These delicious M&M Cookies have chewy edges, soft centers, and they are packed with M&M’s and chocolate chips. This recipe comes together quickly and easily – no chill time required.
These cookies were our first “viral” recipe several years ago. It’s a recipe we have made dozens and dozens of times. These cookies are a reader favorite and a family favorite, and for good reason – because they are incredible!
If you like cookies with crisp edges and soft centers these are the cookies are for you! I have perfected this recipe (and in the process consumed an unfathomable number of cookies). I have tips for helping them come out PERFECT! Prefer a THICKER COOKIE? THINNER COOKIE? Extra chocolate? Read on, friends!
Prefer the chocolate version: Chocolate M&M Cookies.
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These cookies are
- Made with basic ingredients
- Soft and chewy
- Packed with M&M’s and chocolate chips
- Easy to assemble
- Always a crowd pleaser
- Great for holidays or parties- use colored M&M’s based on the theme
Recipe overview
*Full recipe below in the recipe card*
Make the dough by beating butter with granulated sugar and brown sugar. The brown sugar will impart moisture, sweetness, and chew.
Add egg and vanilla extract.
Add the dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Stir in M&M’s and chocolate chips.
Scoop the cookie dough into balls (big or small, see more on that below). Press some additional M&M’s on the dough balls and bake!
Remove baking sheets from the oven when the cookies are set around the edges, but still underbaked in the center.
Recipe tips
Follow these tips for making the BEST M&M Cookies EVER!
- Make sure your butter is softened but still cool to the touch. Using butter that is too soft will lead to cookies that spread too much in the oven.
- Your brown sugar should be soft and fresh. The moisture in the brown sugar helps make these cookies chewy.
- Mix some of the M&M’s into the batter and press the rest onto the top of the dough balls right before baking. This allows the M&M’s to be more visible, adding a nice pop of color to the cookies. Be generous with the M&M’s, as the cookies bake and spread out the candies will distribute over the top.
- When pressing M&M’s and chocolate chips into the tops of your dough balls, do NOT press so hard that you flatten the dough balls. When they enter the oven they should still be ball/dome shaped.
- DO NOT OVER-BAKE! For crisp edges and soft centers, do not wait until these cookies look done to pull them from the oven. Remove them from the oven just prior to being done and then they will finish cooking as they cool on the baking sheet.
- You can make these with regular M&M’s, holiday M&M’s, mini M&M’s, or a combination of M&M’s and chocolate chips.
How to make thick or thin cookies
For thin cookies:
Bake the cookies right after assembling the dough and use a slightly smaller portion of dough, about 1.5 tablespoons. Also, see my tips for getting perfectly round cookies.
For thicker cookies:
Scoop the dough balls then chill the dough balls in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to one hour before baking. Scoop the dough balls large, about 3 tablespoons of dough, and be sure the dough balls are mounded higher rather than wider. As these bake they will spread, but the center will stay thicker than the edges. Also, see my tips for getting perfectly round cookies.
How to get perfectly round cookies
Option 1: Immediately after the cookies come out of the oven place a round glass, bowl, or cookie cutter (larger than the cookie) upside down over the top of the cookie. Gently but quickly swirl the glass/bowl/cookie cutter in a circular motion. The edges of the cookie will bump against the inside of the glass creating a perfectly round shape. This only works when the cookies are hot, straight from the oven, and still on the warm baking sheet.
Option 2: Immediately after the cookies come out the oven use the back of a spoon to gently push the edges inward to create clean edges and a round shape.
Holiday M&M cookies
Love M&M cookies? Try these recipes, too: Cookie Mix in a Jar and Christmas Cookies.
More cookie recipes
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Post and photos updated October 2022. Recipe remains the same.
Recipe
Soft and Chewy M&M Cookies
Ingredients
- 1½ cups (188g) all purpose flour*, see note
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened but still cool
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (70g) brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (total) M&M's and chocolate chips, I use about 1 cup M&M's and ½ cup chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a bowl, whisk together flour (see note), baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Using a hand mixer or stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter and both sugars for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla extract, mixing until combined and scraping the sides of the bowl as needed. On low speed, add in flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Gently stir in M&M's/chocolate chips. Note: I usually add 1 cup (total) into the batter, the rest get pressed on top of the cookie dough balls before baking.
- Scoop 2-tablespoon portions of dough. Place the dough balls on a plate and transfer to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to one hour (see note about baking without chill time). The longer they chill the thicker the cookies will be. I usually chill the dough balls for 30 minutes while I clean up the kitchen.
