The Best M&M Cookies

This M&M Cookies recipe is going to quickly become your new favorite cookie recipe! You have a thick, perfectly soft cookie loaded with M&Ms with buttery, crisp edges.

Make sure to try my M&M Cookie Bars too!

These M&M’s Cookies are soon to be your new favorite cookie recipe! Of course these cookies are colorful, loaded with mini M&Ms and melt in you mouth texture, but they can also be used as the perfect base recipe for just about any type of M&M…or candy for that matter!

You know I love M&M’s and have lots of fun recipes including everyone’s favorite chocolate candy! I make my M&M’s frosting all the time, and it’s easily turned into a fan favorite recipe. But these cookies are easily the most requested from my kids!

The Best MandM Cookies Recipe

What Makes This the Best M&M Cookie Recipe?

The one thing I always have noticed about M&M Cookies that I have purchased in the past is that they are kind of boring. They’re always sort of a boring, bland cookie with a few M&M’s pressed into the top. So I wanted to change all that and make a cookie that is good enough to stand on it’s own without the M&M’s, meaning you could use this base recipe for a simple chocolate chip cookie recipe too!

  • A package of dry pudding mix adds flavor and soft texture to the cookie!
  • Using all light brown sugar and no granulated sugar imparts a very soft texture.
  • Mini M&Ms in this recipe add the perfect chocolate bite throughout the cookie!

My Secret Ingredient…

These soft and chewy M&M cookies includes a packet of dry Instant Vanilla Pudding right into the dough! The pudding helps the cookies stay thick and soft and also gives them an extra layer of vanilla flavor beyond the vanilla extract that always seems to be lacking in M&M’s Cookies. I love pudding cookie recipes so much, and it’s such an easy ingredient to add that really makes a huge difference.

What Kind Of M&Ms Should You Use For Cookies?

I used MINI M&Ms in this M&M Cookie recipe. This is KEY. Since these cookies are so soft, the mini M&Ms are best because you don’t get big hard bites of chocolate inside the soft cookie. The minis really match the texture of the cookie recipe. AND with Mini M&Ms you get more bites of M&Ms throughout the cookie!

But with that said, you can ABSOLUTELY use any type of M&M’s that you love. They have come out with some really creative and delicious flavors recently, and I know there are some that I would love in this recipe like:

  • Caramel M&M’s
  • Peanut M&M’s
  • Pretzel M&M’s
  • Dark Chocolate M&M’s

Ingredients:

  • Room temperature butter
  • Light brown sugar
  • Large egg
  • Vanilla extract
  • Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
  • Baking soda
  • Kosher salt
  • All purpose flour
  • Mini M&Ms

How To Make M&M Cookies:

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine butter and brown sugar, beating until combined. (yes you can use a hand mixer too)
  3. Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and continue mixing until smooth, scraping sides as necessary. Mix in vanilla pudding, baking soda and salt.
  4. Finally add in the flour and beat until just combined.
  5. Stir in M&Ms.
  6. Using a large cookie scoop, scoop dough onto lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes until edges begin to golden.
  7. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 3-4 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling
How To Make M&M's Cookies

Can You Freeze These M&M Cookies?

This is one of the most commonly asked questions I get when it comes to cookies. Freezing cookies is easy and you can freeze the dough OR the baked cookies. Check out my full resource on How To Freeze Cookie Dough, or read below on a few tips and tricks!

How To Freeze Cookie Dough

Freezing cookie dough is a great way to save time if you want to bake cookies at a different time, or just like to have cookie dough on hand so you can have warm cookies whenever you get a craving! I always have frozen cookie dough in my freezer, so if I want to bake up a few cookies I can! Here’s what you do:

  1. Make the cookie dough according to the recipe directions.
  2. Using a cookie scoop, portion out the dough, and place scoops of dough on a baking sheet. Place the entire baking sheet in the freezer and freeze the dough until solid, at least 30 minutes.
  3. Once the dough scoops are frozen, remove the baking sheet from the freezer and place the dough balls into a large zip-top bag fro up to 30 days. This is an easy way to store the cookie dough and save space.
  4. When you’re ready to bake the cookie, no need to thaw out the dough. Just place the dough balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake according to the recipe, adding about 2 minutes to the bake time, since they are frozen. That’s it!

How To Freeze Baked Cookies

If you baked the entire batch of cookies and realize you have too many, you can easily freeze the baked cookies!

