M&M Cookies {The BEST Recipe!} | Dessert Now, Dinner Later (2024)

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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.

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.

M&M Cookies

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 9 minutes

See Also

Homemade Bagels Recipe - Sally's Baking AddictionThe Best Beginner Sourdough Bread Recipe • The Prairie HomesteadQuick And Easy Hot Dog Buns recipeLemon Ricotta Cookie Recipe

Total Time: 19 minutes

Yield: 30 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.

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar, gently packed
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 1/4 cups (390g) all-purpose flour (stir, spoon & level)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups M&M's candies, divided

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line cookie sheet trays with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Add the chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of the M&M's. Mix gently on low speed until just combined, about 30 seconds.
5. 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.
6. 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.

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.

Recommended Products

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  Serving Spatula

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  #30 Cookie Scoop

• 

  Silicone Baking Mat

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  Aluminum Half Sheet Tray (2 Pack)

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 30Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 178Total Fat: 4gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 133mgCarbohydrates: 33gFiber: 1gSugar: 21gProtein: 3g

This data was provided and calculated by Nutritionix, and is an estimation only.

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