Justin went down to South Carolina a couple weeks ago to see our beloved South Carolina Gamecocks and our even more beloved best friend, Grant. Since we have a new kitten, I decided to stay home and pout take care of him. I wanted to send Grant a little something, so I found out soft chocolate chip cookies with M&Ms are his very favorite. Too bad they are also Justin's favorite, so these somehow never made it to the post office. I guess I'll need to find something else to send South!

I used my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe and just subbed some M&Ms for chocolate chips. These cookies are thick and chewy, chocolaty and oh so good.

Chocolate Chip and M&M Cookies

2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
12 Tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
M&Ms

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions and preheat oven 325°. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Whisk dry ingredients (excluding sugars) together in a medium bowl, and set aside. With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls and place on baking sheet, leaving ample room between each ball. Press 3-5 M&Ms into each, making sure to press slightly into the dough. Bake, reversing position of cookie sheets halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes). Do not over bake.

Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Source: adapted from Annie's Eats, originally Baking Illustrated