M&M Cookies

by Sabrina Snyder

Published on Last updated

12 Comments

5 from 7 votes
24 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Refrigerate 1 hour
Total Time 25 minutes
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M&M Cookies are soft, chewy, and PERFECT for making ahead of time, made with sweet M&M candies and chocolate chips, and bake in only 10 minutes!

A family kitchen always feels more complete with a plate of chewy Cookies on the counter for dessert, like Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies, or these fantastic M&M Cookies!

M&M Cookies on baking sheet

M&M COOKIES

M&M Cookies are have an incredibly soft and chewy texture, with a little bit of crunch from the M&M candies and fudgy chocolate chips.  Plus they are a quick and easy dessert, with a total time of 12 minutes to bake!

M&M Cookies ingredients in mixing bowls

If you are a fan of chewy chocolate chip cookies, you’ll definitely love this M&Ms version. These are a go-to for baking with kids because they love adding the colorful M&Ms to the recipe.

You can easily make the dough ahead of time and freeze it, so you can take them straight from the freezer to a baking sheet for a quick snack when you have unexpected guests.

M&M Cookies batter in mixing bowl and dough balls on baking sheet

CAN YOU FREEZE M&M COOKIES?

This is a great recipe for making ahead of time and freezing. You can place fully baked cookies in an airtight plastic ziplock bag and freeze for 2-3 months. Defrost on the counter for a few hours before eating.

This cookie dough also freezes really well. Just scoop the dough onto a baking sheet, and freeze for about an hour. Then transfer the dough balls to an airtight container, using parchment paper between each layer.

When you’re ready to bake, you can place the frozen cookie dough right onto a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake for 12-15 minutes. These might take an extra few minutes because they’re starting out frozen.

M&M Cookies in stack

HOW DO YOU KEEP HOMEMADE COOKIES FRESH?

Keep your homemade cookies fresh by storing them in an airtight container at room temperature for about 2 weeks. You can also bake the cookies for 3-5 minutes, just to warm them up and make it feel like they just came out of the oven for the first time.

MORE KID-FAVORITE COOKIE RECIPES

HOW DO YOU MAKE OATMEAL M&M COOKIES?

To make this an oatmeal M&M cookies recipe, bring the all purpose flour down to 2 cups, and add 3 cups of quick cooking oats plus 2 teaspoons of cinnamon. Preheat oven to 375 degrees and bake for 8-10 minutes.

You can also try this recipe for Chewy Oatmeal Raisin M&M Cookies. You can use instant oats or rolled outs in oatmeal cookies, depending on how chewy you like your cookies. The rolled oats will have the most texture, while the quick cooking oats will be softer.

M&M Cookies on baking sheet

 

CAN I REPLACE BUTTER WITH SHORTENING?

You can substitute one cup butter with one cup shortening for this cookie recipe, but if you’re short on butter, try to at least split the fats to half butter and half shortening.

Butter adds a lot of flavor and chewy texture to the cookies, and also helps keep them soft by adding a lot of moisture. So while you technically can just use shortening, the butter will give you a better tasting cookie.

CAN YOU MAKE M&M COOKIES WITHOUT BROWN SUGAR?

You can remove the brown sugar in this cookie recipe and replace it with granulated sugar, but your cookies may lose some of their chewy texture and instead get a crunchy texture. The brown sugar adds a lot of moisture compared to granulated sugar, making them softer.