  1. Make sure the cookies are cooled completely.
  2. Place the cookies into a freezer safe, airtight container. Place the cookies into the container and place a piece of parchment paper in between layers of cookies to separate them.
  3. You can also freeze the in a zip-top bag. Just be careful how you place them in the freezer so they don’t break.
  4. Freeze the cookies for up to 30 days.
  5. To thaw, place cookies on the counter and allow them to come up to room temperature. If you would like to serve them warm, just place the thawed cookies in a preheated 350°F oven for 2-3 minutes. You could also heat them up in the microwave for 10 – 12 seconds each.
The Best M&M Cookies | Easy Pudding Cookie Recipe You Must Try!

How To Make Cookies Look Pretty

I like to add a few M&M’s on top of the cookie as soon as they come out of the oven. It just makes them pretty! I do this with almost all of my cookie recipes with chocolate chips, or any type of garnish!

Pro Tip: I used my large (3- tablespoon) cookie scoop for these M&M cookies. You could make them smaller, if you prefer. Note that they don’t spread a lot and stay fairly thick. You’ll only want to bake them until the edges just begin to get golden. The inside will be an undercooked. That’s what you want, it’s what makes them the best M&M cookies!

They are just one of the best cookie recipes you will ever try.

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The Best M&M Cookie Recipe

The Best M&M Cookies

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star 4.5 from 26 reviews
  • Prep Time: 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10 minutes
  • Total Time: 20 minutes
  • Yield: 24 cookies 1x
  • Category: Cookies
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: Dessert

Description

The Best M&M Cookies recipe ever! Thick pudding cookies, loaded with M&M candies. They’re soft on the inside and buttery and crispy at the edges!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 3/4 cup butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 (3.4 oz) box Instant Vanilla Pudding Mix
  • 3/4 tsp baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cup Mini M&Ms, plus 1/4 cup more for garnish

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
  2. In the the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment combine butter and brown sugar, beating until combined.
  3. Add in egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and continue mixing until smooth, scraping sides as necessary. Mix in vanilla pudding, baking soda and salt.
  4. Finally add in the flour and beat until just combined.
  5. Stir in M&Ms.
  6. Using a large cookie scoop, scoop dough onto lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 9-11 minutes until edges begin to golden.
  7. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 3-4 minutes and then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling

Notes

store airtight for up to 3 days

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 cookie
  • Calories: 206
  • Sugar: 19.1 g
  • Sodium: 211.5 mg
  • Fat: 9.6 g
  • Carbohydrates: 28 g
  • Protein: 2.1 g
  • Cholesterol: 25.3 mg

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157 comments on “The Best M&M Cookies”

  1. Not sure what I did wrong..but my dough was sooooo dry and crumbly! No idea what happened, I couldn’t even roll it into cookies ??

    1. That’s strange! It is a thick dough, but it should certainly hold together. Sounds like too much flour, or maybe your eggs were a little small?

      1. Hi Shelly, I had the same dry and crumbly problem. I read here you say “eggs” the recipe only calls for 1. Am I supposed to use more? Flavor is delicious, but very hard to work with.

        1. Sorry that was just a typo. The recipe calls for 1 egg, and that’s how I make them every time and have great results. I have seen that others have had issues, and if adding another egg or even just adding a yolk helps give you a better consistency, try it! I’m going to retest this recipe today using an extra egg and see how they come out!

    2. SAME! Followed directions to a T…and hockey pucks came out of oven! Not only a waste of TIME, but many good ingredients as well! Gna try sugar cookie recipe and add mini M&Ms….

  2. This is a random question — but I’m curious. What causes these cookies to spread out from that original scoop? What if I wanted my cookie to stay in that scoop shape and stay dense? How can I tweak the recipe to make this happen? Any thoughts?

    Otherwise, these look incredible and I can’t wait to try this recipe out over the weekend!

    Thank you!!

  3. I just made these cookies and the dough was very crumbly. I couldn’t form balls of dough. I did see another comment was similar, and she added another egg. I could try that next time. For now I tried two batches of regular cookies, but then put the remaining batter in a 9×13″ pan (I had doubled the recipe – I was optimistic).

  4. I tried these but they didn’t work out well at all. I live at 4700 ft, not sure if that mattered or not, but the dough was crumbling and wouldn’t stick together. Really disappointing, not sure what I did wrong.

  5. I followed your recipe exactly except I used white peppermint M&M’s. They turned out so delicious! Now I’m thinking about using chocolate pudding mix and peanut butter M&M’s. Thanks for sharing your “creation”!

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