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These Super Easy Holiday M&M Blondies are soft, chewy, and so festive! Ready in about 30 minutes, they’re a quick and crowd-pleasing dessert option! Perfect for cookie swaps, holiday parties, potlucks, and beyond!
Holiday M&M Blondies
Welcome to Day 1 of a VERY delicious tradition: Ashley’s 12 Days of Cookies!!! Over the next two weeks, I’ll be sharing 12 BRAND NEW holiday cookie recipes with you! I’ve been working on this content for months… so it feels so good to finally be able to share with you!
And today, we’re kicking the series off with these Holiday M&M Blondies! They’re fun, festive, and so easy! Even the most novice baker can make this recipe!
What are M&M Blondies?
Are they a cookie? A brownie?
Well, they’re somewhere in between! Blondies are sweet and chewy, like a cookie, but very dense and baked in a baking sheet, like a brownie. These blondies are super flavorful, chewy, and loaded with gooey chocolate chips and holiday m&ms! These blondies were my contribution to Thanksgiving dessert and they were a huge hit.
Ingredients:
- Unsalted Butter: Cooked until browned! New to brown butter? Don’t fret! Brown butter is simply regular butter that has been cooked just long enough to toast the milk solids. Basically all you’re doing is melting the butter and then continuing to cook it a little longer. It takes about 5 minutes and enhances almost any recipe that calls for butter. You’ll simply melt butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Then continue cooking the butter, stirring frequently, until it’s golden brown and smells slightly nutty. Once it hits this point, remove from heat at once!
- Light Brown Sugar: But dark brown sugar will work in a pinch! The blondies will simply have a slightly deeper molasses flavor. I don’t suggest using granulated sugar or confectioners’ sugar.
- Vanilla Extract: Just a small dash enhances all of the other flavors in this recipe! If you don’t have vanilla on hand, you can simply omit. Just note the flavor will be slightly different.
- Eggs: You’ll need two large eggs, plus two egg yolks. You may discard the egg whites, or refrigerate them and save them for another recipe. Bring your eggs to room temperature before using, as cold ingredients don’t bond!
- All-Purpose Flour: Do not use any other variety of flour!
- Salt: A dash balances all of the flavors and keeps the blondies from becoming overly sweet.
- Holiday M&Ms: I use the milk chocolate M&Ms for this recipe. The red and green colors make them so festive and Christmas-y!
- Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips: A cup of chocolate chips makes these blondies extra gooey and chocolatey!
- Flaky Sea Salt: For sprinkling! This is totally optional!
How to make M&M Blondies:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
- In a saucepan, melt butter until browned.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the brown butter and brown sugar. Stir in the vanilla. Then add in the eggs and egg yolks.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour and salt, mixing until just combined.
- Finally, fold in the M&Ms and chocolate. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 24 to 25 minutes, or until the edges are firm and golden and the center is just slightly wobbly.
And that’s it! A seriously easy Christmas cookie bar recipe sure to please! Straight from the pan, these will be warm and gooey… making them ideal to pair with a scoop of ice cream. Once they’ve firmed up, they’ll be soft but very chewy. Both ways are delicious!
More M&M Recipes:
- Brown Butter M&M Cookies
- Chewy Brown Butter M&M Blondies
- Soft Batch Chocolate M&M Cookies
- M&M Cookie Bites
AND IF YOU TRY THIS RECIPE FOR HOLIDAY M&M COOKIE BARS, LET ME KNOW! LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW AND DON’T FORGET TO SNAP A PIC AND TAG IT #BAKERBYNATURE ON INSTAGRAM! SEEING YOUR KITCHEN CREATIONS MAKES OUR DAY.
Super Easy Holiday M&M Blondies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, melted until browned
- 2 cups light brown sugar, firmly packed
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs plus one egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups holiday M&Ms
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling, optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Spray parchment, and any exposed pan, with nonstick baking spray. Set aside.
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter until browned. Remove from heat and cool for a few minutes, then scrape the butter into a large heat proof mixing bowl.
- Whisk in the brown sugar and mix until well combined. Stir in the vanilla. Then add in the eggs and egg yolk, beating until combined.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour and salt, mixing until just combined. Finally, fold in the M&Ms and chocolate. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25 to 27 minutes, or until the edges are firm and golden and the center is just slightly wobbly. Cool in pan for at least 20 minutes before cutting. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt before serving, if desired.
My first time using “brown butter” and I’m a fan! These are delicious!
Was it easy to brown the butter??? I am very Leary????
Yup, these are tasty!!! The browned butter really makes the cookies smell and taste so good! Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Can I sub flour with all purpose gluten free flour? and for m&ms, is it the same as the most
basic m&ms, just the colors are red&green? 🙂 I can’t wait to make these thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Hoping theses come out okay. Why isn’t there any baking powder in these ?
Hi Lynee. Blondie recipes do not typically include baking powder. This is what makes them so dense and chewy!
These look so good! Do they freeze well?
Batter is extremely thick and dense. Is that normal? In oven now and top is not smoothing out.
So good!!! Made these for me & my roommates & the four of us finished the whole pan in a day 🙂
Is there a video to follow?
Do these freeze well? Thinking of making these ahead of time for some cookie boxes.
Is there any egg substitute for this recipe
Can non-stick foil be used instead of parchment paper + cooking spray?
I haven’t made this cookie yet but I have substituted wax paper for parchment paper you just have to make sure that you trim the edges and just leave a little bit sticking out
You never have to use parchment paper or foil or wax paper. Just spray the bottom of your pan with cooking spray or lightly grease it. People use parchment for ease of removal and to protect their pans.
How many treats would this usually make? I like them on the larger side.
I’d say 12 decent size blondies!
These were pretty good but I felt like there were way too many m &ms ( I used mini) and chocolate chips – they overwhelmed the taste of the cookie. Plus I had to bake it for way longer than 25 min and the center was still raw.
3,teaspoons of vanilla? Isn’t that 1 Tablespoon?
The directions at the end say 2 eggs and 1 yolk but at the top where you are discussing the recipe it says 2 yolks. Which is better?
Hello, I live in Mesa Verde NP. I want to make these and live at 7,000 feet of evaluation. What do I change in the measuring since I live in high evaluation? Every time I make brownies I have to make some adjustments
Looking forward to making these! Can you clarify the ingredients for me? In one spot, you say two eggs plus two egg yolks, and then in another spot you say two eggs plus one egg yolk. How many yolks do I need to use? Thank you!
Hello. I made these for the first time. Yum. I think they are done correctly. Not too much like a cookie, but chewey and delicious. My question is, do they freeze well?
I halved the recipe & made it in an 8×8 pan. So chocolatey and delicious! Would definitely make again.
I must second a couple of the previous comments. There are discrepancies between the description of the recipe at the top and the recipe itself i.e the number of egg yolks used and the amount of chocolate chips called for. Although these turned out well and tasted good, I think they would be better with only half a bag (6 oz.) of chocolate chips instead of an entire bag. Also, I think I cooked my butter a bit too long. It foamed so much I had difficulty telling what color it was. I think you need to remove it from the heat occasionally and let it settle to see where you are. I made these using Halloween M&M’s.