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These were excellent. My toddler loved pushing the extra M&Ms on at the end. I made the recipe exactly as described and I wouldn’t change a thing next time. Very soft and chewy.
Megan
These Easy M&M Cookies Are Foolproof
Friday. Weekly reflections. COOKIES. More specifically, big soft M&M cookies.
It’s been a long time since I posted cookies on the blog. Welcome back, old friends. My coworker Lori shared this recipe with me after I tasted one of her cookies and begged her repeatedly for the recipe. I do that to people, so if you ever give me food, watch out. I will hunt you down.
These cookies are big, soft, buttery, and hefty. They’re easy to make and also an excellent cookie to make with kids (because what kid doesn’t love little candies in their cookies?). You can even adjust them to what event or holiday you’re bringing them to – orange and black for Halloween, red and green for the holidays, pink and red for Valentine’s Day, or the original rainbow for any party you’re off to.
I love a classic chocolate chip cookie, but there’s just something special about these M&M cookies, speckled in color and feeling like they’re straight from the bakery.
Have another cookie, friend. You deserve it.
How To Make M&M Cookies
My favorite part of these cookies is that they are zero percent complicated. Here’s what you’ll do:
1. Mix Sugars and Wet Ingredients.
Brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, vanilla, and shortening. I recommend using an electric mixer for this!
2. Add Dry Ingredients.
Add your dry ingredients and mix by hand. The dough should feel thick and almost dry to the touch! Then it’s the fun part – add in those M&Ms!
3. Roll Into Dough Balls.
Roll your dough into balls – depending on size, you should end up with 18-24 cookies.
4. Bake and Enjoy!
Bake your cookies on a cookie sheet or baking sheet, let them cook for a minute, and serve and enjoy!
Freezing and Storage
These cookies freeze well before or after baking. Here’s how to do it!
- To Freeze Before Baking: Roll your dough into dough balls and freeze on a tray to prevent sticking. Once they’re mostly or fully frozen, you can put them in an airtight bag or container. When you’re ready to bake, you can put them right on the baking sheet and bake – just add 3-5 minutes to account for them being frozen. These are best baked within 3 months!
- To Freeze After Baking: Follow the recipe as-stated and let the cookies cool completely, then pop them in the freezer on the sheet pan for a few minutes to freeze a bit. You can then add them to an airtight bag or container – I’d recommend making layers using parchment paper. These are best eaten within 3 months!
Variations and Ideas To Try For These Cookies
M&Ms are so FUN because you have some options for colors and other fun things to do. Here are some options!
- Peanut Butter: Use peanut butter M&Ms.
- Caramel: Use caramel M&Ms.
- Christmas/Holiday Cookies: Use red and green M&Ms.
- Halloween Cookies: Use orange and brown M&Ms.
- Valentine’s Day Cookies: Use pink and red M&Ms.
- Easter/Spring Cookies: Use pastel-colored M&Ms.
- Super Bowl Cookies: Use your favorite team’s colors for the M&Ms!
Frequently Asked Questions About These M&M Cookies
Typically butter and shortening work pretty interchangeably, so it should work with butter as well. However, the cookies won’t be quite as soft and fluffy, and will be a little more dense and flat.
Here’s more information on the difference between the two!
Yes, you can use a stand mixer for the sugars and wet ingredients, but I still recommend mixing by hand when adding the dry ingredients.
When my cookies are flat, that usually means that it needs a little more flour. I’d add flour tablespoon by tablespoon until the dough feels kind of dry and crumbly. You could also bake a “test cookie” before baking the rest of the batch to see if it’s the thickness you’d like.
Sure would! But in that case, I’d probably opt for this classic chocolate chip cookie recipe or this browned butter cookie recipe. Both are fabulous as well!
Big Soft M&M Cookies
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 18–24 cookies, depending on size 1x
Description
These big soft M&M cookies are just that: BIG AND SOFT. A quick and easy pick me up for any day. One of my favorite cookie recipes!
Ingredients
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 cup shortening
- 2 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups flour (+ 2-3 tablespoons)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups M&M’s
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the brown sugar, white sugar, shortening, eggs, and vanilla with electric mixers on low speed until well mixed.
- Add the 2 1/2 cups flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until just combined; I found it easiest to finish this by hand. Add the extra tablespoons of flour until the dough feels thick and almost dry to the touch. Stir the M&M’s into the dough.
