Holiday Trash Cookies

Holiday Trash Cookies are loaded with both milk and white chocolate chips, M&Ms, crushed pretzels, and marshmallow bits too! The cookie dough is prepared with brown sugar, which means these cookies are soft and moist on the inside, but they have a crisp exterior! Make a delightfully tasty gift by packaging these festive cookies up in boxes and tying them with a bright festive ribbon!

If you have been reading my recipes for a while, you might have been witness to me stating that I don’t care for M&Ms. It’s weird really because they are some of the most loved candy-coated chocolate in North America. On their own though, they’re not for me. But, pack them into these Holiday Trash Cookies and I just can’t get enough!

M&Ms are no stranger to Christmas confections here at Lord Byron’s Kitchen. Last year, I topped these pretzel treats with them. A few years back, I used them in this sheet pan cookie recipe. And, if you can get your hands on the mint M&Ms this time of year, be sure to try my chocolate mint cookies with oatmeal. They are delicious! As I said, baked into a cookie is the best way to eat them. Or at least that’s how I feel!

Now, what is it with M&Ms lately? Is it just me or is everything harder to find these past few years? I’m sure it’s easy to blame it on covid, but shouldn’t we be caught back up by now? In previous years, Christmas M&Ms were on the shelves weeks before Halloween. But, last year and this year, I’m lucky to find them by the middle of November.

As a food blogger, I’m always way ahead of the game though when it comes to food. For example, you’ll most likely read this recipe post in November, but I baked and photographed these cookies in September. Do you know how hard it is to find red and green Christmas M&Ms in September? It’s nearly impossible! I found them on Amazon, but who wants to pay almost twenty dollars for one package of M&Ms??

Needless to say, over the years, I have learned that at the end of every season, I need to hit the stores and gather up ingredients that have an expiry date that is at least six to ten months in the future. So, if you visit my home right now, you would find my baking pantry stocked with Valentine, Easter, and even Halloween candies, sprinkles, and other confections.

The best place to source these things is in the US. I have two friends who travels to the US quite often to just shop at Target. They both live about 30 minutes from me, so I’ll send them a list, they buy everything, and a few days later, I head to their house to pick up my loot. While I’m writing this – no lie! – one of them is sending me pictures of Christmas baking ingredients from Target in Watertown, NY. Thanks, Erin and Candice!

LORD BYRON’S 24 COOKIES OF CHRISTMAS – VOLUME 5

I’m so excited about this year’s cookie countdown! This is the fifth consecutive year; can you believe that? Each of the previous years has included 24 cookies and this year will not be any different. I’ll share a new Christmas cookie recipe each and every single day for the next 24 days – even on Saturday and Sunday!

You might be asking yourself, how many Christmas cookie recipes could one possibly have or need? Well, I say you can never have too much of a good thing. And, I love having lots of choices. Who wants to bake the same holiday cookies year after year?

So, welcome, Dear Reader, to Volume 5 of Lord Byron’s 24 Cookies of Christmas! Fresh off of my 12 Edible Wreaths of Christmas and my 12 Bars and Squares of Christmas series, I’m ready to plow through the next 24 days with you!

You really don’t want to miss one of these recipes, so if you have not yet subscribed to Lord Byron’s Kitchen, I encourage you to do so. That way, a new recipe will be emailed to you every day. You won’t have to bother to come looking for it! Like in previous holiday baking countdowns, I like to mix up the recipes in the series so that there is something for everyone. Are you ready!!??

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare this recipe. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature! To be perfectly honest, I have made these with both salted and unsalted butter and there’s no difference in taste or appearance once all is said and done. Use what you have on hand.
• Brown Sugar – First of all, it has way more flavour than regular white sugar! And, in this recipe, brown sugar helps to keep the cookie moist and soft.
• Eggs – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Vanilla Extract – Probably the most common extract and the most common flavouring used in cakes and cookies. 
• Flour – No need for anything special. Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Cocoa Powder – Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product which adds deep chocolate flavor to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids!
• Baking Soda – Commonly known as sodium bicarbonate, or just bicarb, it is a baking ingredient that helps with leavening or rising. 
• Salt – This is a common ingredient in baking and cooking.  In baking it helps to enhance and balance sweetness. 
• Mini Milk Chocolate Chips
• Mini White Chocolate Chips
• Mini & Regular sized Christmas M&Ms
• Pretzels
• Marshmallow Bits
• Sanding Sugar

WHAT ARE MARSHMALLOW BITS? AND WILL REAL MARSHMALLOWS WORK?

Marshmallow bits are basically dehydrated marshmallows. They are the type you’d find in breakfast cereal for kids. They’ve become really popular in ice cream shops and in lots of confections you see in bakeries.

I would take the time to explain to you where I got mine, but I already know that a store on the side of a country road in rural Ontario is not that accessible to everyone. Ha! The best place to get them is at Walmart, Target, or online.

