No one can resist these M&M Christmas Cookies – they are soft, chewy, and in addition to festive candies, they also have chocolate chips! With their pretty pop of color, they are perfect for holiday cookie trays.
A MUST MAKE CHRISTMAS COOKIE!
One of my very favorite things to make is cookies, especially during the holiday season. I love giving homemade goodies to our neighbors, and these cookies are at the top of the list.
Not only are they easy to whip up, everyone who tries them LOVES them! You can’t go wrong with a chocolate chip cookie, but add M&M’s and they are even more irresistible!
The red and green M&M’s make these cookies look so festive. And they add to the fun factor. My kids always sort through the batch looking for the cookie that has the MOST M&Ms. Every single time.
TEXTURE– These Christmas M&M cookies are soft and chewy, just like I like them. And real butter gives them the best taste!- ALL THE CHOCOLATE – Using half milk chocolate chips adds sweetness and chunks of chocolate you can bite into. Semi sweet chocolate chips balance out the sugar, and add that ooey gooey melted chocolate we all love. Mmmm, good!
- SECRET INGREDIENT – lemon juice. Adding lemon juice to M&M cookies may seem strange, but trust me, you can’t actually taste it. It just reacts with the baking soda, performs some kind of chemical magic trick, and makes the cookies pretty, chewy, and puffy. Promise.
TEXTURE– These Christmas M&M cookies are soft and chewy, just like I like them. And real butter gives them the best taste!These red and green cookies are perfect for holiday gift giving, especially if you pair them with my free printable M&M Christmas tags!
HOW TO MAKE M & M CHRISTMAS COOKIES
- PREP – Let your butter soften to room temperature. Line baking sheets with silicone liners or spray with cooking spray. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
- WET INGREDIENTS – In a large mixing bowl, use a hand mixer to beat the butter and sugars together until very creamy. Add eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice. Beat until smooth.
- DRY INGREDIENTS – Add flour to the bowl of wet ingredients. Make a well and add the baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir into the flour a bit. Add the chocolate chips and M&M candies. (Make sure to reserve some candies for the tops.) Stir dough just until all the flour is incorporated.
- FORM – Use a cookie scoop to scoop cookie dough onto prepared cookie sheets. Roll into balls and press a few M&M’s into the tops of each cookie dough ball.
- BAKE – Bake at 375° for 8-9 minutes, or until edges are lightly browned and middles are barely set. Let sit on pans for 3-5 minutes, then remove to wire cooling racks.
COOKIE PRO TIPS:
- It’s best to let your butter soften on the counter so that it is the same temperature all the way through. Using the microwave can leave melted and cold spots.
- For the prettiest cookies, you definitely want to reserve some M&Ms for the tops of the cookies. I like to press them into the dough balls, but you can also immediately press them into the cookies as soon as they come out of the oven.
- If your cookie dough is sticky, you need to chill the dough for a few minutes before rolling. Chilling will prevent the cookies from spreading too much. Want them really thick – roll into balls and then chill for 45-50 minutes.
VARIATIONS:
- For an even more festive look, you can stir Christmas sprinkles into the cookie dough, or just sprinkle them on top of the cookies before baking.
- My family actually loves peanut butter M&M’s, and you can use those (or any flavor of M&M) instead. They are larger, so I like to make the cookies bigger to accommodate for the larger candies.
- We love the mix of milk and darker chocolate chips, buy you can use all milk or semi sweet if you prefer.
- As with any chocolate chip cookie recipe, feel free to add chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts. Toast first for best flavor.
- If you are really crazy about M&M’s, you can use them in place of the 2 cups of chocolate chips. That would make for almost 4 cups of M&M’s in your cookies!
HOW TO STORE LEFTOVER COOKIES
Homemade chocolate chip cookies will last for 5-6 days at room temperature if stored in an airtight container. If you want them warm, you can pop one in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.
For longer storage, they also freeze well! If you plan on freezing them, definitely press the M&M’s on the dough balls before you bake them. Pressing them on after you bake them, they tend to fall off when frozen.
