Rainbow M&M cookies

M&M cookies are a delicious and colourful cookie kids will love. The rainbow cookies are soft and crispy like all good cookies should be, and full of vibrant colour from M&Ms.

M&M cookies are such a fun and colourful bake kids will love. As well as being crispy, soft and chewy in all the right places, these rainbow cookies are full of M&Ms and best of all, so easy to make.

We’ve used our favourite easy cookie recipe as a base for these but have added in some M&Ms for a delightful pop of colour, making these perfect for special occasions and cake sales.

How can kids help to make M&M cookies?

Cookies are a great bake for kids and these and these colourful rainbow cookies are some of our favourite.

I love this recipe because it mixes everything together in one bowl which I always think is perfect for children and also means less washing up for you!

My kids enjoy getting to measure everything out and then mix it all together to make the cookie dough. There’s also the chance to practice cracking an egg, which is an important kitchen skill to master.

Scooping out the balls of cookie dough with a spoon before popping them on the baking trays is a great job for little chefs and a lot easier than having to roll and cut out biscuits, so it’s perfect for even young children and toddlers.

If you have very young children wanting to help, you could even get them to pop the extra M&Ms on top of each cookie. A fun, colourful hands on job.

What can I use instead of self raising flour?

If you don’t have any self raising flour, which is easily found in the supermarket here in the UK, swap it for an equal amount of plain or all purpose flour and add a teaspoon of baking powder and a pinch of salt.

How do you store Rainbow cookies?

M&M cookies will keep in an air tight container, at room temperature for 3-5 days.

If you want to keep them for longer, you can freeze them for up to 3 months. To freeze them, wrap them individually in cling film and pop them in a freezer bag. Defrost them fully at room temperature before you serve them.

Do I need to use both soft brown sugar and caster sugar?

The reason we’ve used two sugars in this recipe is that the caster sugar gives the cookies a nice crisp crust, while the brown sugar keeps the inside of the cookies soft. If you only have one of the sugars to hand just use 150g of that, the cookies will still be delicious.

How do you stop the rainbow cookies spreading too much in the oven?

The best way of stopping cookies from spreading is by chilling them in the fridge before you bake them. I recommend chilling them for at least 15 minutes.

More delicious cookies

If you enjoyed these M&M cookies you might like our M&M cupcakes, our M&M cookie bar, or why not try some of our other favourite easy cookie recipes for kids:

Smarties cookies
Nutella stuffed cookies
Fudge cookies
Sprinkles cookies
Chocolate marshmallow cookies
Raspberry and white chocolate cookies
Caramel stuffed cookies
Biscoff stuffed cookies
Marble cookies
Double chocolate chip cookies
White chocolate chip cookies
Brownie cookies
Rolo cookies
Triple chocolate cookies

Useful equipment

You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make these M&M cookies

Digital scales
Freestanding mixer
Mixing bowl
Wooden spoons
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Baking tray
Wire rack

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Ingredients

100g (½ cup) butter
100g (½ cup) soft brown sugar
50g (¼ cup) caster sugar
1 egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
200g (1 ¼ cups) self raising flour
100g chocolate chips
100g M&Ms

How to make rainbow M&M cookies

Pre heat your oven to 180C / 170C Fan / 350F and line 2 -3 baking trays with baking or parchment paper.

Cream the butter and sugars together

Get your kids to measure out the butter and both of the sugars out then and add them to a large mixing bowl or a free-standing mixer if you have one.

Before you pop your butter in, cut it into little pieces to make it easier to blend in and if it’s not soft, (we keep ours in the fridge so it’s never soft) blast it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften it – but not long enough for it to melt.

Using a handheld whisk, the k-paddle of your free-standing mixer or even wooden spoons cream the butter and sugars together until the mixture is nice and light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla

Get your kids to crack the egg into a small bowl before adding it to your mixing bowl. We generally never add the egg straight into the mixing bowl just in case any shell goes in. If/when it does, use a larger piece of shell or a tea spoon to fish it out (this is easier than using your finger.)

Measure the vanilla extract and pour it into your bowl then mix everything together. If you’re making this with very young children, you might need to hold the teaspoon steady while they pour in the vanilla or vice versa.

Mix in the flour

Measure the flour out and add it to your mixing bowl along. Give everything one more mix until it all comes together in a nice stiff ball of cookie dough.

Add the chocolate chips and M&Ms

Finally, get your kids to pour the chocolate chips and around ¾ of the M&Ms into your mixing bowl. Using a wooden spoon or spatula this time, stir them in so they are well dispersed. Younger kids may find the mixture a bit stiff at this point, so you might need to give a hand.

Make the M&M cookies

Spoon out dollops of cookie dough onto your prepared baking trays. Try to make sure the M&Ms are evenly distributed among the cookies. Leave gaps of a few centimetres between your cookies as they’ll spread a little when they’re in the oven.

We used soup spoons because ours seem to give just the right amount, but a large heaped teaspoon or some ice cream scoops also do this job well.

Press the remaining M&Ms into the top of the cookies. Press them in a little bit so they don’t fall out. This is a good way of making sure each cookie has a good amount of M&Ms in it.

Chill the cookies in the fridge for at least 15 minutes or so before you bake them to stop them spreading too much in the oven.

Bake the rainbow M&M cookies

Bake the cookies in the oven for 10-12 minutes. They’re ready when they’ve started to turn golden brown. I like them, a little bit soft and chewy, but if you don’t you can keep them in the oven for another few minutes.

Remove them from the oven and leave them to cool on the trays for a few minutes before popping them onto a wire rack to cool completely.