Youโve officially found the BEST M&M cookie recipe! My soft and chewy M&M cookies are easy (NO mixer!) and have the prettiest cookie tops. Recipe includes a how-to video!
The Best M&M Cookie Recipe
Iโve got a fun and colorful M&M cookie recipe for you today! These M&M cookies are so easy to make and are great for baking with kids. Youโll love the simple and flavorful cookie base (itโs very similar to my best chocolate chip cookie recipe!) and how well it works with the crunchy M&M candies. This one definitely deserves a place in your recipe book!
This recipe would be perfect any holiday; just switch up the classic colored M&Ms with the holiday version for simple and crowd-pleasing Christmas cookies or Easter cookies. It doesnโt get much easier than that ๐
What youโll love about my recipe:
- No mixer required: these can be made by hand, thanks to melted butter.
- Bakery-style finish: Iโm sharing my favorite tip for the prettiest cookie tops!
- Can be made in advance: Chill for a few days, or freeze for months.
- Simple: Just 11 ingredients!
What You Need
My M&M cookie recipe uses staple ingredients you should already have in your pantry. Here are a few of the important ones:
- Melted butter. Many cookie recipes call for you to cream softened butter into sugar. Thereโs nothingย wrong with this technique, but Iโve found that creaming butter and sugar leads to cakier cookies, whileย using melted butter yields chewier, softer cookies that are more buttery and flavorful. Ever since first using this technique with my chocolate chip cookie recipe, itโs become a default for most of the cookie recipes I share, including todayโs M&M cookie recipe!
- Brown sugar. I use light brown sugar, but you can use dark brown or even a blend of the two.
- Cornstarch. I love using cornstarch in cookies to keep them soft and prevent them from spreading too much in the oven. While you could leave it out, I highly recommend including it.
- Egg + egg yolk. That extra egg yolk also helps with softness and chewinessโdonโt skip it!
SAMโS TIP: Set aside a handful of M&Ms to press into to the tops of your cookies when they come out of the oven. This will give them that bakery-style M&M cookie appearance!
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make M&M Cookies
- Combine the melted butter and sugars, then stir in the eggs and vanilla.
- Mix together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Stir in the M&Ms until evenly incorporated.
- Cover the dough and let it chill for at least 45 minutes.
- Scoop and roll the dough into balls before placing them onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 10-11 minutes, then let the cookies cool completely on their sheet before enjoying.
SAMโS TIP: Your cookies should look slightly underdone when you pull them out of the oven; this is intentional! Weโll let them finish cooking outside the oven on the cookie sheet. This guarantees our M&M cookies will stay soft after long theyโve cooled.
Frequently Asked Questions
While they should spread some, your cookies shouldnโt be super flat. This can happen if you add your butter while itโs still too hot. Melted butter thatโs too hot can actually melt the sugar and will give you a greasy, runny cookie dough that will never hold its shape in the oven, no matter how long you chill it.
On the other hand, if your cookies arenโt spreading enough, it could be that youโve over-measured your flour. Read my post on how to measure flour so this doesnโt happen in the future!
Yes! Just make sure to cover it with plastic wrap.
You can also freeze this M&M cookie recipe. Simply wrap each cookie (raw or baked) in plastic wrap and freeze in a ziploc bag or airtight container.
Absolutely. These would be delicious with peanut butter M&Ms or even mint M&Msโyum!
Candy and cookiesโwhats not to like?!
Enjoy!
Letโs bake together!ย Iโll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe andย videoย below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me onย Instagram, and you can also find me onย YouTubeย andย Facebook
M&M Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until no longer warm to the touch
- 1 ยผ cup (250 g) brown sugar* tightly packed
- ยฝ cup (100 g) sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk room temperature preferred*
- 1 ยฝ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ยพ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- ยพ teaspoon baking soda
- ยฝ teaspoon baking powder
- ยพ teaspoon salt
- 1 ยฝ cups (315 g) M&Ms
Instructions
- Combine melted butter and sugars in a large bowl and stir until well-combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until no longer warm to the touch, 1 ยผ cup (250 g) brown sugar* tightly packed, ยฝ cup (100 g) sugar
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir well.1 large egg + 1 egg yolk room temperature preferred*, 1 ยฝ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.2 ยพ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, ยพ teaspoon baking soda, ยฝ teaspoon baking powder, ยพ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet and mix until combined.
- Use a spatula to stir M&M candies into the cookie dough1 ยฝ cups (315 g) M&Ms
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for at least 45 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Once oven has preheated, remove your chilled cookie dough from the fridge and roll dough into approximately 2 Tablespoon-sized scoops. Roll gently to form a ball and place on prepared cookie sheet (space cookies at least 2" apart).
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 10-11 minutes, centers of the cookies may still seem slightly underbaked โ allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet to finish cooking there, this will help keep them nice and soft.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Marie
I accidentally put in two whole eggs. Is there something you would suggest I should do before baking?
