Preheat your oven to 350°F and line baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

With a large mixing bowl or bowl of a stand mixer with paddle attachment cream together the softened butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.

Crack eggs one at a time, saving the egg white for later use and then add the vanilla extract, continue to mix until eggs are just mixed in.

Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until just barely combined.

Add Easter M&Ms and chocolate chips if using. Mix on low speed being careful not to break the M&M's. Reserve a few M&Ms to press on top of the cookies before baking.

Use a medium cookie scoop (2 tablespoons of dough) and scoop cookies and refrigerate to allow the cookies to set.

You can also skip the above step and just refrigerate the dough wrapped in plastic wrap. But I like to scoop cookie dough before refrigerating as it's easier to scoop.

Once dough has chilled place on prepared cookie sheet leaving them 2 inches apart.

Press extra m&m and extra chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie dough balls before baking.

Bake cookies in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden, and the centers are set.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets for a couple of minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.