Homemade M&M Christmas Cookies are a delightful addition to your holiday cookie tray. With their bright red and green candy pieces, they bring a burst of festive color and chocolatey sweetness to your cookie platter.
These cookies are perfect with a glass of milk and they are also the perfect gift for cookie lovers during the holiday season. These homemade chocolate chip cookies are also easy Christmas cookies that are great cookie exchanges and also great any time of year.
If you're looking for bar recipes, these M&M Christmas Cookie Bars are made with sugar cookie dough.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Festive touch: Red and green M&M's make these very festive Christmas cookies.
- Soft and chewy texture: These chewy cookies stay soft and have a crunch because of the addition of chocolate chips and holiday M&M's.
- Ideal for Santa: These cookies are festive enough for Santa and are very easy to make.
- Versatile for holiday baking: Customize by adding nuts or different colored candies for any holiday or special occasion.
Ingredients in M&M Christmas Cookies
Simple ingredients are needed to make these chewy M&M cookies.
- all purpose flour
- baking powder
- baking soda
- salt
- unsalted butter
- granulated sugar
- dark brown sugar
- large egg
- pure vanilla extract
- M&M's and
- semi-sweet chocolate chips
How to Make M&M Christmas Cookies
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Using an electric hand mixer, beat the softened butter until cream in a large mixing bowl.
Beat in the dark brown sugar and the white sugar until light and fluffy.
Add in the egg and the vanilla extract until combined.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Slowly beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until a soft dough forms.
Stir in the chocolate chips and the M&M's.
Scoop cookie dough by 2 tablespoons full (#40 cookie scoop) and roll into balls.
Place the cookie dough balls on the parchment paper lined baking sheet.
Chill the dough for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Place extra M&M's and chocolate chips onto the tops of the cookies if desired.
Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown but the center is still soft.
Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Substitutions in M&M Christmas Cookies
- Butter - This recipe uses unsalted butter but salted butter can be used instead. If using salted butter, omit the salt in the recipe.
- Sugar - Dark brown sugar is used to intensify the molasses flavor but light brown sugar can be used as a substitute.
- Egg-free - To make this an egg-free cookie recipe, opt for 1 tablespoon of flaxseed meal with 3 tablespoons of water
- Gluten-Free - Swap out the all-purpose flour for measure for measure gluten free flour.
Variations
- Add more chocolate chips - In addition to or in place of the semi-sweet chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, and milk chocolate chips are a fun and delicious addition to this recipe.
- Add peanut butter flavor - Mixing in some peanut butter chips will add another flavor profile to these Christmas cookies.
- Crispy cookies - Bake these M&M Christmas cookies for a minute or two longer to create a crispier cookie.
- Make them more festive - Stirring in red and green sprinkles to make these cookies more colorful.
Storing Christmas Cookies
Store the completely cooled Christmas cookies with M&Ms in an airtight cookie jar or container at room temperature for up to five days. Separate the cookies by layers of parchment paper to keep the cookies from sticking to one another.
Freshly baked cookies can be frozen for up to 3 months by letting them cool completely and storing them in a freezer bag and placing them in a freezer safe container.
The Christmas M&M Cookies dough can be made ahead of time and frozen to bake later. Use a cookie scoop to portion out the dough and place the dough in a freezer safe container. Frozen cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. It's a great way to get ahead of Christmas cookie baking.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the top variations for loaded M&M Christmas cookies?
These classic M&M Christmas cookies are easy to customize to make them just like you like them. You can stir in some oats to create a fuller and chewier cookie and add in white chocolate chips to make the colors in these cookies pop more.
Can M&M Christmas cookies be made ahead of time, and if so, how?
These Christmas M&M Cookies can be made ahead of time by 3 months. You can either bake them ahead of time and store them in the freezer or you can make the dough and freeze the cookie dough to bake when it gets closer to Christmas. Either way, when stored properly, your Christmas cookies will taste just like they were freshly made.
How far in advance can you prepare Christmas cookies to ensure freshness?
If you're baking cookies for Christmas, bake them no earlier than 3 days in advance if you're not freezing them. If serving frozen cookies, set them out overnight before giving them out or enjoying them.
📖 Recipe
M&M Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter - softened
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar - packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup M&M's
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using an electric hand mixer, beat the softened butter until cream in a large mixing bowl.
- Beat in the dark brown sugar and the white sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the egg and the vanilla extract until combined.
- In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- Slowly beat the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until a soft dough forms.
- Gently stir in the chocolate chips and the M&M's.
- Scoop the dough by 2 tablespoons full (#40 cookie scoop) and roll into balls.
- Chill the dough for about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Place additional M&M's and chocolate chips onto the tops and sides of the cookie dough balls if desired.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown but the center is still soft.
- Allow the cookies to cool for 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate based on third-party calculations. Actual values may vary due to ingredients, measurements, and serving sizes.
© Popular Recipes
Dana is the lead recipe developer and photographer for PopularRecipes.com. With her 10+ years of experience creating, testing, and photographing recipes, she has become an artist in developing wholesome, family-friendly meals that are a hit with both kids and parents.
savita says
A festive twist on a classic, it's a merry mix of crunchy cereal, creamy peanut butter, and a snowfall of powdered sugar.
DK Park says
Cookies are one of the holiday specials and this recipe never disappoints! it makes a wonderful cookies for the kids!
Jamie says
This looks so cool! It is perfect for Christmas! Love it!