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These incredibly addicting cookies are super chewy and, by far, the softest cookie I’ve ever baked! They completely disappeared when I brought them into work, with some people even asking me if they were store-bought. Store-bought? The horror!
I adapted this genius recipe from Jessica @ How Sweet It Is, which is quite similiar to the famous Cooks Illustrated Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.
Rather than melting the butter – as directed in both Jessica’s recipe and the Cooks Illustrated recipe – I creamed the butter with the sugars and eggs, which produced an exceptionally thick and puffy cookie. Just the way I like them! Another trick to get a thick and puffy cookie is to chill the dough. Like, for hours. Yup… 30 minutes and to up to 5 DAYS of chilling.
The unbelievably soft texture and chewiness to this cookie can be attributed to the extra egg yolk. Egg yolks are the source behind a cookies soft texture. This recipe calls for 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk. Also credited to the chewiness of this cookie is the brown sugar to white sugar ratio. This recipe calls for double the amount of brown sugar to white. So, with double egg yolks and double brown sugar, these babies have double the softness and double the chewy texture!
{make these now and learn why you will use this recipe time and time again!}
Rainbow M&M Cookies
makes 3 dozen
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3/4 cup (1.5 sticks) salted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini M&Ms
Preheat oven to 325F degrees.
Mix the flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside. With an electric mixer or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and mix well. Gradually add the flour mixture and stir until a dough forms (may take a couple minutes of stirring). Fold in the mini M&Ms. Do not overmix the dough at any point in this process.
Chill dough for at least 30 minutes (or up to 5 days, covered) in the refrigerator. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Press a few more M&Ms onto the tops for decoration. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are slightly browned. The centers should appear very soft and puffy. Let cool completely and enjoy!
check out some of my other favorite homemade cookie recipes 
{ 38 comments… read them below or add one }
Congrats on such a beautiful blog and the photography and cookies are stellar!!
Thank you for the sweet compliments, Diane!!
These look sooooo good – forget Coles cookies and load up on M&Ms
What a delicious recipe
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Latest: Healthiest Natural Sugars Muesli Bars
Yum! These look super delicious! I love that you used the M&M’s I get tired of using chocolate chips all the time and my kids so love chocolate. This is a nice change. Thanks so much for linking up to Creative Thursday this week. I can’t wait to see what you link up next week. Have a wonderful weekend.
Michelle
Michelle recently posted..Creative Thursday Link Party No. 5
M&Ms are just so fun! they are a colorful addition to any dessert
I have finally found an m&m cookie recipe that works! After many failed attempts and experiments with several different recipes, I just couldn’t seem to prevent my cookies from spreading too much. This recipe actually helped the cookies keep their shape pretty well. I made a large batch of these for my children’s t-ball team and they were a huge hit. This recipe is a keeper. I used a whole jumbo bag of regular sized m&m candies and mixed 1 cup into the batter. Then I pressed the remaining 1/2 cup of m&m’s onto the top of the dough balls before baking. Wonderful!!
Mollie
OMG These are amazing~!
I just tried making them and they’re perfect! I’ve been searching for a recipe like this for ages! Thank you!
YAY! sooo glad to hear that Georgia. I love these oatmeal cookies too
I don’t have a mixer with a paddle attachment. What else can I do?
You may slightly melt the butter and mix it with the sugar by hand before adding the eggs, vanilla and the dry ingredients. Make sure to chill the dough before baking. Thanks!
hey sally i wont have time to cool the m & m cookies because im doing food gcse and we wont have time so what can we do to make the cookies thicker and what if you put 2 eggs instead of 1 egg and 1 egg yolk please get back quick . Thanks!
I do not recommend using an entire egg for the extra egg yolk. It is what makes the cookies soft and chewy. Unfortunately, there is no way getting around chilling them! TRy rolling them and throwing the dough balls into the freezer for up to 10 minutes before baking! I hope this helps.
i made these a couple of weeks ago for a club meeting and added pretzels to them (because sweet and salty is fantastic). the extra brown sugar makes them DIVINE! they were super duper soft. every time i make cookies they come out crunchy or undercooked. these were perfect. thank you so much for your blog. you give me so many new staple recipes
Kayla, that is SO wonderful to hear – I’m glad your cookie problems are solved! I swear by extra brown sugar in cookie recipes. Sweet and salty – LOVE it! I have to make your version
Heyy, do you think it’s the same if we use peanuts M&M? since its have peanuts on it,its still the same right and I love making your cookies ,its awesome
Hi Lily! Yes, peanut M&Ms will work just fine. Make sure to use more dough per cookie since the peanut m&ms are larger.
