This Soft Batch Chocolate M&M Cookie Recipe is so easy and doesn’t require you to chill the dough! Soft, chewy, and loaded with colorful m&ms, this is sure to become one of your favorite cookie recipes.
Chocolate M&M Cookie Recipe
I’m a sucker for anything involving chocolate and M&Ms, so naturally I’m super excited about today’s new cookie recipe! Although calling them cookies feels almost deceitful… because these “cookies” are really more like fudge brownies in the shape of cookies. They’re super thick, very chewy, and incredibly chocolatey. And the addition of crunchy and colorful M&Ms makes them absolutely impossible to resist.
The cookie dough comes together in 10 minutes, and there’s no need to chill the dough. So you can technically have these baked and ready to go in less than 30 minutes! The hardest part about this recipe? Waiting for the cookies to cool on the baking sheets!
M&M Cookie Recipe Ingredients:
- Chocolate: Semi-sweet chocolate chips are used for the fudge cookie base and milk chocolate chips are mixed into the batter. Feel free to use semi-sweet chocolate chips for both parts, if desired.
- Butter: I always suggest using unsalted butter, but in a pinch, salted will work. You’ll melt the butter and chocolate together. Then combine the butter and sugars, along with the milk, eggs, and vanilla and mix to make the liquid batter.
- All-purpose Flour: Be sure not to pack your flour into the measuring cup. The best way to measure flour is by using a digital kitchen scale. Otherwise lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cup.
- Unsweetened Cocoa Powder: Measure your cocoa the same way you measure your flour. For best results, use natural cocoa in this recipe, not dutch-process.
- Baking Powder: Be sure your baking powder isn’t expired. Expired baking powder won’t give these cookies the lift they need.
- Salt: Just a small amount of salt helps balance the overall sweetness AND enhance all of the flavors in this recipe.
- Sugar: Brown sugar and granulated sugar add sweetness, moisture, and depth of flavor.
- Eggs: Be sure to use large eggs and bring them to room temperature before adding them to the batter.
- Milk: Whole milk aka full-fat milk works best, but in a pinch reduced fat milk will work, or sour cream. I do not suggest using plan-based “milks” for this recipe.
- Vanilla extract:
- M&M Candies: Regular M&Ms work great, but feel free to use seasonally colored ones to make your cookies extra festive.
How to make Chocolate M&M Cookies:
- Preheat the Oven: Many cookie recipes have you preheat oven to 350 degrees. But this recipe calls for a lower temperature of 300. The lower oven temperature allows the cookies to bake longer without burning.
- Baking Sheet Prep: Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Lightly spray the parchment paper with non-stick baking spray and set aside. This step is very important! These cookies are sticky and will stick to the paper if you don’t spray it first.
- Make the Cookie Dough: Or should I say, cookie batter. Because this will be a thinner mix than you might be expecting. Just know this is completely normal! Once you add the dry ingredients into the chocolate mixture, do not over mix!
- Scoop Cookie Dough: Instead of rolling the dough into balls, scoop it directly onto the prepared baking sheet. I like to use a large cookie scoop or a lightly greased 1/4 cup measuring cup to do this.
- Bake the Cookies: Pop them in the oven, one tray at a time, until they’re dark and shiny on top! Mine cookies are usually done between 16 and 18 minutes. But this time will vary depending on your cookie sheet and oven settings.
- Cool Completely: Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks and cool completely. Do you want to make your cookies look extra pretty? Press extra M&Ms and chocolate chips on top of the warm cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.
Tools for this Recipe:
- Large Baking Sheets: Light colored baking sheets help your cookies avoid getting too brown in the oven! If you struggle with burnt cookie bottoms, avoid dark colored cookie sheets.
- Cookie Dough Scoop: A large cookie scoop is approximately the same size as 1/4 cup. If you don’t have one of these, simply lightly grease a 1/4 cup measuring cup and use that instead.
- Parchment Paper: A must-have for lining your cookie sheets. Never sub wax paper or aluminum foil.
- Nonstick Baking Spray: Consider this your insurance policy for cookies that won’t stick to the parchment paper! It’s also great to have on hand for spraying cake pans and pie plates.
