M&M Cookies + Video
These bakery style M&M Cookies are loaded with chocolate chips and M&M candies. They’re crispy on the edges, soft and chewy in the center, with plenty of chocolate throughout. The best M&M cookies! No chill time required — just make and bake.
When I worked in a grocery store bakery and we made M&M cookies, they were basically chocolate chip cookies with M&M’s on top. It used to bother me, because it felt like it was cheating to only use a few M&M’s per cookie.
The Best M&M Cookies
I’ve since concluded that the best M&M cookies are made with both chocolate chips and M&M’s candies.
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Using chocolate chips in addition to M&M’s gives it more smooth chocolatey goodness, with the look and crunch of the chocolate M&M’s candies, mostly on top.
Sure you can buy M&M’s mini’s or M&M’s baking bits to distribute the candies better, but I still prefer my M&M cookies to be made with chocolate chips and classic M&M’s.
Soft or Crisp Cookies?
The way you make and bake these M&M cookies will determine the final product. Everyone likes their cookies a certain way. Here are some general tips:
- Use soft, yet firm butter. The butter should be cold, and give a little when touched. Melted butter, or butter that is too soft, will make the cookies spread too thin. You can refrigerate the dough if your butter is too soft to help combat this.
- For soft cookies: Bake cookies until the edges are barely starting to brown and the centers look just slightly under-baked. Let the cookies rest on the pan for a few minutes, to finish baking, for a soft-baked cookie.
- For crispy cookies: Bake cookies until golden brown on the top and edges; baking an additional 2-3 minutes past the recommended time.
Thick or Thin Cookies?
There are a few tricks to make these M&M cookies thicker or thinner.
- For thick cookies: Use more cookie dough, about 2 Tbsp per cookie. And shape the cookie dough balls tall and round. You can also press the edges of the cookie inward just after the tray comes out of the oven. I like to do this with a serving spatula. For the thickest cookies, refrigerate the dough for 30-60 minutes before baking.
- For thin cookies: Use a smaller portion of dough, about 1.5 Tbsp per cookie. Other options include using slightly softer butter, or slightly pressing the dough 1/3 of the way down after it is scooped.
Tips for Making M&M Cookies:
- Use a cookie dough scoop. This helps the M&M cookies bake evenly and look uniform. I prefer a #30 or #40 scoop. NOTE: The bigger the number, the smaller the scoop, and the smaller the number the bigger the scoop. These two sizes are between 1.5 and 2 Tbsp of cookie dough. I used a #30 scoop for the cookies shown.
- Gently place a generous amount of M&M’s on top of cookie dough balls before baking. Only mix a small portion of M&M’s into the chocolate chip cookie dough and press the majority of the M&M candies into the tops. Be generous because the cookies spread, and you want M&M’s in each bite.
- NOTE: In the bakery, we would have M&M’s on a tray, then pick up the cookie dough balls, and press the tops into the M&M’s until they stuck. The only problem with this is that it flattens the tops of the cookie dough, and if you want thicker cookies, you don’t want to flatten the dough at all. Grab a handful of M&M’s and use your pointer fingers to place them into the cookie dough, maintaining the shape of a ball.
- Space cookie dough 3-inches apart, not two. I like to bake 8 cookies per tray compared to the typical dozen (12). (See second photo in post.) First of all, you don’t want your cookies melting into each other. Secondly, the more cookies on the tray, the thinner the cookies bake because the heat is trying to distribute evenly across all of the cookies.
I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! It uses more vanilla and a bigger ratio of brown sugar to granulated sugar for maximum flavor.
More Cookie Recipes:
- Soft-Baked Chocolate Chip Cookies – includes a special ingredient to make them perfectly thick, chewy, and soft!
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies – a classic peanut butter cookie recipe studded with chocolate chips.
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies – thick, soft, and chewy, with plenty of hearty old fashioned oats and creamy chocolate chips.
- Double Chocolate Crinkle Cookies – soft and fudgy with chocolate chips added for twice the chocolatey goodness.
- Caramel Pretzel Chocolate Chip Cookies – loaded with pretzels, caramel bits, and chocolate chips, for a salty-sweet cookie treat.
- Sour Cream Cookies – soft and fluffy with just the right amount of sweetness — they’re perfect with or without frosting.
M&M Cookies
These bakery style M&M Cookies are loaded with chocolate chips and M&M candies. They're crispy on the edges, soft and chewy in the center, with plenty of chocolate throughout.
Yields cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) butter, (2 sticks) room temperature
- 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar, gently packed
- ¾ cup (150 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 ¼ cups (390 g) all-purpose flour, (stir, spoon & level)
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup (170 g) chocolate chips
- 1 ½ cups (336 g) M&M’s candies, divided
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cookie sheet trays with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and both sugars. Cream until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla. Mix well and scrape the bowl with a spatula.
- In a separate bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add dry ingredients to the butter mixture until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the M&M’s. Mix gently on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Scoop cookie dough balls (about 2 Tbsp each) and place onto prepared baking sheet about 3-inches apart. (8 cookies per tray.) Generously press M&M’s into the tops of cookie dough balls (about 6-7 M&M’s per cookie) maintaining a round shape.
