butter, milk, and vanilla.  I have heard that brown sugar doesn't cream as well as white sugar, but nothing I read in the last 15 minutes supports that assumption.

Then I added one lone egg.  I like eggs, but I think they are a little weird.  

I mixed in all the dry ingredients.  I don't have a picture, but I added the M&Ms and toffee bits after the dry ingredients were fully incorporated.  

I have excellent scooping skills.   I can form fairly uniform cookie dough globs with only a spoon.

This is a satisfying cookie.  Adding M&Ms in place of chocolate chips transforms cookies into something more distinct and special.  Like with the blondies I made earlier this week, the toffee bits completely dissolved in the final product.  Apparently toffee bits can't withstand the heat of the oven.