These soft and chewy M&M Cookies are absolutely loaded with colorful candy pieces! Easy to make with no mixer required, this a great recipe to make with the kids!
My M&M Cookie Recipe includes a brief step-by-step video at the bottom of the post!
Do you realize how many different flavors of M&Ms there are out there?
Just curious, because until the other day when Zach came home from the grocery store with about 10 different colored M&M bags (because there’s obviously not enough sugar in my house already 😉), I had no idea.
I made these M&M Cookies with plain milk chocolate M&Ms, but now I’m looking forward to trying them with different flavors (so far, from trying them outside of a cookie, Caramel is a clear winner, White Chocolate is too sweet, and even though I was super resistant to trying Strawberry Nut it was surprisingly good).
Regardless of which variety of chocolate you choose to use, I think you’re going to love this easy, no-mixer required M&M Cookie Recipe. Let’s get started.
Why Do We Use Melted Butter Instead of Softened Butter?
Many cookie recipes call for softened butter and the ingredients direct you to cream your butter and sugars together. There’s nothing wrong with this technique, but I’ve found time and time again that creaming butter and sugar leads to cakier cookies, while using melted butter yields not only a chewier, softer cookie, but one that’s more buttery/more flavorful as well. Ever since first using this technique with my (“worst”) chocolate chip cookie recipe it’s become a default for most of the cookies that I share.
There are some drawbacks to using melted butter. Usually cookie dough made with melted butter requires chilling (as this M&M Cookie recipe does) to keep the cookies from spreading to much, but I’ve found the taste to be worth any extra time.
As I’ve also noted in this recipe and others, it’s really important that you not only melt your butter, but also let it cool back down to near room temperature. If you add your sugar while the butter is too hot, you can actually melt the sugar and end up with runny cookie dough that will never hold its shape in the oven, no matter how long you chill it.
Want to nerd-out about butter some more? Read why I use unsalted instead of salted butter here.
Treat yourself to a FREE E-BOOK!
Enjoy!
My video for these M&M Cookies is at the bottom of the recipe! If you enjoy watching my recipe videos, please consider subscribing to my YouTube channel.
How to Make M&M Cookies
M&M Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter melted and cooled at least 10 minutes 226g
- 1 ¼ cup brown sugar* tightly packed 250g
- 1/2 cup sugar 100g
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk room temperature preferred*
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour 350g
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups M&Ms
Instructions
- Combine your melted (and cooled) butter and sugars in a large bowl and stir until well-combined.
- Add egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and stir until combined.
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet and mix until combined.
- Use a spatula to stir M&M candies into the cookie dough
- 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 freezer 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 -- allow cookies to cool completely on cookie sheet to finish cooking there, this will help keep them nice and soft.
Lisa says
July 19, 2019 at 11:58 amI made 2 batches and in both the dough was very crumbly and the cookies came out fairly dry – where did I go wrong?
Sam says
July 20, 2019 at 8:41 pmHi Lisa, most likely if the dough was very crumbly there was too much flour used. If you aren’t using weights, make sure to lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup and then level it off.
Christina says
July 2, 2019 at 12:18 pmHi! If I only have salted butter can I use that and just skip the extra added salt?
Sam says
July 2, 2019 at 3:58 pmHi Christina! Drop the salt to 1/4 teaspoon. 🙂
Megan says
May 18, 2019 at 9:59 pmGo to cookie recipe. Complements over and over!!
Sam says
May 18, 2019 at 10:37 pmThank you so much, Megan! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies. 🙂
Liz says
March 22, 2019 at 6:47 pmThese cookies are the.best.ever!! We can’t use M&Ms because of a severe peanut allergy, and I couldn’t find my usual substitutes of hersheyettes or sixlets, so I used some chopped up Hershey’s candy coated chocolate eggs. They were amazing! My 6 year old even said, “The chocolate candies are good, but the dough is the best you’ve ever made!” And that’s 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 says
March 22, 2019 at 9:08 pmHi Liz! I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies so much! Thank you for letting me know. 🙂
kiki says
May 18, 2019 at 9:17 am2nd time making these because my girls scout troop demanded them right away! (And we KNOW a good cookie better than anybody!)😋 So pretty and so tasty!!
Sam says
May 18, 2019 at 10:48 pmI am so glad everyone enjoys the cookies, Kiki! 🙂
Amber says
February 28, 2019 at 2:37 amThis recipe resulted in some of the best M&M cookies I’ve ever had. My family enjoyed them. Thanks for sharing the recipe!!!
Sam says
February 28, 2019 at 2:12 pmI am so glad everyone enjoyed them Amber! 🙂
Le-Chelle says
February 18, 2019 at 3:02 amHow many cookies (or how much in weight) does this recipe make?
Sam says
February 18, 2019 at 10:39 pmI will make about 16 cookies, depending on how big you make them. 🙂
Daniela says
February 5, 2019 at 12:50 pmThis was a fantastic recipe!!!! These cookies turned out awesome and beautiful by far the BEST m&m cookies I’ve ever made! Thank you for sharing this my girls loved them
Sam says
February 5, 2019 at 2:38 pmI am so glad everyone enjoyed them, Daniela! 🙂
Steph says
January 22, 2019 at 10:45 amThese. Are. My. Weakness. Best cookie of all time!!! I am convinced the melted butter is the secret! Never going back to softened butter!
Sam says
January 22, 2019 at 3:23 pmI am so glad you enjoyed it, Steph. 🙂
Rhonda Lovato says
December 19, 2018 at 8:15 pmHi, these are awesome! Any problem freezing them in freezer bags? Thank you so much
Sam says
December 19, 2018 at 9:57 pmNope, 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 says
December 4, 2018 at 2:06 pmHi, 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 says
December 4, 2018 at 6:37 pmHi, 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. 🙂
Annie says
December 5, 2018 at 3:29 pmOmg 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 they’ve solidified put them in a zip lock bag before popping them in the freezer? Is that possible?
Sam says
December 5, 2018 at 4:36 pmI 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 doesn’t dry out the dough. I hope all goes well for you! 🙂
Olivia says
December 29, 2018 at 12:15 pmI freeze cookies all the time by putting the cookie balls on a baking sheet in the freezer. Wait until they’re frozen and throw them in a gallon bag. When you’re ready to eat them put them on a baking sheet right away to thaw, smash them with your palm when they’re thawed, and then bake them. I freeze lots of things this way – bacon grease, tomato paste, pumpkin portions for my dog, etc.
Selah says
November 2, 2018 at 12:05 pmHi there!
These are real good! I did not melt the butter, instead I softened it and didn’t chill the dough. They still turned out incredible!! They dwindled too quickly! Thanks again, Sam!
Sam says
November 2, 2018 at 1:45 pmI am so glad you enjoyed them! 😊
Dana Ichilov says
October 6, 2018 at 4:17 pmHi Sam,
For how long can I keep the cookie dough in the fridge before baking the cookies?
Sam says
October 6, 2018 at 6:09 pmIt should be good for probably 3-4 days in the refrigerator. ☺️
Dana ichilov says
October 6, 2018 at 6:39 pmThank you!
Sarah says
September 28, 2018 at 5:45 pmThanks 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 says
September 28, 2018 at 11:12 pmIt’s still up to you to be the incredible baker! 😃 I am so glad I can help. Thank you for the kind feedback! 😃😃
Melissa says
September 26, 2018 at 12:11 pmCurious 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 says
September 26, 2018 at 9:43 pmHi Melissa! All of my recipes are for a bake setting! 😃😃 I myself am not very familiar with the convection setting. 😃 Enjoy!