- Bake at 350˚F for 8-10 minutes until edges are just barely starting to brown. For thicker cookies, press edges inward with a cookie spatula while still warm. Allow to cool for 1-2 minutes on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
- Use unsalted butter or salted butter and adjust salt as needed.
- To measure flour properly: stir the flour to incorporate air into it, then spoon it into the measuring cup, and level it with the back of a knife. I have added the weight in grams to help with this.
- For thicker cookies: Refrigerate dough 30-60 minutes before baking in addition to pressing edges inward while still warm.
- For crispier cookies: Bake 2-3 minutes longer, until golden brown all over.
- Store M&M cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 1 week.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 cookie | Calories: 178kcal | Carbohydrates: 33g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 14mg | Sodium: 133mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 21g
Disclaimer: Nutritional values were calculated using a third-party tool and are provided as an estimation only.
Did you make this?
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Delicious and BEAUTIFUL!! I didn’t have any issues with the dough/cookies being dry like other commenters — they were perfect! I put more M&Ms on the top — so in order to make them stretch to all the cookies, I put some extra chocolate chips on the top too!
I’m so glad to hear you enjoyed this recipe and didn’t have any problems Stacie! Thanks for coming back to comment!
I just made these, the last batch is still in the oven. They are way too dry..I just looked at 5 other m&m cookie recipes..they all call for 2 3/4 cups of flour. I thought the flour content for these was way too high (3 1/4 cups). Not good. Sorry😔
I’m sorry you had a rough time with the recipe. I make these cookies quite often. I actually made them again just yesterday and they were great. If yours were too dry, chances are you didn’t measure the flour properly. If you scoop your measuring cup down into the flour container to measure, then odds are, you’re using too much. It’s the tough part about using cups instead of weight measurements. Next time, try to fluff up the flour with a spoon, gently fill the cup, and level it off without packing it in. You can also add a Tablespoon or two of milk to the dough if it seems too dry. Hope this helps!
Made these cookies with my grandchildren..they loved these cookies. We made a double batch so we could freeze some. This is now the favorite for my grandchildren
Wonderful! I’m glad to hear it!
Delicious, perfect crunch and softness! The dough felt a little more dry than a normal chocolate chip cookie recipe, but they turned out perfectly. Even my husband who doesn’t like sweets thought they were very good. The kids devoured them. Definitely a keeper.
Yes, the dough may seem a little dry, but the high sugar content kind of counterbalances the flour and makes it spread. Glad you all enjoyed this recipe!
These are so yummy!
*Important note: the FLOUR measurement and the weight as listed in the recipe do not equate. You only need about 2 3/4 cup flour (that has been fluffed, spooned and leveled). This equals 365 grams.
I first measured 3 1/4 as the recipe says then weighed and it was way off.
Hi Michelle! Glad you liked the cookies. I measured the 3 1/4 cups out 5x and gave the average weight to give a more precise measurement for those who wanted it. Crazy that it was only 2 3/4 cups for you.
I would use half the salt next time I make the recipe but overall it was good
Thanks for the feedback. The salt can be strong, especially if you use salted butter and the full amount of salt. Definitely feel free to adjust it to your tastes.
These are amazing! BEST m&m cookies ever! Just made them for a cute 3 year old and she loved!!!! 🙂
I’m so glad you enjoyed these cookies! Thanks for your comment!
Theses were very dry and crumbly for me when I was trying to form the raw cookies. Any idea why?
I’m sorry that happened. Your butter may not have been soft enough. You can also make sure to stir the flour, gently spoon it into the cup, and then level it off when measuring.
Hey sorry to hit you up again. So I tried this out and read through just to make sure I did everything right.
Is this dough supposed to be very dry? When I baked them they look more like muffin tops than cookies. I added some oil to my next batch and it helped with the dryness. Is there something I’m missing?
The dough shouldn’t be dry. Make sure you stir the flour up to incorporate air and lighten it up. Then spoon it into the cup and level it off. If you’ve been measuring that way, try using only 3 cups of flour.
I had this same issue…was disappointed but followed the recipe.
I also had a similar experience. Mine turned out pale, thick, didnt spread and tasted a little too flour-y. Next time I will cut out some of the flour as I suspect the amount called for is too much. This is not my first rodeo with baking cookies or anything else so I was also disappointed in my results. For comparison I looked up the nestle tolhouse recipe and it is almost exactly the same as this one, except they only use 2 1/4 cup flour and this one uses a whole cup more! They also had 1/4c less brown sugar but to me thats irrelevant.
Can you freeze these cookies after baking? I’m trying to get a lot of cookies out for the holiday and would prefer to bake over the week instead of a marathon of one day.
Yes! Cool the cookies completely. Place them in a single layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet to freeze them, then store them in a freezer-safe zip-top storage bag.
These cookies were wonderful! I was just wondering, though. Your ingredient list mentions baking powder but step 3 states to combine the dry ingredients including baking soda. Which of the two do you suggest using for these cookies?
Whoops! Thanks for catching that. I use baking soda. I’ll fix that in the ingredients now.