Big, soft, chewy M&M cookies that not only look gorgeous, but taste even better! They’re easy to make and guaranteed to satisfy any cookie craving. Pour a glass of milk and get ready to indulge!
You guys know how much I LOVE developing cookie recipes. From chewy peanut butter cookies, to alfajores and brown butter chocolate chip cookies, coming up with new, delicious cookies is something I’ll never get tired of. In fact, I could create a blog dedicated entirely to cookie recipes and never get bored!
I love experimenting with different mix-ins and flavors. I recently had a few bags of M&Ms laying around and decided to throw them in a cookie recipe from Cook’s Illustrated and man, they were amazing. Today, I’m sharing the recipe with you guys so you can experience the same magic as I did.
Get ready for the best M&M cookies of your life!
How to make M&M cookies
- Sift together the dry ingredients. This include the flour, baking soda and salt.
- Melt the butter. Once your butter is melted, whisk in both the granulated and brown sugars.
- Add the eggs. Whisk in the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla extract.
- Fold in the dry ingredients and M&Ms. Don’t overmix the batter, simply mix in the dry ingredients just until combined. I like to use a rubber spatula to help with this because it’s a more gentle way to fold in the ingredients. Then, fold in the M&Ms.
- Chill. It’s extremely important to chill this cookie dough. Because this recipe uses melted butter, it’s a very soft dough. Chill the dough for at least 2 hours, otherwise the cookies will spread too much in the oven and be very flat ( I know it’s hard and not very fun to wait, but it’s worth it!).
- Bake. Remove your chilled dough from the fridge. If it’s very cold and hard to handle, allow it to warm up slightly on the counter for a few minutes. Drop rounded balls of dough, around 3 tablespoons, onto prepared baking sheet and press extra M&Ms into the tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes just until the cookies start appearing golden around the edges.
- Cool. Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then remove and place cookies on a wire rack to finish cooling.
Baking tip: To produce the softest cookies, don’t wait for them to appear dry before taking them out of the oven. Even if they look extremely soft, they will firm up once cooled. The middle should appear under baked and the edges should just be beginning to brown. This makes all the difference in the world between a crunchy cookie and a soft, chewy one.
Tips for making perfect M&M cookies
-Don’t overmix your cookie dough. This will result in tougher cookies, and we want them to be extra soft and chewy. Once you add the dry ingredients, combine everything together as gently as possible.
-Chill your cookie dough. This recipe is made with melted butter, so it is extremely soft. To prevent your cookies from spreading too much while baking, make sure to chill your cookie dough for at least 2 hours before forming into balls and baking.
-Slightly underbake your cookies. The cookies will continue baking from residual heat when pulled from the heat, so don’t wait for them to look completely done baking before removing from the oven. Once the edges look slightly golden after about 10-12 minutes, pull them out and allow them to cool.
–Feel free to try different types of M&Ms. With so many varieties of M&Ms on the market, feel free to try different varieties. I also love making this recipe with peanut butter M&Ms!
More of my favorite cookie recipes
- Chewy Chocolate Ginger Cookies: Made with fresh ginger, these soft and fudgy cookies are amazing.
- Chocolate Dipped Shortbread Cookies: Crumbly, buttery shortbread cookies dipped in dark chocolate.
- Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies: For those late night cookie cravings.
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies: These chewy chocolate chip cookies are perfect for fall.
- Peanut Butter Pretzel Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies: Quite a mouthful to say, but totally worth making to have a mouthful of these cookies!
M&M Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups (280g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup (170g) butter, melted
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (150g) brown sugar (preferably dark)
- 1 large egg , plus 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (200gs) M&M’s
Instructions
-
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
-
In a large bowl, place the melted butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar. Whisk until well combined. Whisk in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined; do not over mix. Fold in M&Ms.
-
Chill the dough for a minimum of 2 hours, preferably 6 hours or overnight (or up to 3 days).
-
Preheat oven to 325°F/165°C. Line pans with parchment paper.
-
If the cookie dough is hard to handle, leave it on the counter for a few minutes to soften.
-
Drop rounded balls of dough, around 3 tablespoons in size each, onto prepared baking sheet. Press extra M&Ms into the tops. Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until cookies begin to brown at the edges and the center is still soft. Cookies will appear undone but will continue to bake on the warm baking sheet. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
-
Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
-
Cookies can be frozen for up to 2 months.
