The Best M&M Cookies

A stack of m&m cookies on a cookie sheet with mini m&m's around it.

These cookies really are the best m&m cookies! Big cookies that are thick, chewy, and soft-baked and loaded with mini m&m's. There are a few tricks that make these cookies the best.

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword cookie recipe, m&m cookies

Prep Time 15

Cook Time 13

Total Time 28

Servings big cookies

Calories 404kcal

Author Jessica - Together as Family

Ingredients

12 tablespoons salted butter melted & cooled (see note below)
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon table salt
1/2 cup crushed miniature m&m's
1 cup mini m&m's

Instructions

Heat oven to 325°. Prepare a cookie sheet by lining with parchment paper, a silpat baking mat, or spray with cooking spray.
In a large mixing bowl add melted and cooled butter, brown sugar, and sugar. Beat with a hand mixer until combined, creamy, and light in color. About 1 minute.
* You can also use a stand mixer with a paddle attachemnt.
Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Beat together until combined. Add flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix together, on low speed, just until combined. Stir in the crushed m&m's and mini m&m's just until combined.
Using a 1/4 cup measuring spoon, scoop up 1/4 cup of dough and roll into a ball. Place 6 dough balls per cookie sheet.
Take the bottom side of a larger measuring cup (I use a 1 cup size) and gently press down on the tops of the dough balls. Just slightly to flatten the top. They should look like hockey pucks.
If wanted, place a few additional m&m's on top of the cookie dough balls after gently flattening the tops.
Bake 12-15 minutes. Edges will be very lightly browned while the middle will still be somewhat soft and pale. My cookies are perfect at 13 minutes.
Immediately after baking, press a few additional miniature m&m's into the cookies. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 20 minutes. At first the cookies will appear really soft and underbaked. But let them cool on that warm cookie sheet and they will come togehter and firm up.
After the cooling time, remove the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Or eat one warm!

Video

Notes

Dough : This is a softer dough but you should easily be able to roll it into a ball. It will be a softer ball but that's ok. If you feel like you need more flour then add 1 tablespoon at a time. I live at a high altitude (Utah) and I never have to add any extra flour.

Tip : I love to use the pre-cut parchment sheets for all my cookie recipes. They come pre-cut by Reynold's brand so they are so simple to use. You can also use a silpat baking mat or just spray the cookie sheet with cooking spray.

Butter : If you use unsalted butter then be sure and add some additional salt. I would increase the salt to 3/4 teaspoon if using unsalted butter.

Melted & Cooled Butter : An easy tip to do this is to place the unwrapped butter into a microwave-safe container (I use a glass pyrex measuring cup) and microwave for 45 seconds. When you take it out there will be melted butter + softened chunks of butter. Take a fork and mix it until all the butter is melted and combined smooth. This way you have melted butter that is room temperature. It can be used immediately in the recipe.

M&M's : I know lots of people say "oh yea, you can substitute with regular sized m&m's". I actually don't recommend it. Yes you can do it but the smaller bits of m&m through out the cookie makes a difference. Just try it! I promise the mini m&m's are better than the regular sized. They are easy to find either in the baking aisle with the other chocolate chips or in the candy aisle by the other bags of family size/sharing size m&m packs.

To crush the m&m's you can either use a nut chopper or place the m&m's into a Ziploc bag and use a meat pounder or other heavy object to crush/chop the m&m's.

This recipe was originally published with the directions to separate the dough ball and stack them on top of each other. This gave people problems (me included!) because the dough would fall off the top piece and form a weird cookie. The directions have been updated to include the new way of forming the dough. The baking powder is a new addition as well. This helps make the cookie fluffy and soft-baked.

Nutrition