Soft baked M&M cookies with thick, chewy centers, lightly crisp edges and plenty of candy-coated chocolate. This easy, no-cornstarch recipe uses simple ingredients and a short chill for perfectly soft, bakery-style cookies you’ll love.
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I am all about texture when it comes to cookies, and while thin and crispy sometimes hits the spot (hello, Kelce Cookies!), most of the time I’m firmly on Team Soft and Chewy. And these? These are the softest, chewiest M&M cookies I’ve ever made. Think thick, bakery-style centers, lightly crisp edges, and plenty of candy-coated chocolates in every bite.
Best of all, my recipe uses simple pantry staples and relies on proper creaming—rather than cornstarch—for structure and that signature chewy texture.
If you love soft-baked cookies like my monster cookies or chewy chocolate chip cookies, you’re going to love this one.
These M&M cookies are made with classic cookie dough staples: flour, leavener, salt, butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. What makes my recipe stand out is the ratios and how those ingredients are used.
- More brown sugar than white sugar. Brown sugar adds moisture and chewiness, while a smaller amount of granulated sugar helps the cookies spread just enough. The result is soft centers with lightly crisp edges.
- Room-temperature butter. Using butter that’s properly softened helps the dough mix evenly and sets the stage for thick, soft cookies.
- Room-temperature eggs. Eggs at room temperature mix more evenly into the dough, creating a smoother batter and a more consistent, tender texture.
It’s worth noting that many M&M cookie recipes call for cornstarch to help keep cookies soft. After testing this recipe both ways, I found that the right sugar ratio, proper creaming, and slightly underbaking deliver the same soft, chewy texture—without needing it.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
My Not-So-Secret Tips for Soft Baked M&M Cookies
- Cream your butter and sugars longer than you think. Proper creaming adds air to the dough, creating lightness and lift, giving you softer, fluffier cookies instead of dense ones. I go a full 2 minutes, until the mixture looks fluffy and noticeably lighter in color.
- Start with room-temperature butter. Butter that’s too soft will cause the cookies to spread too much. A good rule of thumb is to let the butter sit out at room temperature for about 1 hour before baking. It should make a slight indent when pressed, but still feel cool to the touch. (If you forget, my How to Soften Butter Quickly guide saves the day.)
- Chill the dough for at least 2 hours. Chilling solidifies the butter, which helps control spreading and creates thicker, sturdier cookies, while giving the flour time to hydrate for better flavor and texture. I usually scoop the dough before chilling since it’s much easier to work with while it’s still soft.
- Underbake them. Always. Pull the cookies when the centers still look slightly underdone and the edges are just barely set. They’ll finish baking on the hot baking sheet and stay soft and chewy for days. (This same trick works for my kitchen sink cookies and caramel snickerdoodles!)
Watch How to Make Soft Baked M&M Cookies
This quick video shows the process from start to finish using Valentine’s Day M&Ms, but the dough and method stay the same no matter the color you choose.
Baker’s Tip for Perfectly Round Cookies
Want more uniformly-shaped cookies? No problem! Right after removing the cookies from the oven, use a large circular ring (or glass) to place on top of each cookie then rotate it in a circular motion so that the edges of the cookie hit the sides of the ring, making each cookie perfectly circular in shape.
Storage Instructions
Once completely cooled, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days.
You can (and absolutely should!) freeze your M&M cookie dough. If you find yourself with plenty of dough and want to have on-demand cookies, simply transfer your covered baking sheet of scooped dough to your freezer until the cookies are solid. Once frozen, you can transfer the cookies to a sealed plastic bag to chill in your freezer for 2 to 3 months. Bake from frozen, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time.
Freezing cookie dough for later is always a great idea. What’s an even better idea? Taking two of your freshly baked cookies and making the best cookie ice cream sandwich of your life. The softness of these cookies makes them the ideal option for freezing, as they’ll retain their chewiness even in a frozen state.
Now all that’s left to do is decide which color M&Ms you’ll be mixing into your dough. Any color scheme is welcome here, from red and green for Christmas to red, white, and blue for the 4th of July, or black and orange for Halloween. Grab the candy and let the baking begin!
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temp
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup M&Ms
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla extract until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour mixture, beating to combine, then stir in the M&Ms.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 2 hours and up to 3 days. (See Kelly’s Notes.)
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Drop 2- to 3-tablespoon mounds of dough onto the baking sheets, spacing the mounds at least 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for 9 to 12 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until the cookies are golden brown and barely set in the centers. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for 5 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. (See Kelly’s Note.)
Kelly’s Notes
- I prefer to scoop my dough onto a lined baking sheet right after mixing it and then cover it with plastic and refrigerate it. Scooping the dough right after it has been mixed means it’ll be much softer (read: easier to scoop!) than in its’ chilled stage.
- The number 1 tip to ensuring your cookies are soft and chewy (rather than crispy) is to underbake them. Remove them from the oven when they are barely set in the center and then allow them to continue baking on the hot baking sheets outside the oven for 5 minutes.
- Cookies not uniformly circle in shape after baking? Five minutes after removing the cookies from the oven, use a large circular ring (or glass) to place on top of each cookie then rotate it in a circular motion so that the edges of the cookie hit the sides of the ring, making each cookie perfectly circular in shape.
- Feel free to switch up the M&Ms to match any holiday or occasion—red and green for Christmas, red, white, and blue for the Fourth of July, or any color combo you love. The dough stays the same; only the colors change.
- Storage: Once completely cooled, store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3–4 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Freezing the dough: Scoop the dough onto a lined baking sheet, cover, and freeze until solid. Transfer the frozen dough balls to a freezer-safe bag or container and freeze for up to 2–3 months. Bake from frozen, adding a few extra minutes to the bake time as needed.
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Best M&M cookies I’ve ever made! So soft and chewy
Love reading this, Ashley!
These turned out perfectly with the Christmas M&Ms, moist & chewy. We added a bit more chocolate chips because we don’t hold back when it comes to chocolate :) Will add these to our yearly baking rotation.
Love reading this, Emily!
Help!
Pls give adjustments for high altitude!
Hi Carolyn! I don’t have high-altitude adjustments for this recipe, but I have a fantastic High-Altitude Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe you can find via the search bar and you can swap out the chocolate chips for M&Ms. Enjoy!
These cookies are the best cookies I’ve ever eaten. I’m 72 yrs young and from now on I’ll use this recipe. Just think of gifting these at Christmas
I’m so glad you loved them, Pat! They’d be great gifts for Christmas!
YOUforgot the serving size for the cookies!
Hi Christopher! The estimated nutritional info is for one cookie :)
This is the BEST M&M cookies recipe! The cookies were SO SOFT. I’ll be making this recipe instead of my usual chocolate chip cookies recipe from now on. Thank you!
I’m thrilled you enjoyed the recipe, Katie!
These are wonderful but why did my M&M’s kind of melt and get runny? Not pretty like yours are.
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Annette! The M&Ms may have melted if your baking sheet was on a higher rack in the oven (where the temp tends to be higher). You can also add M&Ms on top of the cookies halfway through baking.