Mini M&M Cookies
Mini M&M Cookies– These may just be the tastiest cookies you’ll ever make. Soft, thick, dense, and perfectly chocolaty. Finished with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. Perfection.
They’re super easy to make and only require 30 minutes of chilling. Go ahead and run to the grocery store because you’re going to want these ASAP.
What You’ll Need
Salted butter: In this recipe, you’ll want to keep the butter as cold as possible throughout the dough-making process. If the butter gets too warm or melts, the cookies with spread thin when baked.
Brown sugar & granulated sugar: The combination of these two sugars provides just the right amount of sweetness. Brown sugar gives off caramelized notes, keeps the cookies moist, and contributes to their density.
Salt: These cookies are perfectly salty and sweet. I almost always use table salt when making the cookie dough. However, after the cookies have baked, I like to sprinkle with flaky sea salt because of the look and texture it gives.
Baking soda & baking powder: Necessary leavening agents when it comes to cookies. These two help us to get that nice height to the cookies.
Eggs: Eggs provide structure and help keep the ingredients together resulting in thick, dense cookies.
Vanilla: Vanilla is an essential ingredient when it comes to any chocolate-chip-like cookie recipe. Make sure to take a whiff of this dough before you bake–it smells soooo good.
Bread flour: Bread flour is higher in protein than all purpose flour. Using this in place of all purpose flour results in a denser, chewier cookie.
Mini M&Ms: These are so much more fun than regular M&Ms (and for some reason seem to taste better, too). I have fun memories of getting those little tubes of mini M&Ms at the grocery store as a kid.
How to Make Mini M&M Cookies
- Cream the butter and sugars. You’ll want to make sure that the butter is just soft enough to mix, yet still cool. The salt, soda, and baking powder also gets incorporated in at this time. You’ll want to use either a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to successfully cream the butter and sugar. You’ll know it is done creaming when the mixture turns a slightly paler, lighter color and begins to stick together. This usually takes about two minutes with my hand mixer.
- Add the egg and vanilla. Mix until smooth and just combined.
- Add the flour. Mix until just combined and no more loose flour remains. The dough will be pretty thick and dense. If it becomes too hard to mix with a hand mixer, you can finish by folding the dough with a sturdy rubber spatula.
- Fold in the mini M&Ms until evenly dispersed.
- Scoop into dough balls. I use a large ice cream scoop, like this one from Walmart. I like using a large cookie scoop because it results in thicker cookies. You should be able to get 12 large cookie dough balls out of this recipe.
- Freeze the dough. Good things come to those who wait. As much as you may want to bake them immediately and dig in, I promise if you let the dough chill, it makes such a difference! Put them in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, ideally overnight. This allows the butter and the rest of the ingredients to get cold again so that you end up with beautiful, thick cookies.
- Bake and enjoy! These are so good they probably won’t last long.
Notes & Tips for Mini M&M Cookies
- Mini M&Ms can usually be found in either the baking aisle of your grocery store, next to the chocolate chips or in the candy aisle. If you can’t find them, however, feel free to substitute regular M&Ms or chocolate chips.
- If you prefer not to bake these cookies all at once, you can keep the dough balls in the freezer in a freezer bag or airtight container, pulling out a few at a time and baking as you need. I like to keep a few cookie dough balls on hand in my freezer for last minute company or just when I need something sweet after dinner.
- For prettier cookies, try pressing some extra mini M&Ms into the outside of the dough balls once scooped and just before freezing. Also, when the cookies come out of the oven, you can use a soft spatula or circular Tupperware container to carefully shape any jagged edges of the cookies to be more perfectly round.
- Once these cookies are cooled, they are perfect on their own or enjoyed with a glass of milk. They’re also delicious served warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or if you’re feeling adventurous, try freezing them and making them into ice cream sandwiches!
Storage
These Mini M&M Cookies are best stored in an airtight container at room temperature or in a refrigerator and eaten within 3-4 days. You can also freeze them for up to three months.
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Mini M&M Cookies
Ingredients
- 10 tbsp salted butter cold and cubed
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp granulated sugar
- ¾ tsp salt
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cup bread flour
- 10 oz mini M&Ms
- flaky sea salt (optional)
Instructions
- In a large bowl, warm the cold, cubed butter in the microwave in 5 second increments until it just begins to soften, about 15-30 seconds total.
- Add both sugars, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. With a hand mixer, cream these ingredients with the butter on medium/low speed until it becomes light, creamy, and begins to stick together, about 2 minutes.
- Add the vanilla and egg. Mix on low until just combined, about 30 seconds.
- Add the flour and mix until just combined, about 30-60 seconds.
- Fold in the mini M&Ms with a spatula until evenly dispersed.
- Using a large cookie or ice cream scoop, shape the dough into ~12 large dough balls and place on a small baking tray or a 9" x 13" aluminum pan lined with parchment paper. Freeze for at least 30 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap if freezing longer than 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Place cookies on sheet pans lined with parchment paper, no more than six cookies per sheet pan.
- Bake for about 15 minutes, or until they just start to brown around the edges. Do not over bake! Sprinkle immediately with flaky sea salt (if desired).
Did you try this recipe? Give it a rating below and tag Table Nutrition (@table.nutrition on IG) in your photos on social media!
Delicious! The perfect texture, soft and chewy. The m&ms add a nice crunch!
Kate read my mind when she posted this because I was on the hunt for a yummy m&m cookie recipe! Perfect cookie and what seemed like an extra amount of m&ms ended up being what made these absolutely perfect! The dough was amazing too 😉