Sally will these cookies hold up if I make the dough ahead of time and freeze it? I have so many cookies to bake and I like making the dough ahead of time and freezing.
Hi Betty! Of course! Make the dough now, roll into balls, and then thaw for about 10 minutes (don’t need to thaw the whole way through) and bake them when you are ready – you could freeze them up to two months.
These cookies turn out flat just like the rest of recipes I have tried ):
sorry to hear than Abby! I am not sure what to tell you since I wasn’t actually there when you made these cookies – was the butter softened or was it melted at all? Was the weather humid? Even a slight moisture in the air can have an effect on the amount a cookie spreads. Ddi you sufficiently chill the dough? Was the flour measured accurately? IS the oven temperature precise to match the recipe requirements? My oven is hotter than what the dial says, so I use an oven thermometer. Did you overmix the dough?
I did everything that the recipe said to do. They tasted good but was flat and spreaded out too much.
Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. These cookies were delicious! Not too sweet, and hits the right spot. Happy Holidays!
Hi Tammy – that’s so nice to hear! Thanks for writing in to let me know you loved them. Happy Holidays to you as well!
Perfection! I made these for Christmas with red & green m &m’s & chocolate chips and they were a big hit. Always used traditional recipes that turned out flat, but these were fluffy & light with the right amount of everything. Thank you<3. wish I could add a pic to this post to show you.
Hi Deb! That is so wonderful to hear! Thanks for letting me know how great the cookies turned out for you – that makes my day. I truly love this recipe. I come back to it often. I’m sure your cookies were gorgeous with those festive Christmas M&Ms! Thanks Deb and happy new year!
Hi Sally- I just started following your blog and wanted to let you know how much I love it already! Your photos are amazing!
My sister and I have co-blogged together at 2 Sisters 2 Cities for the past three years. In the past, I have been much more into cooking than baking, but the combination of holiday baking and being pregnant has definitely gotten me off into a bit of a baking kick.
I made these Rainbow M&M cookies yesterday with Valentine’s Day M&Ms to share with friends during yesterday’s football games…I believe I now only have 2 cookies left! I can’t wait to try more of your recipes…
-Meaghan
Meaghan recently posted..Homemade Oreos
Thanks Meaghan! You are so sweet. I am much more of a baker than a cook! I LOVE these cookies – especially made for any holiday using different colored M&Ms. They are incredible.
Let me know any other recipes you try. Hope you’re doing well in the pregnancy. Thanks Meaghan!
Are these cookies fluffy and puffy (cake like)? or are they thick and chewy (more dense)?
Hi Megan! They are not cakey at all. Chewy and soft.
That’s good to hear! I think I’ll have to try these out!
Sally,
I was wondering if I could use your awesome chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and just add m&ms to it? I really LOVE that basic chocolate chip dough!! Is there something about the m&ms that wouldn’t work with that? Now, I’m sure this one is amazing as well, but I just wanted to know…. Thanks!
Hi Kim! If you’re referring to my Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie base (the one I use for many cookies) http://sallysbakingaddiction.com/2012/08/06/the-chocolate-chip-cookie/ then YES, you may certianly use that and stuff it with M&Ms just like these cookies. I love this post’s cookie dough base as well. Thanks Kim!
I have margarine sticks, not butter. I’ve made this recipe several times (always using salted or unsalted butter), but would margarine work? I plan on chilling the dough as always, and I have the eggs and margarine sticks coming up to room temp as I write this. Any help would be great! Love the recipe! (I’m using the Easter M&M’s, too, yay!)
Hey Chelsea! Margarine should work just fine. Enjoy!
These were so good!! Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I’m glad to hear that Amanda! Thank you for letting me know!
Great recipe! Made a double batch and used half choc chips & half M&M’S. Even better if you use homemade brown sugar. Now on to more of your recipes!
Thanks for reporting back about them!
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