Sugar Spun Run
Hello, Marie! I recommend adding a tablespoon more flour, the cookies just wonโt be as chewy. Let me know how they turn out! ๐
Marie
Thanks! I will!
Lisa
I made 2 batches and in both the dough was very crumbly and the cookies came out fairly dry โ where did I go wrong?
Sam
Hi Lisa, most likely if the dough was very crumbly there was too much flour used. If you arenโt using weights, make sure to lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off.
Christina
Hi! If I only have salted butter can I use that and just skip the extra added salt?
Sam
Hi Christina! Drop the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. ๐
Megan
Go to cookie recipe. Complements over and over!!
Sam
Thank you so much, Megan! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies. ๐
Liz
These cookies are the.best.ever!! We canโt use M&Ms because of a severe peanut allergy, and I couldnโt find my usual substitutes of hersheyettes or sixlets, so I used some chopped up Hersheyโs candy coated chocolate eggs. They were amazing! My 6 year old even said, โThe chocolate candies are good, but the dough is the best youโve ever made!โ And thatโs saying a lot since with our food allergies I bake nearly all of our treats from scratch. A definite winner! And I just admit that while it took some work to stir, I kind of loved not dragging the stand mixer out. Thanks!
Sam
Hi Liz! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies so much! Thank you for letting me know. ๐
kiki
2nd time making these because my girls scout troop demanded them right away! (And we KNOW a good cookie better than anybody!)๐ So pretty and so tasty!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoys the cookies, Kiki! ๐
Amber
This recipe resulted in some of the best M&M cookies Iโve ever had. My family enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing the recipe!!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them Amber! ๐
Le-Chelle
How many cookies (or how much in weight) does this recipe make?๏ปฟ
Sam
I will make about 16 cookies, depending on how big you make them. ๐
Daniela
This was a fantastic recipe!!!! These cookies turned out awesome and beautiful by far the BEST m&m cookies Iโve ever made! Thank you for sharing this my girls loved them
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them, Daniela! ๐
Steph
These. Are. My. Weakness. Best cookie of all time!!! I am convinced the melted butter is the secret! Never going back to softened butter!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it, Steph. ๐
Rhonda Lovato
Hi, these are awesome! Any problem freezing them in freezer bags? Thank you so much
Sam
Nope, no problem freezing! I chill the dough, scoop them, then wrap individually in plastic wrap (to keep the dough balls from sticking together) and then place in a freezer bag and freeze. Just baked a frozen batch last week to take to a party and they came out great, you just will probably have to bake a few minutes longer.
Annie
Hi, can i prepare this batter, make the cookie balls and freeze them? Will they turn out well? Wanted to pre-prepare them for a party on the weekend.
Sam
Hi, Annie! Yes, you can freeze them after rolling them into balls. I would wrap each one individually in cling wrap and place in a freezer bag. They may need an extra minute in the oven when you bake them. ๐
Annie
Omg you replied!!! Thank you so much dear!
But, it would be next to impossible to individually cling wrap each one of them..as I plan to make around 50 of these. Any tips? Can i make the balls and let them freeze on a tray and then after theyโve solidified put them in a zip lock bag before popping them in the freezer? Is that possible?
Sam
I think you could do it that way, I think they would just be more prone to sticking together. I would be careful to not leave them in the freezer too long on the tray so it doesnโt dry out the dough. I hope all goes well for you! ๐
Olivia
I freeze cookies all the time by putting the cookie balls on a baking sheet in the freezer. Wait until theyโre frozen and throw them in a gallon bag. When youโre ready to eat them put them on a baking sheet right away to thaw, smash them with your palm when theyโre thawed, and then bake them. I freeze lots of things this way โ bacon grease, tomato paste, pumpkin portions for my dog, etc.
Selah
Hi there!
These are real good! I did not melt the butter, instead I softened it and didnโt chill the dough. They still turned out incredible!! They dwindled too quickly! Thanks again, Sam!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them! ๐
Dana Ichilov
Hi Sam,
For how long can I keep the cookie dough in the fridge before baking the cookies?
Sam
It should be good for probably 3-4 days in the refrigerator. โบ๏ธ
Dana ichilov
Thank you!
Sarah
Thanks so much, Sam! My family thinks I am an amazing baker because of you! Your recipes are always the best. Thanks so much for teaching me.
Sam
Itโs still up to you to be the incredible baker! ๐ I am so glad I can help. Thank you for the kind feedback! ๐๐
Melissa
Curious what setting I should have my oven on. I have a gas range and seem to always mess Up My cookies. Should I set it to convection bake or regular bake ? Thanks so much
Sam
Hi Melissa! All of my recipes are for a bake setting! ๐๐ I myself am not very familiar with the convection setting. ๐ Enjoy!