Ingredients for Soft & Chewy M&M Cookies
1/2 cup sunflower oil or other neutral premium oil
1 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 egg whites
2 teaspoons Manion’s Vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, loosely scooped and leveled.
1 1/2 cups M&Ms
Kosher Salt for pinching off
Directions:
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Line 3 cookie trays with parchment paper sheets.
- In a large mixing bowl or kitchenaid, cream the oil, sugars, egg and egg whites until smooth.
- Add flour, soda, and salt and mix well.
- Stir in the M&Ms and mix until incorporated.
- Scoop onto your cookie trays and give each a pinch of Kosher Salt or Malden Sea Salt before putting into the oven.
- Bake for about 8 minutes approximately, depending on your oven. You want to take them out when the edges are starting to brown.
Remarks:
This soft and chewy M&M Cookie recipe has been a go-to of mine for more than 20 years. I raised 3 boys on this recipe and they each enjoyed pulling up a chair and baking with their mother. Part of the excitement was that I would always purchase the M&Ms in the color scheme of the holiday. So that meant pastel-colored M&Ms for Easter, black and orange M&Ms for Halloween, and green, white and red M&Ms for Christmas. And when there is no holiday, you can simply go with a standard bag of M&Ms to enjoy the primary colors of the rainbow. This recipe can be made with chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, and I prefer the Ghiradelli brand.
The most memorable time I made Soft & Chewy M&M Cookies was following Hurricane Katrina in August 2005. My middle son Mark was 8 years old and he wanted to do something to help the people of New Orleans who were suffering. So we ran a cookie stand during Weston, Massachusetts Golden Ball event and called it “Cookies for Katrina”. A landscape company sponsored us dollar for dollar, and after selling over $700 of cookies that day, my son Mark was able to present a check for nearly $1500 to the Red Cross. It was a great lesson in empowerment and helping someone young understand how they can make a difference in the world.
This cookie recipe has a real toothy bite to it, much like a Friehofer chocolate chip cookie. The higher proportion of brown sugar and the emphasis on egg whites give it that special chewiness that people love.