MORE COLORFUL M&M DESSERT RECIPES

TIPS FOR MAKING M&M COOKIES

  • This recipe calls for refrigerating the dough for an hour, make sure you don’t skip this step. You’re giving the butter in the dough a chance to solidify, and the colder it is, the slower the cookies will drop in the oven when they are baking. This stops the cookies from spreading too much and becoming crispy.
  • Use an ice cream scoop to help make all of the cookies the same size.
  • You can use other candy instead of M&Ms with this recipe. Try peanut butter chips, mini marshmallows, white chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips, butterscotch, or caramels. Or check out Oatmeal Reese’s Peanut Butter Cookies.
  • Try this recipe with peanut M&Ms for a peanut butter flavor.
  • If the dough is sticking to your hands when you roll out the flour, you can dust them lightly with all purpose flour.
  • Two large eggs can be replaced by two medium or extra large eggs, or three small eggs in this recipe.
  • If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can cream the butter and sugar together with an electric hand mixer, or just do it with a bowl and a spatula.
  • You can make these cookies less chewy and more crunchy by adding a few minutes to the cooking time. Watch them closely to make sure they don’t burn, just look for a deeper golden brown color.
  • Make sure to line your baking sheet with parchment paper, unless your sheet is non-stick, but even then you might want to still line them just in case.
  • If your cookies turn out underbaked but browned on the outside, your oven may not be cooking true to temperature. Try using an oven thermometer to make sure it’s heating right.
  • Once you have your cookies scooped out into balls, place a few M&Ms and chocolate chips decoratively on top before baking.
  • You can replace the vanilla extract in this recipe with other flavors, like almond or peppermint for the holidays.

M&M Cookies on baking sheet

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Dinner, then Dessert

M&M Cookies

M&M Cookies are soft, chewy, and PERFECT for making ahead of time, made with sweet M&M candies and chocolate chips, and bake in only 10 minutes!
Yield 24 servings
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Author Sabrina Snyder
M&M Cookies on baking sheet
PrintRate

Ingredients
 

  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup M&Ms
  • 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • To your stand mixer add the butter, brown sugar and sugar and beat until light and fluffy before adding in the eggs one at a time.
  • Add in the vanilla, flour, baking soda and salt until just barely combined on low speed then fold the M&Ms and chocolate chips with a wooden spoon.
  • Refrigerate the dough for an hour then bake 2-tablespoon-sized cookie dough balls at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Notes

Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.

Nutrition

Calories: 237kcal | Carbohydrates: 31g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 35mg | Sodium: 157mg | Potassium: 54mg | Sugar: 19g | Vitamin A: 275IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 1.1mg

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M&M Cookies collage

Photos from a previous version of this post.
Easy M&M CookiesEasy M&M Chocolate Chip Cookiessoft baked m&m cookies

About the Author: Sabrina Snyder

Sabrina is a professionally trained Private Chef of over 10 years with ServSafe Manager certification in food safety. She creates all the recipes here on Dinner, then Dessert, fueled in no small part by her love for bacon.

Sabrina Snyder is a professionally trained personal and private chef of over 10 years who is the creator and developer of all the recipes on Dinner, then Dessert.

She is also the author of the cookbook Dinner, then Dessert – Satisfying Meals Using Only 3, 5 or 7 Ingredients, published by Harper Collins.

She started Dinner, then Dessert as a business in her office as a lunch service for her coworkers who admired her lunches before going to culinary school and becoming a full time personal chef and private chef.

As a personal chef Sabrina would cook for families one day a week and cook their entire week of dinners. All grocery shopping, cooking and cleaning was done along with instructions on reheating. As a private chef she cooked for private parties and cooked in family homes in the evenings for families on a nightly basis after working as a personal chef during the day.

Sabrina has been certified as a ServSafe Manager since 2007 and was a longstanding member of the USPCA Personal Chef Association including being on the board of the Washington DC Chapter of Chefs in the US Personal Chef Association when they won Chapter of the year.

As a member of the community of food website creators Sabrina Snyder has spoken at many conferences regarding her experiences as a food writer including the Indulge Food Conference, Everything Food Conference, Haven Food Conference and IACP Annual Food Professionals Conference.

Sabrina lives with her family in sunny California.

See more posts by Sabrina

Dinner, then Dessert, Inc. owns the copyright on all images and text and does not allow for its original recipes and pictures to be reproduced anywhere other than at this site unless authorization is given. If you enjoyed the recipe and would like to publish it on your own site, please re-write it in your own words, and link back to my site and recipe page. Read my disclosure and copyright policy. This post may contain affiliate links.

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Comments

  1. The cookies are amazingly delicious and are so pretty to the eye, they are easy to make and now my new favorite recipe!

    Reply

    2. These are absolutely fantastic. I’ve followed it exactly and also done variations with Reese’s pieces/mini Reese’s cups and crushed toffee/chocolate chips. Thanks for another winner.

      Reply