Ani has been talking for weeks about her “special day.” It’s the day that she was assigned to celebrate her birthday at Parent’s Day Out. She was so excited to bring treats to share with her friends. Like a lot of kids, she requested M&M cookies! I decided to mix it up a little bit & update my M&M cookie recipe. One of my many obsessions is browned butter – it enhances the flavor of any recipe that calls for butter & in cookies with brown sugar, it creates a toffee-like taste while maintaining a soft, chewy texture. These cookies stack up to bakery M&M cookies & I’ll be making them over & over again!
There are a few tips I use for bakery like cookies:
- Don’t over bake.
- Don’t over mix the egg.
- Refrigerate or freeze dough {freeze for larger cookies like these}.
- Add candy or chocolate chips to the top of your dough balls just before freezing.
- Use a lot of add ins {M&M’s, chocolate chips, nuts}. It gives the cookie a little added height.
Well hello, nice to meet you.
Bakery M&M Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 c butter
- 3/4 c sugar
- 1 c brown sugar
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 c flour
- 1 c M&M’s
- 1/2 c chocolate chips
- sea salt, optional
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Swirl it until brown in color & it reaches a nutty aroma. Remove from heat.
- Meanwhile, combine sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Mix browned butter in.
- Gently blend in eggs, careful not to over mix.
- Sprinkle baking soda, baking powder, salt & flour over mixture & fold in until combined.
- Fold in M&M's & chocolate chips.
- Make large balls & place on parchment paper. Freeze for 4+ hours.
- Preheat oven to 350, crack with sea salt & bake 12 minutes.
I hope your day is just as bright & tasty! You’ll also love my Better than the Bakery Sugar cookies. If you make any of my sweets, tag me on Instagram, I’d love to see! You can also have my best recipes, flower arrangements and calligraphy series delivered to your inbox by signing up here.
This recipe is an adaptation of Crazy for Crust’s recipe.
These look utterly divine! I’ll have to try the browned butter trick!
What does “crack with sea salt” mean??
Hi Cynthia! I always use sea salt that comes in a grinder – the thick flakes are full of flavor. It’s my secret to really great cookies! Enjoy!
Julie, when using browned butter, does it need to be chilled so it can be creamed when combining? I’m guessing it gets combined with the sugar and eggs?? Thanks
It does, but I only let it cool slightly (to not scramble your eggs) and gradually incorporate it since I’m always impatient and later refrigerate the dough.
Just made these today to use up leftover Halloween candy. I got 21 balls and was firmly convinced that there was NO way they’d flatten out like a cookie from a frozen state in only 12 minutes. And then a miracle occurred. These are really good!
Glad you enjoyed them as much as we do!
Glad you enjoyed them as much as we do, David!
Omg!!! The browned butter totally changes it! We LOVED them! I used the small Pampered Chef scoop and got 50 med sized cookies. They were perfect, thanks for another great recipe!
Thanks for the feedback, Sue! I’m totally craving them right now. Have a great weekend!
I’d like to use these with a small group of alzheimer patients. plan to put the dough in individual zip baggies and have each patient add m & m’s and “knead” the bag to distribute the m & m’s. thus employing the manual dexterity skills with the fun of baking and tasting these cookies. can i make dough – divide it into individual baggies and refrigerate it for a day or 2 before using? (not freeze it) then bring it out for the patients to add m & m’s to baggie and squish dough/candies around in the bag before forming dough balls and putting on cookie sheets? approx. cooking time with cool but not frozen dough? thanks for your help.
Of course! You don’t need to adjust the baking time as I use chilled dough as well. Great idea!
thanks, julie, for such a quick response.
happy baking!
Followed all directions and the dough balls didn’t flatten into cookies😞
Did you refrigerate the dough or freeze it? I haven’t had that issue and have made them a number of times.
Thank you for this amazing recipe. Made these for my family yesterday and they did not last the night. Making batch two tonight 🙂 the flavor of the dough is really wonderful, the browned butter definitely brings out the rich caramel flavor in the brown sugar without making it super sweet. Will definitely be adding this to my cookie rotation!
This is the same recipe I use for chocolate chip as well, just crack a little sea salt on top and they’re perfection! Thank you for taking to share! I hope you’re enjoying the holidays.
Sincerely,
Julie
This is the recipe I have been searching for. Hope to use them to bless a group of volunteers donating time and energy to my favorite cause. I will have to check out your other recipes when I have time. Thanks for sharing.
They never disappoint! That’s so sweet of you, Carol, I’m sure they’ll enjoy them!
I have made these twice this week. They are very tasty and soft but do look quite a bit different from the ones in Julie’s pictures. Mine don’t have the gooey, melted look but were delicious and received many compliments. I love having them in the freezer ready to bake. Thank you Julie for the tip on browning the butter and freezing the dough in balls! This recipe might replace my current go-to for cookies!
Thanks for sharing, Laurie! If you want them slightly gooey, consume them right away {which I’m always guilty of} or decrease bake time. Unfortunately, bake time slightly varies from one oven to another. I think I might whip up a mini batch tonight just for the dough!
These look great, I was just curious if I could add peanut butter to this recipe? If so how much would I add? I am excited about making them this weekend!!
Thank you
Rebekah
Peanut Butter would completely change the consistency of the dough {additional oil} and would have to be tested to see if adjustments would need to be made. You will LOVE these as is!
Do you have to put it in the freezer
Or refrigerator – it keeps them from spreading. It’s worth it, I promise!
I froze my cookies in ball form, but they did not spread when cooked. Do you have any recommendations to help them move from ball shape to flatter cookie shape? Thank you.
Just refrigerate them or allow them to slightly thaw. Sorry about that! Did you enjoy them?
Thanks for the recipe. Do the cookie balls need to be covered or wrapped in the freezer?
Julie
Unless I’m freezing for an extended period of time, I don’t. Enjoy!
I want one right now!!!
I might have to make these, they look so yummy. Can you explain a bit what you mean by don’t over mix the eggs? What is considered over mixing? I have the same issue when a recipe says not to overmix after adding flour. What is overmixed? How do I know before I get to that point? Also would the baking time be the same in a convection?
It is, Heidi. Sometimes we can become over-ambitious when making cookies. Just until the egg is incorporated.
Julie these cookies look all so yummy, can’t wait to make some. Thanks so much for sharing. My family are going to go nuts eating these cookies. Yum!
Have a beautiful weekend! Enjoy!
Thank you for this recipe. It is perfect for the upcoming fall baking season!
Thanks Sherry! Enjoy!