Learn How To Make Perfect M&M Cookies! These really are the best chocolate chip cookies and I simply can’t wait to share them with you!
The Best M&M Cookies
Are you ready for the best m and m cookies recipe? I’ve been making these M and M cookies for years now and they are ALWAYS a hit. In fact, I’m making a batch today for some neighbor gifts!
What defines a perfect cookie to you? It’s quite different for everyone I imagine. For me, the cookie has to be soft and chewy but crispy around the edges with just the right texture. This cookie that I’ve developed has all of those things which is why this recipe is titled How To Make Perfect M&M Cookies 🙂
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Crowd Favorite. These cookies are a favorite at every party.
- EASY! They’re easy to make!
- Can’t Mess Them Up! Fail proof recipe!
Try my Chocolate Malted Cookies too! Follow Picky Palate on Instagram for daily recipe inspiration!
What You’ll Need
Here are the ingredients you’ll need to make M&M Cookies at home. See the recipe card located at the bottom of the post for full details.
- Salted Butter, Softened– For most of my recipes I use salted butter, but unsalted is just fine here too.
- Granulated Sugar– This fine sugar brings the sweet to the cookies.
- Light Brown Sugar– The light brown sugar also brings the sweetness to the cookies.
- Large Egg– For consistency use large eggs for your baking.
- Pure Vanilla Extract– For best tasting results use pure vanilla extract.
- All-Purpose Flour– Flour is the main dry ingredient for the cookies.
- Kosher Salt- This coarse salt is commonly used in cooking and baking. Find it near the table salt.
- Baking Soda– Baking soda helps the cookies rise during baking.
- Mini Chocolate Chips– Mini chips can be found in the baking section near the other chocolate chips.
- Mini M&M’s– Find the mini M&M’s near the candy section in most grocery stores. Regular size are fine too if you can’t find the mini.
How To Make The Best M&M Cookies
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper.
Cream Butters and Sugars. In a large mixing bowl cream your butter and sugars until well combined.
Wet Ingredients. Pour in your egg and vanilla mixing to combine.
Dry Ingredients. Add your flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt, stirring to combine.
Chocolate. Add chips and m and m’s stirring to combine.
Scoop Dough Onto Baking Sheet. With a medium cookie scoop, place dough 1 inch apart from each other. NOTE: Do not press the cookie dough before baking. Leave just like this. UPDATE: If your cookies don’t flatten after baking as my photo shows below, try pressing the cookie dough to about a 1/2″ thickness before you bake.
Bake. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cooked through. Let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack.
Secret Ingredient To The Best M&M Cookies!
Instant Pudding Mix! Add a few Tablespoons of vanilla instant pudding mix with your dry ingredients.
This is how they’ll come out. Perfect! Enjoy friends!
Tips For Making The Best M&M Cookies
- Don’t alter the recipe, use all ingredients as listed.
- For a more firm cookie, refrigerate your cookie dough for 24 hours before baking.
- Always use butter, not margarine. I prefer salted butter for my chocolate chip cookies.
- Don’t skip creaming your butter and sugars for a good 2 minutes. Helps create a fluffy, chewy cookie.
- Try sprinkling dough with just a touch of salt for a perfect sweet and salty combination.
- Don’t overtake your cookies. Cookies will continue to cook on hot cookie sheet when removed from oven.
- Let cookies cool completely before storing in containers. This will keep their crispness
How To Serve
Serve cookies for any occasion where cookies are needed. They make the perfect sweet treat. Great for gifting to neighbors and even bake sales.
How To Store Leftovers
Store any leftover cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freezing Instructions
You can freeze the scooped cookie dough, flash freeze on a cookie sheet for 30 minutes then place dough into an airtight container and freeze up to 3 months in the freezer. To freeze the cookies, place them in an airtight container for up to 3 months in the freezer. Thaw before enjoying.
Try More Delicious Cookie Recipes
- The Best Brown Butter Cookies
- Churro White Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Malted Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies
How To Make Perfect M&M Cookies
Equipment
- Oven
- cookie sheet
- parchment paper
- mixing bowl
- cookie scoop
- measuring cups
- measuring spoons
- mixing spoons
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1-1/2 cups all purpose Gold Medal Flour
- 3 tablespoons Instant vanilla pudding mix
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
- 1 or 1-1/2 cups Mini M and M’s
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper.
- In a large mixing bowl cream your butter and sugars until well combined. Add your egg and vanilla mixing to combine. Add your flour, pudding mix, baking soda and salt, stirring to combine. Add chips and m and m’s stirring to combine.
