These rainbow M&M cookies are soft-baked style with extra chewy edges. We recommend mini M&Ms so you can pack more into each cookie. Chilling the cookie dough for 2 hours is an imperative step, so make sure you set aside enough time.
This was one of the first recipes ever published on my website. It’s always been a favorite, but I recently began adding a little extra baking soda and flour so the cookies hold shape better. (You’ll see 1 teaspoon of baking soda and an extra 2 Tablespoons of flour listed in the written recipe below.) I figured you’d want a reminder about these cookies or, if you’re new to my website, a little encouragement to try them!
Here’s What to Expect:
- Texture: Think about a soft-baked chocolate chip cookie. Truly, does anything compare? These M&M cookies have the same tender, melt-in-your-mouth texture. They’re extra chewy with dozens of mini M&Ms packed in each cookie. Do you crave even more texture? You’ll enjoy my oatmeal M&M cookies.
- Flavor: I use extra brown sugar in this cookie dough, so you’ll taste that warm and classic flavor in each bite. Pair that with plenty of butter and oodles of chocolate candies.
- Ease: We have a pretty straightforward cookie dough here. After chilling the dough, roll into balls, then bake. A beginner could easily master this recipe.
- Time: Set aside enough time to chill this cookie dough. It’s a fairly sticky dough and without time in the refrigerator, your cookies will melt all over the baking sheet.
Soft-Baked M&M Cookies – Key Ingredients
A few ingredients add to their signature flavor and texture. Here’s how:
- Flour: I used to prepare this cookie dough with 2 cups of flour, but started adding another 2 Tablespoons. This helps soak up more liquid (butter, egg) so the cookies stay thicker.
- Cornstarch: A touch of cornstarch helps create a softer, thicker cookie. I add it to many of my cookie recipes, including these super soft chocolate chip cookies. By the way, that cookie dough is pretty similar to this one. Here we’re using a little more flour, sugar, and an extra egg yolk. (And thus yields more cookies.)
- Butter: Room temperature butter is the base of this cookie recipe.
- Granulated & Brown Sugar: Sugar does more than sweeten the cookies. The granulated sugar helps them spread and the brown sugar keeps them soft. For extra soft and tender cookies, we use more brown sugar than white granulated sugar here.
- 1 Egg + 1 Extra Egg Yolk: Have you ever baked my chewy chocolate chip cookies before? They’re the most popular cookie recipe on this website. I swear by using 1 extra egg yolk in that dough because it helps bind the ingredients and maintains a moist, chewy cookie. We’re doing the same thing here.
- Mini M&Ms: You can use any M&Ms, but I recommend mini so there’s more in each bite. If the M&Ms are larger, such as peanut M&Ms or peanut butter M&Ms, roughly chop them first. If desired, grab an extra 2 Tablespoons of M&Ms and press a few into the top of each cookie when they’re warm from the oven. This is purely for looks!
Success Tip: Chill The Dough!
The cookie dough is pretty soft, so make sure you take the time to chill it in the refrigerator. The cookies will spread into puddles otherwise. If you don’t have time to chill the dough, I recommend making these soft baked M&M cookie bars instead.
After chilling, roll the cookie dough into balls and bake:
Small, Medium, & Large
Do you have a copy of Sally’s Cookie Addiction cookbook? If so, you’ll see Giant M&M Cookies on page 31. My cookbook recipe yields massive cookies, but today’s are regular/medium size. Do you like teeny tiny treats? Try these mini M&M cookies instead. They’re bite-size cookies and the dough doesn’t require chilling in the refrigerator. All 3 recipes pretty much use the same exact ingredients, just in different quantities and ratios. You can’t go wrong with any, especially if you love M&M cookies!
And if you need a gluten free option, try these flourless monster cookies.
PrintSoft-Baked M&M Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 30 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These rainbow M&M cookies are soft-baked style with extra chewy edges. I recommend mini M&Ms so you can pack more into each cookie. Chilling the cookie dough for 2 hours is an imperative step, so make sure you set aside enough time.