- Roll into large balls (unless you want small cookies, and who are you anyways?) and press extra M&M’s into the tops. Flatten slightly with your palm or the back of a wooden spoon. Bake for 8-10 minutes (they will be slightly underbaked). Remove from cookie sheet right away and place on cooling rack. Let stand for 5-10 minutes to help the cookies hold their shape.
Notes
I always put a little extra flour in my cookies so they don’t get flat. But if you find that you get too much flour and they aren’t flattening at all (I may or may not have made this mistake) just press them down with the palm of your hand or the back of a wooden spoon so they are normal-cookie-shaped before you even bake them.
- Prep Time: 20 mins
- Cook Time: 10 mins
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: m&m cookie, cookie recipe, m&ms, soft cookie
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Can u make this cookie with butter instead of shortening
Yes butter should work just fine!
I am from Europe and I don’t understand what shortening is. Is it margarine? I use butter, oils and lard when cooking and baking. Should I use margarine for these cookies?
Great question! Shortening is a fat made from vegetable oil. It’s similar to butter, so feel free to use that insteaad!
I would like to know what size do you consider a large scoop.
I made these last night and …. hmm… they were okay but the flavor seemed just the slightest bit off. I’m wondering if it’s supposed to be butter flavored shortening? I used plain vegetable shortening. Might try regular butter next time.
Mine came out flat. Kind of upset because I had big hopes for fluffy cookies I promised my nephews and nieces. Trying to think what I did wrong.
I used crisco and even added more flour than the extra you recommended.
Can I use mini m&m instead of the regular ones and also if I could use the mini how much mini will I need to use?
Thank you in advance
Lin
Yes you can use mini chocolate chips! You could try 3/4 cup.
This has become my go to cookie recipe. I’ve tried with m&ms which were great but I over baked them a tad so they became hard overnight even with a piece of bread in the container. I just remade these with chocolate chips and am now in heaven!
I’ve made many M&M cookie recipes in the past that were too flat or brown or just not good tasting. These checked all the boxes for what I look for in an M&M cookie. I’ve made them three times in the last week. Haha. The recipe is a keeper.
So happy to hear that!
Fav chocolate chip recipe, sometimes I use m&ms, sometimes chocolate or butterscotch chips, sometimes a mix, always come out delicious! I find that the cookies come out better when you let the shortening and eggs get to room temp and sift the dry ingredients first.
I’ve been making these for a while now with M/Ms and they are delicious. This Easter we smashed up some mini-eggs and used those instead! Adorable and delicious!
Sounds delicious, Nicole!
Absolutely love these cookies. I use Peanut butter M&M’s. I have to give these away or I will eat them all… Only issue is that everyone requests for them now. This is my 4th time making them. Thank you for this recipe! 🙂
Peanut butter M&Ms in these cookies = YUM!
These cookies were awesome!! I didn’t have shortening on hand so I used butter. The dough came together quickly and easily in my Kitchenaid.
I pressed the first batch and they were too flat. I left the remaining batches in round balls and they came out soft and big and no one could eat just one.
Yay! So happy to hear this!
Help! My cookies look amazingly thick when I take then out of the oven but if I transfer them to the cooling rack immediately after coming out of the oven, they fall through my rack because they are so doughy but if I wait until they are a bit more set….they flatten out?! I want thick cookies like yours!
Thank you!
I just made these! For 4th of July 2019 with red white and blue M&M’s. They look beautiful ♥️💙. I didn’t make them quite big enough but they are delicious and soft. Mmm… thanks for the recipe!
So soft.
These cookies are awful they just taste like shortening.
Just made these cookies and they’re amazing and so simple
These were delicious very crumbly and soft on the inside, and soft yet hard on the out! Delicious! My only problem was that it tasted a little different or funky in some… maybe I just did something wrong.. But either way they are delicious!!! Definitely recommend! Yum!
Lindsay you are my new cookie hero! These are the most amazing cookies! I’ve actually never made M&M cookies and I bake a lot. These were easy and came out perfect! Thank you so much for sharing.
Hi,
I’m making these for my sons school and it’s with all the Christmas activities, I’m hoping to get a jumpstart on these. How soon do you think I could make and refrigerate or freeze the dough before baking?
what kind of flour do you use in your
big soft m&m cookies please?
All-purpose!
If you are baking regular size cookies, how long would you bake them for?
I made these for a holiday cookie party and they were the first ones gone. Thank you! 🙂
I just tried these and these are truly the BEST m&m cookies. Thanks for the recipe. I did bake them at 350 for 10 minutes instead of 375-I think my oven is off, but this was perfect!