- With a medium cookie scoop, place dough 1 inch apart from each other. Bake for 10-12 minutes until cooked through. Let cool on cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to cooling rack. Enjoy!
Video
Nutrition
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Did anyone else have trouble keeping the dough together? Possibly to many m & m and chocolate chips?
Will it work with regular m&ms ?
How would this work with a gluten free flour blend?
Hi Jess,
I haven’t tested it with gluten free flour so I’m not sure. Let me know if you end up trying it.
Could I just add all m and m’s instead of m and m’s and chocolate chips?
Yes, that would be just fine Amber!
I used this recipe for my holiday M&M cookies this year, and just had to come back to say thanks! The pudding really did the trick. The cookies were so good and stayed soft.
So glad to hear it Kristina!! Thanks for stopping by!!
I featured this recipe on my website! I basically just linked back up to you because your cookies look soooo good I didn’t want anyone to miss the chance to see them and feel the need to bake them immediately! 🙂 http://hotcookinmama1.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-life-in-middle-of-no-where-and-m.html
Made these last night for a church event & I had so many people ask for the recipe! I made another batch this morning! For one batch, I used a gracious 1/4 of a cup of mini chocolate chips & 1/4 cup of mini M&M’s. I think the dough would fall apart if you added more. I also only use 1 cup (& a tiny bit more. 1/8 of a cup, maybe) of flour. The texture was perfect.
Oh, I mean 1/2 cup of each the mini m&m’s & mini chocolate chips.
Hi Meg, thanks for commenting. I’m glad they worked with 1/2 cup of the chips and m&m’s. 🙂
Do you think this would work also with a gluten free flour mix?
Hi Jessica,
I haven’t tested it with gluten free flour so I’m not sure. Let me know if you end up trying it.
Just made my second batch of these tonight. They turned out beautifully as they did the first time. I absolutely love the recipe. They satisfy the super sweet tooth. For people having problems with the batter – I followed the recipe exactly and didn’t have any issues. I suggest adding in the flour little by little. I think that helps with the dough maintaining a good consistency.
Katie, thanks for the comment. Glad they worked! Good suggestion on adding little by little.
I made these today, and they came out pretty good. I had the same problem with my dough being SUPER crumbly, though, and the amount of chocolate chips and M&Ms was way too high. I had to fish pieces of dough out of the chocolate to try to scrape together a cookie at the end. When I checked them in the oven at 10 minutes, they hadn’t spread at all. I am at a high altitude, but usually that doesn’t affect cookies. I cranked it up and cooked them for about 5 more minutes, and they spread then. It made them kind of crunchy, though. I can kind of taste the kosher salt, too.
Besides all that, they are tasty! So next time, I think less flour and chocolate, regular salt, sift the dry ingredients first, and use my stand mixer instead of hand mixing. Hopefully then they’ll be perfect.
These cookies were extremely dry. I added almost a 1/4 cup of oil just to get the m&ms and cc to stick in the dough. After adding the oil it helped a lot
Mandy, thanks for commenting!
Mixed it up exactly as shown, the cookie dough was crumbly and not smooth like a normal cookie dough so added another egg. Fixed it!
Cheryl, thanks for the comment!
Hello I have been looking for a M&M cookie recipe and came across yours. They look great but I’m having a problem my cookies wont flatten like yours in the picture. Mine just rise and stay like that. They look like little biscuits not cookies. I dont know what I’m doing wrong. I’ve made these 3 different times carefully following each step and still they come out weird. Please help
Hi Madi, I did not flatten mine, however you may need to press the cookie dough down to about 1/2″ thick before you bake. Hope this helps. 🙂
I just baked these cookies and they turned out GREAT!
Hi Brenda, glad they worked. Thanks for commenting!
Do these cookies or the dough freeze well? Just wondering for my Christmas baking?
Sorry we’re late to respond. I’m sure freezing would work as they have with other cookies I’ve made but I did not try it out on these. 🙂
Can you use regular pudding instead of instant?
Hi Michelle, no regular pudding would not work. 🙂
can you use a white chocolate pudding mix
Hi Debbie, you sure can. Let me know if it works for you. 🙂
I followed this recipe just as it’s written. My dough came out all crumbly and dry. I did mix with my Kitchen Aid mixer and looking back through your pictures it appears that you hand mixed all the ingrediants with just a spoon?? Maybe this was my problem. Please help because these look and sound amazing! I will try again. Thank you!
