Loaded with your favorite holiday chocolate candies (M&Ms), these Christmas-inspired cookies are chewy, chocolaty, and absolutely delicious! Perfect for your holiday baking, cookie exchange, and as an edible Christmas gift!
I was looking at my little snack drawer the other day and found an unopened pack of Christmas M&Ms from last year. I looked at the expiry date and it was still very much fresh. I asked my daughter Sophie who is quite a good baker to make some cookies with it. What you see is the product of her delicious creation!
These M&M Christmas Cookies are the best because they come out so chewy, chocolaty, and full of buttery deliciousness! The perfect holiday cookies in my opinion.
Don’t they look beautifully festive, too? I love the dots of red and green chocolate goodness all over the cookies. So, if you’re a huge fan of M&Ms these scrumptious cookies are for you.
HOW DO I MAKE COOKIES NOT FALL FLAT DURING BAKING?
The key to all this is how you handle the butter. While this recipe calls for softened butter – that does not mean softened to the point that it’s almost looking melted. Butter can’t be left out at room temperature for too long so gets too warm and thus would make the cookies spread as it bakes.
To soften the butter quickly and perfectly for baking cookies, use the boiling water and glass method.
Put boiling hot water in a tall heatproof glass. The glass should be tall enough to accommodate a stick of butter. Dump the hot water out and flip the glass over a stick of butter. Allow 5 minutes for the butter to soften. After that, it’s perfect and ready to use.
EXTRA TIPS & TRICKS
If you like really tall, fluffy, more cake-like cookies, place the cookie dough in the refrigerator and chill for about an hour. Bake it directly from the fridge. You need to adjust the baking time and add maybe add a couple of minutes or until the cookies are browned on the edges but still pale-looking in the middle.
Your cookies would look like the above image. I personally prefer the image below as I’m more of a soft and chewy kind of cookie girl. Bake it as you like it!
FOR FULL RECIPE & INSTRUCTIONS and to PRINT, SEE RECIPE CARD BELOW.
WHAT ARE THE INGREDIENTS FOR Best M&M Christmas Cookies?
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup quick-cooking oats, simply replace with all flour if you don’t have oats at hand or prefer all flour cookies.
- 1 teaspoon baking soda – make sure it is still fresh and not expired.
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter – softened.
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 cup M&M’s Holiday Milk Chocolate Christmas Candy (red and green)
Handy tool: Cookie scoop
HOW TO MAKE these Best M&M Christmas Cookies?
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. You can use 2 baking sheets so the cookies aren’t cramped in one. Mix the flour, quick-cooking oats (if using), salt, ground cinnamon, and baking soda. Set aside.
- Cream the butter with the sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat just until combined.
- Adjusting the speed to low, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir lightly until combined. Fold in the M&M candies.
- Using a big cookie scoop, place each cookie dough on the prepared baking sheet spacing them about 2 inches apart. A recipe batch makes about 16 pieces in this size. Using a smaller cookie scoop would produce about 3 dozen. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Chill the cookies on the tray in the refrigerator as you wait for the oven to heat up.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes (for large cookies) or just until brown on the edges though still looking pale in the middle. If doing smaller cookies, bake between 8-10 minutes. Do not overbake. Allow cooling on the sheet for 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a rack to cool completely.
- If not eating right away, keep the cookies in an airtight container. It retains a moist and chewy quality even after a day or two though am sure it will be gone during the first day! Guaranteed. 🙂
BEST M&M Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup quick-cooking oats, (simply replace with all flour if you don’t have oats at hand or prefer all flour cookies)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp salt
- 1½ sticks unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- 1 large Egg
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 cup M&M's Holiday Milk Chocolate Christmas Candies
Instructions
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. You can use 2 baking sheets so the cookies aren’t cramped in one. Mix the flour, quick-cooking oats (if using), salt, ground cinnamon, and baking soda. Set aside.
- Cream the softened butter with the sugar using an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat just until combined.
- Adjusting the speed to low, slowly add the flour mixture and stir lightly until combined. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Using a big cookie scoop, spoon the cookie dough and place in the prepared baking sheet spacing them about 2 inches apart. You’d be able to produce about 16 pieces. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Chill the cookies in the refrigerator as you wait for the oven to heat up.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes or just until brown on the edges though still looking pale in the middle. Do not overbake. Allow to cool in the sheet for 5 minutes.
- Transfer to a rack to cool completely. So yummy to eat while still warm-ish. If not eating right away, keep the cookies in an airtight container. It retains a moist and chewy quality even after a day or two though am sure it will be gone during the first day! Guaranteed.
Notes
Nutrition
Last updated on December 5th, 2022 at 09:27 pm
Can you use old-fashioned oats if you don’t have quick cooking?
Author
Yes, you can do so. Enjoy. Thank you!