I recommend freezing cookies in heavy duty ziplock bags. You can remove air as you remove cookies, so they last longer without getting freezer burn. These M&M chocolate chip Christmas cookies will last for 4-5 months in the freezer.
When ready to serve, you can let them thaw at room temperature, or pop them in the microwave for a few seconds.
Can I freeze the cookie dough?
Yes, absolutely! After you roll the dough into balls, place them on a cookie sheet and freeze them for about an hour. After they are frozen, transfer them into ziplock bags. They will last for about 3 months.
When ready to serve your Christmas chocolate chip cookies, place the frozen dough balls on prepared pans and let them thaw for about 20 minutes while your oven preheats. They will be cold, so they will take longer to bake. They also won’t spread as much after being frozen, they will be nice and thick.
You can’t have too many Christmas cookie recipes, right? Here’s a few more:
- Raspberry Ribbon Cookies
- Ginger Cookies Dipped in White Chocolate
- Chocolate Bon Bon Cookies
- Gingerbread Man Recipe
- White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Butter Shortbread Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies with Hershey Kiss
M & M Christmas Cookies
Chewy M&M Christmas Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened to room temperature
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp lemon juice fresh or bottled
- 3 ¼ cups all purpose flour 15 ounces
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 cup milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 10 oz bag Christmas M&M's divided
Instructions
- Let your butter come to room temperature. Spray cookie sheets with cooking spray, or line with silicone liners. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Cream butter and sugars for 2-3 minutes in a large mixing bowl with an electric hand mixer. Beat in eggs, vanilla, and lemon juice just until combined.
- Add flour, make a well in the flour. Add baking soda, baking powder, and sat to the well, stir into the flour just a bit.
- Add the chocolate chips, half of the M&M's, stir just until all the flour is incorporated.
- Use a cookie scoop to scoop dough, then roll into balls. Place on lightly greased or silpat lined cookie sheets. Press a few of the reserved M&M's into the tops of the cookie dough balls.
- Bake at 375° for about 8-9 minutes or until edges are light brown and centers are barely set.
- Cool on pans for 3-4 minutes, then remove to cooling racks.
Not enough regular sugar, too much brown sugar, why add lemon? This isn’t cream of tartar? You dont add lemon in flat cookies. These are balls of flour. Thank you for wasting my ingredients!
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Sorry they didn’t turn out for you. I explained in the post that the lemon juice reacts with the baking soda to make the cookies more soft and fluffy. Brown sugar makes cookies that are more moist and chewy. If yours turned out as balls of flour, you probably packed the flour in your measuring cups more than I do. 🙁
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These are our favorite cookies to make in December!! We make them multiple times & love giving them to neighbors. They are always a hit & so good!!
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Same at my house. Neighbors (especially with kids) always love them!
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Tried these cookies today to leave for santa. We added peanut butter m&ms instead of the regular ones. Holy cow are they good.
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I double this recipe bc I needed to make enough for 2 parties. It made 117 cookies! I did a drop cookie and used a medium Pampered Chef scoop. I was too lazy to roll balls. It was way more than I needed but I was able to give them away as gifts to neighbors and family friends! Mine came out exactly like the picture. They were puffy after 10 minutes of being in the oven but that’s just they were not done yet. Another 2 minutes and they were nice and pretty! 🙂
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I bet all your friends were glad you had so many extra! 🙂
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I just baked these, and they came out PERFECT! They look nice and puffy (my husband was amazed how perfect they came out he thought I bought them from the local bakery) the lemon juice I guess was the trick. They taste amazing. I decided not to use any chocolate chips, just some green and red M&M’s. It made about 30 cookies! Definitely keeping this recipe and Santa is going to be a happy guy!!!
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Made them yesterday with my 3 girls… They are puffy for sure and taste more like short bread. They didn’t come out looking like the picture. Was expecting a more traditional cookie. My husband likes them!
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I can not wait to make these!! About how many cookies does this recipe make?
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