M&M Cookies Recipe
Published April 3, 2024. This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
This M&M Cookies Recipe is jam-packed with chocolate, walnuts, and peanut butter chips for the ultimate treat. To this day, this is hands down my family’s all-time favorite cookie.
Who doesn’t like a sweet treat with coffee or something sugary after a meal? For more delicious dessert recipes, try my Blondies or Hummingbird Cake.
M&M Cookies
M&M Cookies are a basic sweet cookie dough with candied-covered chocolates folded in. They’re then baked until lightly browned around the outside edges but soft in the middle. My recipe uses more ingredients, like chocolate and nuts, to make them heartier and more delicious.
This recipe originated at the Legends, a country club I worked at over 25 years ago. You can customize these cookies by removing additional chocolate, nuts, or peanut butter chips without changing the cookie dough recipe. If you do go this route, I would recommend doubling the amount of M&M’s used.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Butter – I always use unsalted butter in my cooking and baking to control the sodium content.
- Sugar – I used a combination of light brown and regular granulated sugar. You could also use all brown sugar instead of the combination. In addition, you can substitute light for dark brown sugar.
- Eggs – Large eggs that are chilled or at room temperature work perfectly.
- Vanilla – A good vanilla extract is best to use.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is what’s needed for these M&M cookies. However, you can substitute it with bread flour.
- Leavening Agents – I used a combination of baking powder and baking soda.
- Salt – I always use coarse salt in my cooking and baking.
- Chocolate — I used a combination of semi-sweet and white chocolate chips and chunks. You can use one or the other or a combination like I did.
- Candy – You will need M&M’s for these cookies.
- Nuts – This is optional, but I used walnuts in these cookies. However, you can also use pecans, cashews, or regular peanuts.
- Peanut Butter Chips – This is also optional, but I like adding them for more peanut butter flavors.
How to Make M&M Cookies
- Start by creaming some softened unsalted butter with brown and granulated sugar on medium speed for 5-7 minutes or until it’s light and fluffy.
- Add one large egg at a time until completely mixed in. In other words, don’t add the second egg until the first one is mixed in.
- Pour in your vanilla and continue to mix on medium speed.
- Mix the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a separate large bowl until combined.
- Turn the speed down to low and add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer in 3 batches until mixed in.
- Remove the mixing bowl and fold the chocolate chips, M&M’s, peanut butter chips, and walnuts using a rubber spatula until incorporated.
- Ok, so the cookie dough is finished up, and now it’s time to scoop them onto cookie sheet trays lined with parchment paper. Like I said in the step-by-step video below, I like them to be bigger, so mine is 3 tablespoon scoops.
- Scoop them out from the dough onto a sheet tray lined with parchment paper about 4”-5” apart from each other, and then bake away at 350° for 16-18 minutes or until the edges start to turn light brown.
Why Are My Cookies Flat?
Overmixing — If you mix the dough too much, it can overbeat the ingredients, preventing them from reaching their full peak in the oven.
The dough is too Hot — If your dough is too hot/warm, it’ll fall too fast in the oven and slowly create layers as it spreads out. Try chilling it after placing it on the sheet tray in the refrigerator for 10 minutes before baking.
No Baking Powder – There are quite a few recipes that do not use baking powder. I believe this ingredient is essential to tall, thick cookies. If the recipe you love doesn’t have any of it, I’d add a teaspoon or 2.
How to Make the Best Cookies
- Brown Sugar – Brown sugar has a higher moisture content than plain sugar, ensuring these tasty treats will be moister and more flavorful.
- Under Cooking – I’m not telling you to serve these up raw, but always go a few minutes under because once your cookies come out of the oven, they will continue to cook until cool; We call this carry overcooking.
Make-Ahead and Storage
Make-Ahead: You can make these up to 2 days ahead for freshness.
How to Store: Add the M&M chocolate chip cookies to plastic bags and keep them at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for up to 7 days. The dough and baked cookies will freeze well, covered in a container or plastic wrap, for up to 3 months.
chef notes + tips
- On the sugar front, I like to combine brown and regular sugar, but you could absolutely use all light brown sugar.