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 Tablespoons (265g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (12 Tbsp; 170g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini M&Ms (plus 2 Tablespoons for topping, optional)
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In large bowl using a hand-held mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat softened butter for about 1 minute on medium speed until creamy. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar, then beat on medium-high speed until creamy and combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Beat in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Pour in 1 cup M&Ms and beat on low speed for 20 seconds or until combined. Once completely combined, cover cookie dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or up to 5 days.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll cookie dough into balls, about 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. I like to use a medium cookie scoop here. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look soft.
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. While the cookies are still warm, press the remaining 2 Tablespoons of M&Ms into the tops of the cookies. This is optional and just for looks. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Allow to come to room temperature and continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Keep Dough Cold: It’s best to keep unused cookie dough in the refrigerator as the batches are baking.
- Add Chocolate Chips: You can easily add chocolate chips to this cookie dough. I recommend reducing the amount of M&Ms to 3/4 cup and adding 3/4 cup chocolate chips. Stick with about 1 – 1.5 cups total add-ins.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
I loved this recipe a lot! i think i ate half of it as cookie dough! so yummy! very easy to make and bake!
My kids requested it. 1st batch with 12 pcs of cookies were cleared within minutes! I baked extra 1 minute cause my daughter prefers it to be a little brown around the edges. Good recipe though!!
Cake like, good flavor. I prefer chewey cookies I suppose.
My 3 year old requested m&m cookies for Santa this year (2023). Used red and green mini holiday m&ms. I just took the first tray out of the oven and they are sooo delicious.
I made this dough ahead of time. Took it out of refrigerator to bake. A little confused as it says to let the dough come to room temp but then says keep dough chilled in between baking. The cookies came out flat. Good but flat.
Can I bake without refrigerating the dough?
We don’t recommend it. Without time in the refrigerator, your cookies will melt all over the baking sheet. If you are short on time, here are all of our no chill cookie recipes.
These cookies are fantastic. My son and I made these with red and green M&Ms for the holidays and they were a total crowd pleaser. We used chopped peanut M&Ms for the batter and regular M&Ms on top. The consistency was spot on. I’m definitely saving this recipe for future use.
This recipe sucked. And the cookies didn’t even come out soft
Thanks Sally for all the great recipes. I use this choc chip all the time but wanted to do mint M&Ms. I read that chopping them some would be nice to distribute the flavor but I would like to know if an all Chocolate cookie with these mint M&Ms might be best? Would your Andes Mint recipe work?
Hi Joni, mint M&Ms would be fantastic in place of the chocolate chips in these double chocolate chip cookies! It’s nearly identical to the dough we use for the Andes mint cookies, too.
Can these be made as a bar cookie?
You can try this recipe for our soft M&M cookie bars. Enjoy!
Can I use regular size m&m’s
Absolutely. You may want to give them a rough chop before adding to the dough so that you get more in each bite—but it’s not necessary.
YUMMY!!!! 2nd batch in 2 weeks
I really liked this recipe, everyone loved these cookies. However, my parents said that they were too sweet. How to i adjust the amount of sugar since I used peanut m&ms?
Hi E, while you can try reducing the amount of sugar, it does play a role in the overall texture and spread of the cookies as well. Results will be a bit different with less sugar. Glad they were a hit!
Hi! Can i make these with cocoa powder? How can i add it in, quantity etc? What other ingredient would i need to adjust? Thanks!
Hi Saher, cocoa powder can be a very drying ingredient, so it would take some recipe testing and tinkering with the other ingredients to properly incorporate it in this recipe. We’d recommend making our double chocolate chip cookies instead, swapping the chocolate chips for M&Ms. Same great texture as these cookies, but with a deep chocolate flavor. Let us know if you try it!