- Using the remaining M&M's/chocolate chips, nestle several (5 or so) onto the top of each mound of dough. Keep in mind that the cookies will spread out while baking. Mound the dough balls so that they're higher rather than wider. Place the dough balls on the prepared baking sheets leaving a couple inches for spreading.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes, until the edges of the cookies are set but the center is still slightly underdone, this will create a soft cookie. For a crispier cookie, continue baking for another minute or two. See note about shaping the cookies to make them perfectly round.
- Place the baking sheets on wire racks and allow the cookies to cool completely. They will firm up as they cool.
Video
Notes
Option 2: Immediately after the cookies come out the oven use the back of a spoon to gently push the edges inward to create clean edges and a round shape.
HOLIDAY VARIATIONS:
You can make these with regular M&M’s, holiday M&M’s, mini M&M’s, or a combination of M&M’s and chocolate chips. If you’re using a color theme you can also dip the top of each dough ball in colored sprinkles before baking.
Nutrition
Nutritional Information is an estimate based on third-party calculations and may vary based on products used and serving sizes.
Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and rating below!
Kay
I just made these amazing oookies with the new Cheesecake M and M’s. My family has eaten most of them already.
Celebrating Sweets
Great! Glad you liked them. Thanks for taking the time to comment. 🙂
Sue
Pretty good but it seems like the proportions are off. The dough was extremely thick & I felt it needed more sugar. I made a double batch of dough with the single-batch amount of m&m’s plus probably 1/2 cup chocolate chips & it was way too much. I like a sweeter dough with fewer chunks, but that’s just me. They did bake up nice & soft though.
Lori
My daughter’s preschool sent home a note saying they could bring valentine cards and a treat to school, which I interpreted to mean something like fun size M&M packs to go with the cards, so that’s what I bought. Then today we got a reminder email but after “treat” it said “such as cupcakes or muffins”. So we ripped open the fun size packs and made these cookies. They came out great and that’s with my 2.5 year-old and 13 month-old “helping” so you know not one darn thing was measured very accurately!
Celebrating Sweets
Perfect! I’m glad it worked out, and I love that you let your kids help. Happy Valentine’s Day! Enjoy! -Allison
Abbie
I made these cookies and they are amazing
Celebrating Sweets
Glad you liked them! Thanks for stopping by. 🙂
Amanda
Truly a fabulous recipe. Might be my favorite cookies!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m happy to hear that! Thanks for taking the time to comment. Enjoy! 🙂
Brianna
The cookies beer very thick. Seemed like i i had too much flour. They had the consistency of a brownie. I was so disappointed ☹️
Celebrating Sweets
Sorry to hear that. Yes, too much flour will keep them from spreading. Did you follow the instructions in the note for properly measuring flour?
Cheryl Dickson
I made these yesterday and they came out PERFECT. I doubled the recipe and only used 2 cups of m & m’s, which was plenty in the batch. The cookies were nice and fluffy, not flat. I got 42 good sized cookies from doubling the recipe. It’s so good I’m going to use this recipe for chocolate chip cookies next!
Celebrating Sweets
Fantastic! I’m so happy to hear that. Thanks for taking the time to comment. Enjoy! -Allison 🙂
Susan
Hi,
I’m pretty experienced at baking and I followed your recipe really closely. The cookies looked nothing like the ones in your photos. They were not bad tasting cookies, I just cannot get them to look like the ones in the photo (the one with the m&m and chocolate chips) no matter what. Can you make an updated video where you show the process from start to finish? I would really love to know what I’m doing wrong. I take baking really seriously! haha.
Celebrating Sweets
Hi, Susan. Many different factors can have an impact on the end result. How soft your butter is, how you measure the flour, the moisture content in your brown sugar, what you line the pan with, how big your dough balls are etc. What looks different about your cookies? In the photos with the M&M’s and chocolate chips I used dark brown sugar and I scooped the dough balls quite large (about 2-tablespoon portions). In the blog post I get into detail about thick vs thin cookies as well as tips for this specific recipe – you can try reading that to see if it helps you troubleshoot.
Alexis
Perfection, great recipe will be keeping it for sure. I thought the dough was Going to be too soft, because I had melted the butter for easy hand mixing, but they turned out great. I even lessened the sugar, using all Panela , sprouted whole spelt flour and Little Secrets chocolate candies and peanut butter filled ones. So amazing, thank you!
Celebrating Sweets
I’m glad it worked out. Sounds delicious! Thanks for commenting. Enjoy!
M
I made them exactly like you said, and they are awesome! So perfect. I made them four at a time in my toaster oven. Gorgeous. I added sprinkles
Celebrating Sweets
Wonderful! Thanks for taking the time to comment. Enjoy! 🙂