- Scrape the bowl of the standing mixer often to ensure all of the ingredients are being incorporated.
- You can mix the final ingredients into the dough with the stand mixer, but they may break up quite a bit because of the torque from the mixer.
- These are large, so I baked 6 on a tray at once, but If you prefer smaller cookies, please feel free to do so.
- When making them, You should not flatten them with your finger or a spoon. They will flatten out as they bake at 350° and create layers as they spread out. When it does this, the cookies steam on the inside, making them moist.
More Treat Recipes
Video
M&M Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 sticks softened unsalted butter
- ¾ cup sugar
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoons vanilla
- 2 ½ cups All Purpose Flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
- 1 cup white chocolate chips or chunks
- 1 cup candy covered chocolates
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Add the butter and sugars to a stand mixer with the paddle attachment and mix on medium to high speed for 5-7 minutes or until light and fluffy.
- Add 1 egg at a time until combined, and then add in the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Then add it to the mixer on low speed in 3 batches until mixed in. Stop the mixer in between, adding the flour to scrape the sides.
- Remove the bowl and fold the chocolate chips, candy, peanut butter chips, and walnuts with a rubber spatula until completely mixed in.
- using a 1/4 cup scooper (#16 scoop), scoop out the dough onto cookie sheet trays 4 to 5 inches apart from one another to allow them to spread out. It will take 3 sheet trays to get to 18 cookies
- Bake in the oven for 16-18 minutes or until there is a light brown edge around the outside.
- Cool to room temperature on a rack and serve
Over baked first cookie sheet….still delicious. Got it right by 3rd cookie sheet in oven! DELICIOUS. Soft in middle and crunchy on edges. Have to admit though, did not add white chocolate chips by choice.
Awesome cookie recipe! These were easy to make and tasted great!
I put some in jars and gave away as Christmas gifts.
This makes a lot of big cookies. Made a couple of batches and then wrapped the extra in parchment paper and stored in the fridge. I cooked the next set of cookies a week later. They were very good. Had issues at our store finding peanut butter chips so I used peanut butter m&m’s instead – the color came off the m&m’’s but they were a big hit. Thanks for sharing your recipes!!
Yes it does, but boy are they good!
I used Trader Joe’s mimi peanut butter cups.
Hi. I want to make these cookies and was wondering if you toast the walnuts.
Thanks!
nope
These cookies are amazing. I’m “famous” for them at my parties. I always send people here for the recipe though.
so good!!
These cookies look fantastic and I would love to make them for the holidays. I would like to make them smaller for my grandchildren. If I halve the size of the cookie should I cut baking time in half. I know you are busy so if you can’t get back to me I will do it by trial and error. Thank you for all your wonderful recipes.
Billy, I’ve read all the stuff for these cookies. Can you explain the difference in texture and moisture in choc chip cookies using oil – coconut oil to be exact- and butter? I’ve looked on the ‘net, but find nothing.
Don’t have a lot of knowledge around coconut oil outside of knowing it’s high smoke point and flavor profile. It’s fat that burns hot so my guess is that it would keep the cookies light in color, but I can’t speak to the texture. My guess is that it would break down too much and the cookies would be flat.
I have started using grams for flour measurements. I have seen different gram weights to use per cup of flour (which I use Bob’s Red Mill). I have seen 125 grams and 142 grams to equal one cup white all purpose flour. How do I know what is best in this recipe? Thank you.
I’ve never seen that to be honest, I would most likely just go with a number in between.
These cookies are way too good to keep in the house. Crispy outside and soft in the center. And the cookies have intense flavor from the brown sugar giving a caramelization taste along with four different kinds of chips (of which I swapped out one for white chocolate chips) and nuts added. Bakeries have nothing over these.
I’m with you…undercooking just slightly makes these cookies AWESOME!
These cookies are amazing. I really appreciated all your tips and the explanations you shared. I will use that in all my cookie baking!
LOVE these loaded cookies. Just made a double batch and froze half for later 🙂