6th Grade Astronomy Cookies

I’ve been baking these cookies for years for my 6th Grade Astronomy students in San Anselmo California. In fact I’m famous for them and my young scholars often ask for the recipe. Here it is for you to enjoy.

Ingredients

Servings: 36

1 cup butter flavored shorting

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup dark brown sugar

3 eggs

2 teaspoons Mexican vanilla extract

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flower

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups milk chocolate M&M’s

2 cups dry roasted Macedonia nuts

1/3 cup Heath Bits’O Brickle toffee bits

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line cookie sheets with Parchment Baking Paper.

In a large bowl cream together the butter flavored shorting, brown and white sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well with each addition, stir in vanilla. Combine the flower, baking soda and salt slowly into the creamed mixture. Finally, fold it in the M&M’s, Macedonia nuts and Bits’O Brickle toffee bits. For best results refrigerate batter overnight but this step is optional. Drop rounded spoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets. I use a small sorbet scoop for uniformity.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven until light brown. It’s very important not to over bake the cookies. Slightly underdone is better than slightly overdone. Allow cookies to cool for five minutes before removing from the cookie sheet.

PREP 20 minutes

COOK 10 minutes

READY IN 40 minutes

Footnotes

How to customize your cookies: If you want chewy cookies, add melted butter. Butter is 20 percent water. Melting helps water in butter mix with flour to form gluten. If you want thin, candy like cookies, add more sugar. Sugar becomes fluid in the oven and helps cookies spread. If you want cake like cookies, and another egg. Yolks make cookies rich and whites cause cookies to puff and dry out. If you want an open, coarse crumb and craggy top, add baking soda. Baking soda reacts quickly with acidic ingredients (such as brown sugar) to create lots of gas bubbles. If you want a fine tight crumb and smooth top, add baking powder. Baking powder works slowly and allows an even rise.