Hi Kathryn, I’m not sure if hand mixing vs kitchen aid would make a difference but if your dough is crumbly, add 1-2 tablespoons of oil or butter. Hope this works!
I didn’t have vanilla pudding so I used butterscotch and it was an amazing substitute. Also I’m not an expert innthe kitchen so I over cooked the first batch. dont be fooled if the cookies don’t look done, they probably are! I used an ice cream scoop and it took the full 11 minutes. Great recipe! Yummy!
Thanks for your comment, glad they worked. 🙂
I just made this recipe, without the chocolate chips and only the M&Ms. I also reduced the sugar a bit. They turned out great!
Hi Leah, glad they worked!
Yum! M&Ms are one of my favorite, if not my favorite, candies! They look mouth-wateringly good!
not sure what I did wrong, but I would love some feedback–mine did come come out as flat and thin as yours, and it seemed like WAY too much chips/m&m even more so than shown in your photo, but I followed the recipe exactly. They still TASTED amazing, just didn’t look as nice as yours, and also I was left with a good amount of un-useable cookie dough because it was 90% chocolate chips and just crumbles of dough.
I would really like to perfect them because the flavor was amazing
Any ideas?
Thanks!
Hi Amy, I prefer to use a lot of chips, but feel free to cut back on the chips. If your dough is crumbly, you can add a couple of tablespoons of oil or butter. Hope this helps. 🙂
I followed this recipe to a T and the turned out as pucks! Very disappointed.
I made these tonight and they were amazing! They have the best texture of any chip cookie I have ever made. Must be the pudding! I had sugar free instant vanilla and it was perfect. Also, I only had frozen butter and decided to make these spur of the moment so I used margarine. I don’t ever bake with margarine but they were actually delicious. I also used regular size m&ms and chocolate chips (but less–maybe 1 cup m&ms and 1/2 cup chips) and mixed them in using the kitchen aid instead of by hand and it broke the m&ms into smaller pieces which was perfect. Thanks for the great recipe!!
Made these today and they were great! Had no problems with being crumbly but it was a firm dough. Would definitely make these again and probably would even make a double batch!
Cannot wait to make these! Thanks for sharing!
These are pretty dang tasty. My kids love them fresh out of the oven. Was just wondering if you have ever tried making these with browned butter? Some of my fave cookies and frosting use that and it just makes it even better! Thanks for your amazing recipes! Not a single one has disappointed yet!!!
I haven’t Katrina, however I think they’d be great with Brown Butter!!
Hubs found the mini M&Ms at Target for me!
My cookies did not flatten out like yours, they stayed rounded up like mounds and the dough was a little crumbly. Any suggestions why?
Press the dough down before you bake it. If your dough is crumbly you can add a couple of tablespoons of oil or butter. Hope this helps.
Yummy!!! 😀
Thanks for the tip! It’s so wonderful of you to share your secrets with the world.
You’re welcome!! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
These cookies had me at first sight! They just looked so perfectly delicious that I had to give them a try. I made a double-batch so we could take some to my daughter’s soccer game and have some left at home. So glad I did! These turned out beautifully AND they were tasty too! Such a simple ingredient sure turned these in to fool-proof cookies!
Christina, thank you for sharing!! Glad you enjoyed!! 🙂
LOVE these cookies, thank you for sharing. What type of pan do you have? Ive been looking and just cant find it anywhere…
Hi Rebecca, In the directions area of the recipe above, click on “large baking sheet” and it takes you to a link in Amazon. That’s the pan I used. We get a small cut from that link. You don’t have to buy it there but it’s an option if you prefer using Amazon. Good luck!! 🙂
I just made these again tonight, my family LOVES them. My picky son declares that they’re the “best cookies in the world” every time. I usually double the batch and just put the whole packet of pudding in. LOVE this recipe! My cookies look just like your pictures, I like to make them small too. I make two trays and save the rest of the dough for later in the week.
Dinah, thank you for your comment! 🙂
OMG!!!!!
I just finished making these & they are to die for!!!
Now I know how to spoil my wife when I want something…. 8 D
Hey! These look SO delicious, and I want to make them. I was wondering where you live? I’m in Utah, so I typically have to alter things for high altitude. What altitude are you at? I want them to be perfect like yours. :o)
Hi Nea, I am in Southern California. Check out Kelley of Mountain Mama Cooks to for tips on how to adjust for high altitude.