Sometimes I can’t decide what to bring for a gathering or BBQ. This recipe for red white and blue cookies is buttery, tender and soft, filled with Patriotic red, white and blue M&Ms and chocolate chips. A recipe like these red white and blue cookies, makes the decision on what to bring, so easy. I threw in white chocolate chips for the blue wedge of the cookie to make it extra festive, like the stars on the American Flag. These red white and blue cookies come out perfect every time and will be a crowd pleaser for Memorial Day or the 4th of July. It starts with my chocolate chip cookies base that is perfection.
Ingredients you will need
- Red white and blue M&Ms
- semi-sweet and white chocolate chips
- unsalted butter
- light brown sugar
- granulated sugar
- vanilla extract
- large eggs
- all-purpose flour
- aluminum free baking powder (see bottom notes)
- fine salt, aka table salt
- flake sea salt for the top of the cookies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and both sugars together on medium/high speed for 3-4 minutes until lighter in color and fluffy. This step is important to getting the right texture for the cookies.
- Add in vanilla extract along with both eggs, one at a time and mix until combined.
- In a medium separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add dry into the wet ingredients and mix until it becomes dough, then stop mixing.
- Split dough into three bowl evenly. In one bowl, add red food coloring, blue in the next and if you have white food coloring, add it into the third bowl OR leave plain. Mix colors into dough.
- Add in M&Ms evenly to the three bowl. Add the white chocolate chips to the blue bowl and split the semi-sweet chips between the red and white (or plain dough)
- Using a small cookie scoop. scoop out one scoop or red, one scoop of white and one scoop of blue and gently press inward. See photo below.
- No need to make them perfectly round in the palms of you hands. Just plop them down on a parchment lined baking sheet (aluminum restaurant grade baking sheet if you have one). Place them two inches apart, 6 to 8 per tray. Add extra M&Ms to top and sprinkle with flake sea salt.
- Bake on the middle rack for 10-11 minutes. As soon as you pull them out of oven, take a large round cookie cutter or a glass bowl larger than the cookie and gently swirl around the cookie to make it tight and round. After a minute, gently remove from cookie sheet and transfer to a wire rack. Do NOT over-bake. They should be soft cookies.
Frequently asked questions
- Why aluminum free Baking powder? This recipe uses a whole Tablespoon of baking powder which tenderizes the cookie. If you use a baking powder that is not aluminum free, it can leave a metal taste or a tang to the cookie. More info explaining in notes at the bottom of the recipe.
- Why did my cookies brown so fast? The darker the cookie sheet, the quicker the bottoms of the cookies will brown.
- The red food coloring tastes bitter, what so I do? I use Wilton brands No-Taste Red, find it at Joanne Fabrics, Michaels or online.
- Why does the blue part of the cookie have a greenish tint when baked? Just add a tiny bit of lavender or purple food coloring to the blue and that will counter act the green when baked.
Red white and blue cookies
This recipe for red white and blue cookies is buttery, tender and soft, filled with Patriotic red, white and blue M&Ms and chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cup butter unsalted and softened
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs cold
- 3 cups All-purpose flour spoon and level measured
- 1 Tbsp aluminum free baking powder Rumford brand is my favorite.
- 1 tsp salt fine table salt
- 1 cup red white and blue M&Ms
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
red white and blue cookies
- Preheat oven to 350°
- In a stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream butter and both sugars together on medium/high speed for 3-4 minutes until lighter in color and fluffy. This step is important to getting the right texture for the cookies.
- Add in vanilla extract along with both eggs, one at a time and mix until combined.
- In a medium separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add dry into the wet ingredients and mix until it becomes dough, then stop mixing.
- Split dough into three bowls evenly. In one bowl, add red food coloring, blue in the next and if you have white food coloring, add it into the third bowl or leave plain. Mix colors into dough.
- Add in M&Ms evenly to the three bowls. Add the white chocolate chips to the blue bowl and split the semi-sweet chips between the red and white (or plain dough)
- Using a small cookie scoop. scoop out one scoop of red, one scoop of white and one scoop of blue and gently press inward. See photo below.
- Don't make them round in the palms of you hands. Just plop them down on a parchment lined baking sheet (aluminum restaurant grade baking sheet if you have one). Place them two inches apart, 6 to 8 per tray. Add extra M&Ms to top and sprinkle with flake sea salt. The darker the baking sheet, the quicker the bottoms will brown
- Bake on the middle rack for 10-11 minutes.
- As soon as you pull them out of oven, take a large round cookie cutter or a glass bowl larger than the cookie and gently swirl around the cookie to make it tight and round. After a minute, gently remove from cookie sheet and transfer to a wire rack. Do NOT over-bake. They should be soft cookies.
Notes
Remember that cookie will continue to bake after you pull them from the oven.
IMPORTANT to note, I develop recipes at sea-level and high humidity. If you’re drier, reduce flour by 2 Tbsp to 1/4 cup. Make appropriate elevation changes if you’re 3,000 feet and above.
If you use a baking powder that is not aluminum free, it can leave a metal taste or a tang to the cookie. Can use Clabber Girl brand with aluminum. This recipe uses a whole Tablespoon of baking powder which tenderizes the cookie. If you use a baking powder that is not aluminum free, it can leave a metal taste or a tang to the cookie.
The ingredients on the back of your baking powder should read- corn starch, sodium bicarbonate and monocalcium phosphate OR corn starch, sodium bicarbonate, sodium aluminum sulfate and monocalcium phosphate (the second one has aluminum and a bitter aftertaste when used alone). Monocalcium phosphate is used with baking soda AKA sodium bicarbonate to give baked goods aeration and volume. Those are the ingredients in the two most common baking powders. There are less common baking powders with sodium aluminum phosphate and sodium acid pyrophosphate that have a stronger taste. One is mild and the other is a strong chemical aftertaste. We don’t want that.
😘 xoxox, Em