The first time I made these cookies, I brought them over to a friends house and they were gone within 30 minutes! I’m currently making them for my friend’s house once again and I’m doubling the batch so they’ll hopefully last longer! I have made this recipe so many times and they come out perfect every time! This is by far the most delicious m&m cookie recipe I have EVER made. I undercook mine just a bit so they’re gooey and delicious on the inside! 5 stars all the way!!
After I chill the dough for two hours do I roll and bake or let the dough get room temp and roll into balls and bake?
Hi Renee, after the dough has chilled for more than several hours, it will be very very solid. And that’s why, in the make ahead instructions, we encourage readers to bring the dough to room temperature because it was refrigerated for so long. If chilling for only 2 hours, you can roll and bake as directed.
Idk whether it’s pregnancy hormones or what but I didn’t like the taste. I’m 8 months pregnant and Halloween candy tasted terrible in general, including m&ms so you can’t take my word. However, my mother in law and my children said these were delicious. They are probably a better judge than me! My son enjoyed helping me.
I love this recipe! I have a corn allergy, so I cut out the cornstarch and used corn free chocolate chips instead of M&Ms and it turned out delicious!
I forgot to mention I am also lactose intolerant and used plant based butter in place of the butter (1-1 ratio).
I am a big fan of the gread recipes so i thought i would try some cookies for my grandsons birthday. For your English fans, can you please add some translations: All purpose flour=plain flour? Cornstarch = cornflour? Thanks,
Hi Dave, you’re correct, plain flour and cornflour is what you’ll want here. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I love this recipe and comes out great every single time! Can I sub the flour for coconut flour and white sugar for coconut sugar? Will this change the texture or taste of the cookie?
Hi Elli, we haven’t tested this recipe with coconut flour or sugar so we’re unsure of the results.
Wow! I followed the recipe exactly and it was fantastic!
How many cookies does this recipe make? Thanks!
Hi Kathy, this recipe will yield 30 cookies. Enjoy!
I loved your chewy choc chip recipe! Is there any reason why i couldn’t just copy that recipe for the dough base, and just change the mix-ins for this one?
Hi Jon, you can feel free to use our chocolate chip cookie dough base with these add-ins if you wish!
I loved this recipe so much and I shaped them tall to prevent spreading so much and to make it caky. Yummy! I cooked it for birthday party. Thanks!
Wow! Amazing tender crumb and great banana flavour. I needed 6 bananas to get the 1.5 cups (mine were frozen, thawed, then drained, so maybe that affected the measurement) and used a bit less cinnamon in the batter (1/2 tsp). Will definitely make these again. Love that they can be frozen. Thank you!
I’ve made many different cookies. These cookies are on my top five favorite cookie recipes!! The texture is perfect! The reviewer that said they were too cakey needs to try again. Mine were definitely not cakey. Thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
I made these cookies and followed instructions exactly. They were slightly browned on the edges, pulled them out to cool. They are soft and chewy in the middle but seem greasy on the bottom and look too doughy in the middle! I baked them on silicon baking sheets, I usually use parchment.
One of the best cookie recipes I’ve ever made. The reviewer that said the cookies came out cakey, need to try the recipe again! These cookies were perfect texture! Not cake-like at all! They were so delicious! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe!!
They came out more like a fluffy biscuit/cake type of deal which is not what I thought they’d be like when I think softy chewy cookie.
Did you make sure to measure the flour right?
A cup of flour should equal 4 1/4 ounces. It is best of you can to weight the flour to be more accurate. Also depending on the humidity in the air when baking can alter if more or less flour may be required in a recipe.
Hey Sally! I am gluten-free, I tried using Bob red nose, gluten-free flour, but they spread quite a bit, any recommendations?
Hi Estella, we haven’t tested these cookies with GF flour so can’t offer much insight. Here’s our best tips for preventing cookies from spreading.
So amazing
I haven’t tried this recipe yet, but definitely will soon. Tehy look amazing!!