Since I’ve recently jumped on the Amazon Prime bandwagon, I’ll share this link with you. Kraft was not the brand I used, but the ingredients are the same and so is the size of the marshmallow bits. The brand I used was actually Gourmet Village.

Real marshmallows will not work. If you bake real mini marshmallows, they will melt down completely and your cookies will end up being a gooey mess! Save the real marshmallows for the hot chocolate!

SANDING VS GRANULATED SUGAR

I’ve been using coarse sanding sugar quite a bit in this 24 Cookies of Christmas series. I hope it hasn’t been too difficult for you to find. Sanding sugar is sometimes referred to as baking sugar, and there are some substitutes.

You can use other sugars – which are basically the same, but named something differently – there’s pearl sugar and coarse sugar. You cannot, however, use granulated sugar. Let me explain why.

Whereas an individual granule of sanding sugar is large and hard, a single granule of granulated sugar is quite small. Sanding sugar will hold up to the heat in your oven without melting; granulated sugar will not.

If you can only find granulated sugar, you can either skip the coating in the sugar step, or you can use turbinado sugar. Turbinado sugar is a golden brown though, so it will throw off the colour of your finished cookie.

SPEAKING OF COCOA POWDER

Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product which adds deep chocolate flavour to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids! I have two types of cocoa that I use when baking. In a cookie like this Hot Chocolate Cookie, just a regular, inexpensive cocoa powder will do just fine. Even though I don’t care for Hershey’s chocolate, I do like to use Hershey’s cocoa powder for cookies.

If, however, I’m making a cake or a cookie recipe with very few ingredients, I want to use better-quality cocoa powder. For me, Fry’s Premium Quality Cocoa has all that I’m looking for. It has a stronger chocolatey scent than other cocoa powders. When it comes to flavour, Fry’s wins out again. The only thing that Fry’s doesn’t offer is a deeper, chocolatey colour like you see in the photos. I find that Hershey’s does a better job in terms of colour.

CANDIES, CANDIES, AND MORE CANDIES!

I know I use M&Ms quite often in many of my cookie and no-bake treats, but there are other candy-coated chocolates out there that you can use. Here in Canada, we have something called Smarties. I think in the United States, smarties are those flat, pressed-powder-like candy that comes in a cellophane-wrapped roll. They’re often found in large bags for Halloween treats. In Canada, smarties are candy-coated chocolate much like the popular M&M.

You might also consider using Cadbury Mini Eggs – they are my all-time favourite! They release bags at Christmastime with red and green candy-coated mini eggs, although unless you have stashed some of those away, it might be hard to find them now. Hershey’s also has bright red and green candy-coated chocolate.

HOW TO MAKE HOLIDAY TRASH COOKIES

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and set it aside. In a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and the sugar until well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat into the butter and sugar mixture. Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add it to the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

Next, stir in the mini milk chocolate chips, the mini white chocolate chips, the mini Christmas M&Ms, and the crushed pretzels. Portion out lightly heaping tablespoons of the cookie dough. Roll into a ball and place onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving two inches of space between each cookie.

With the palm of your hand, flatten the cookie balls to just under half of an inch thick. Top the cookie with a sprinkling of the sanding sugar. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately top each cookie with 4-6 regular-sized M&Ms and a few of the marshmallow bits. You will need to gently push them into the hot cookie. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

STORING, PACKAGING, & FREEZING

When it comes to most cookies, they taste best at room temperature, but they don’t hold up well to being left out on your countertop for long periods of time. Cookies will stay fresh in a cookie jar or food-safe container with a lid for 3-5 days if left to sit on your kitchen countertop. You can store them in a food-safe container in your fridge. When you want one, two, or half a dozen, take them out of the container and place them in a single layer on a plate. Let them sit at room temperature for 5 minutes and they’re ready!

If you plan to freeze your Holiday Trash Cookies, you certainly can! Once the chocolate chips have hardened, pile them into a clean, food-safe container. The container must be freezer friendly! You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. I use these quite often when freezing baked goods. I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that freshness locked in!  

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. If you plan to give previously frozen cookies as a gift, I would lay them out on a wire cooling rack to thaw completely. If packaging, wait until the condensation has evaporated. Whenever I work with anything covered in chocolate, I like to use a glove to prevent getting fingerprints on it as much as possible! Once thawed, pile into cellophane bags and tie with a ribbon, or stack in a cookie tin/box.

QUESTIONS?

If I have not answered all of your questions in the text above, don’t hesitate to reach out to me! You can contact me by sending me a message in the comments section further down the page. I will try my best to answer as soon as possible! You might reach me even faster by following me on Facebook and sending me a private message. Scroll down to follow me and never miss another recipe!

Finally, as I stated previously, every day I will be posting a new recipe. If you miss one, don’t fret. You can find my entire collection of Christmas Recipes right here! There are over 200 Christmas recipes and counting. There’s something for everyone! Cheers!