Easiest, Best M & M Cookies Ever

For the backstory, you can see my longwinded explanation here on why THESE cookies, but the short story is that they are delicious, fun and festive. The homemade version dare I say elevates the humble M & M, and if you can manage to hide a big stash of the candies somewhere in your house, it’s an economical way to make lots of cookies vs fancy chocolate chips. Of course, it would be awesome if the large candy companies started using natural coloring and dyes in their candies (Mars, are you listening?!) but if I’m going to have a yummy treat I want to go all in, and I much prefer this to a box of storebought M&M cookies from the grocery store. Although I will happily eat those too!

I’ve adapted this recipe from one in Cook’s Illustrated magazine. I’ve tried them several different ways (including a more savory, crumbly version with olive oil that was good but didn’t win most of my “taste-testers” over) but I found I liked them best with less sugar and a bit more salt than the original, less M&Ms, more egg, and a few more tweaks. I hope you love them too!

Easiest, Best M&M Cookies

YIELD: 18-22 cookies

INGREDIENTS:

—2 1/2 c all-purpose flour

—2 scant tsp kosher salt (diamond crystal, use 1.5 tsp if another brand or table salt)

—1 tsp baking soda

—1.5 sticks (12 T) butter

—3/4 c brown sugar

—1/2 c sugar

—2 eggs

—1 tsp vanilla extract

—1 cup M&Ms

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 425.

Melt butter in a large heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water (or in a microwave if you have such a fancy thing). Add both sugars and vanilla, and whisk until uniform. Once the butter and sugar mixture has cooled just slightly (it should be almost ready by the time the sugars and vanilla are mixed in), add eggs and whisk until uniform and a bit lighter in color, about 30 seconds. Sprinkle flour, salt, and soda over the top of the wet ingredients, and fold until mostly mixed and a few dry spots remain. Add M&Ms and mix until no dry flour remains and the M&Ms are evenly dispersed throughout.

Drop by rounded tablespoons onto cookie sheets. I usually get about 12 on one sheet and 9 on the next. Flatten each ball slightly until about 1/2 - 3/4 inch thick. Bake for 7-8 minutes total, rotating sheets top to bottom and front to back as necessary after about 6 minutes, or bake the sheets separately, 7 minutes each if you have the time, until tops of cookies look JUST dry, and edges of cookies are just barely starting to brown.

Let cool on their sheets for about 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to fully cool. They keep for up to a week at room temperature in a sealed container as long as they don’t get eaten first.