- M&Ms: If you bake with m&ms a lot, save money with a large party bag! Or, buy seasonal colors to help you celebrate holidays year-round.
- Digital Kitchen Scale: The most accurate way to measure ingredients, especially ones like all-purpose flour and cocoa powder! Using one is a bit of a learning curve. But I promise, once you see the results of accurate measuring, you’ll never go back to measuring cups again.
More M&M Cookie Recipes:
- Chewy Brown Butter M&M Blondies
- M&M Cookie Bites
- Brown Butter M&M Cookies
- Soft and Chewy M&M Cookie Bars
- Super Easy Holiday M&M Blondies
- Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk M&M Oatmeal Cookies
Soft Batch Chocolate M&M Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons (140g) all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup (21g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (170g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter chopped into tiny pieces
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup (99g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (71g) light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tablespoons (28ml) whole milk
- 1 and 1/2 cups milk chocolate M&Ms
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
Garnish:
- 1/4 cup M&Ms
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees (F). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper, lightly spray them with non-stick spray, and set aside.
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
- In a large, microwave safe bowl, combine the chocolate chips and butter. Heat them in the microwave on low power for 15 second increments, mixing in between each, until butter and chocolate are completely melted and can easily be whisked smooth. Be sure not to overheat or the mixture will seize.
- Whisk in the vanilla, then whisk in both sugars. Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in milk.
- Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, and stir to combine - be sure not to over mix here!
- Fold in the M&M's and milk chocolate chips, stirring until everything is just combined.
- Scoop 1/4 cupfuls of the batter onto the prepared baking sheets. Bake one tray at a time, for 16 to 18 minutes, or until the edges are set and the tops are dark and shiny.
- Press a few extra M&Ms and chocolate chips of the warm cookies right when they come out of the oven. Allow cookies to completely cool on the baking sheet before serving.
Can these be made in a pan like brownies?
SO GOOEY. SO CHOCOLATEY. I think I may have just transformed into the cookie monster, and I’m not even mad about it. Cannot wait to give these a try!
Hahah thank you, Karly! I hope you love them as much as we do 🙂 xoxo
Would mini m&ms be okay?
Hi Katie. Absolutely!
Mine kind of spread out? They tasted great but they were a bit flat?
Hi Moli. I’m not sure why your cookies would spread out, although it sounds like maybe the batter needed an extra tablespoon or so of flour. The cookies should be quite thick, like in the photos. I’m happy to hear they were still delicious!
Chilling cookie dough helps prevent them from spreading.
Mine also came out flat !
These look so amazing! What could be better than chocolate cookies filled with more chocolate?! And the colorful M&Ms make them look pretty too!
omigosh sooooo chocolatey and soft and gooey!!!!
I made these the other day and they were SO GOOD. I didn’t have M&Ms though and I may have overbaked them, so they were a *little* cakey, but they were really moist and I’ll definitely be making them again 🙂 Thanks for the great recipe!
So happy to hear it, Eileen! A cakey cookie could also be from over mixing the batter. But these cookies are a little softer than typical cookies are, so the way they came out may have been completely normal 🙂
How many cookies does a batch make?
Looking forward to trying these! They look so yummy! The pictures are beautiful!
Thank you so much, Kristine! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did 🙂
Have you ever made these into bars?
OMG – these cookies are killing me (in a good way)! It’s barely 8:30am and now I am craving chocolate. Pinned! 🙂
Hahaha thank you, Eva! I hope you cure your chocolate craving ASAP 🙂
YUM! These look awesome! I definitely need to make these! How many cookies did comfortably fit on one tray?
Hi Erin! I fit 6 comfortably on my baking sheet.
i noticed there is only 2 tablespoon butter strange
My cookies did not get nice and round!
Hi Ellen. Sorry to hear that! Did they bake up OK other than the shape?
In my experience with cookies it’s best to refrigerate your dough for a few hours or over night. You’ll have to knead it a bit then roll the desired amount into a ball & flatten them. Hope this helps!
About 8 fit on my baking tray so you can just put as much as you can.