M&M Cookies – Two Peas & Their Pod

M&M Cookies-Everyone’s favorite chocolate candy brightens up these soft and chewy cookies! Kids and adults go crazy for these M&M Cookies! They are the BEST!

Best M&M Cookies

M&M Cookies have always been one of my favorite cookies to bake and eat! They are just SO fun! The colorful chocolate candies put a really fun twist on the classic chocolate chip cookie. The cookies are soft, chewy, and dotted with bright M&M’s. Kids and adults go crazy for these cookies! The rainbow of colors always wins people over and then they take a bite and they are 100% sold! These are the BEST M&M cookies!

What Kind of M&M’s to Use

For this M&M Cookie recipe, I like to use plain milk chocolate M&M’s. You can’t go wrong with a classic! If you want to mix things up you can use dark chocolate, peanut butter, crispy, mint, or any other of their fun flavors. I just prefer the classic.

If you are making the M&M Cookies for a holiday or game day, you can color coordinate your M&M’s with the holiday or your team colors! You can special order colors online or if you have patience, you can pick through bags of M&M’s to get the colors you need, a good job for the kids..ha! And if you want to add in chocolate chips WITH the M&M’s you can, but I use all M&M’s for this M&M cookie recipe so the M&M’s are the star!

How to Make M&M Cookies

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees Line a large baking sheet with a Silpat baking mat or parchment paper and set aside.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.
• Using a stand mixer, cream butter and sugars together for about 1 minute. Add in the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined. With the mixer on low, slowly add in dry ingredients. Gently stir in the M&M’s, being careful not to break too many of the candy shells!
• Form the cookie dough into balls, about 2 tablespoons of dough. Place on prepared baking sheet 2 inches apart.
• Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until edges are slightly golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. You can also gently press extra M&M’s on top of the cookies to make them extra pretty. 
• Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and cool completely.

Secret to Soft M&M Cookies

Psst! It’s the cornstarch! Cornstarch is often used to thicken sauces or soups, and it can also be used in cookie dough to keep cookies super soft. The addition of cornstarch makes for a fluffy, soft cookie that is completely irresistible. Don’t skip the cornstarch for the ultimate soft M&M cookie!

Can I Chill the Dough?

YES! This is one of the tricks that seasoned cookie bakers know well. Chilling your cookie dough helps it hold that perfect cookie shape while baking instead of spreading out on the pan. This makes for a chewier, picture-perfect cookie!

How to Store M&M Cookies

Once cooled completely, you can store M&M Cookies in an airtight container on the counter for 3 to 5 days. Refrigerating will dry them out, so I recommend room temperature storage! If you want to keep the cookies super soft, you can put a slice of bread in the container with the cookies. The piece of bread will get hard, but the cookies will stay soft! Cool, huh?

Can You Freeze M&M Cookies?

If you’re thinking of freezing some of these (smart!), you can do it two ways. If you’d like to freeze before baking, you’ll want to scoop the dough into balls, then place them in a freezer-safe container. Now you’re ready for freshly-baked cookies at a moment’s notice! To freeze cookies after baking, let them cool completely and then stack in a freezer-safe container and freeze up to 3 months.

More Cookie Recipes:

Looking for more cookie recipes? You may enjoy trying one of these other classic cookie recipes: