Easy M&Ms Cookies Recipe

While chocolate chip cookies are the quintessential cookie, there's nothing that triggers nostalgia more than an M&M cookie. All the fun colors and the crispy candy coating add a festive flair to your standard cookie recipe. Add one of these to your child's lunchbox or bring it to the next classroom birthday celebration and you will be the coolest parent in school. But lucky for you, M&M cookies are not just for kids. Children and adults alike will go nuts over this recipe, and as it turns out, they're pretty easy to whip up right at home.

Recipe developer and registered dietitian nutritionist, Kristen Carli, MS, RD, brings us this recipe for easy M&M cookies. Carli swears by the use of baking powder in these cookies to create a fluffy interior. As a result, these cookies are not thin and crispy, but instead soft and chewy with crispy bites of M&M candies. We don't know about you, but this is our ideal cookie texture!

To make these easy M&M cookies, you will need unsalted butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, salt, baking powder, and M&Ms. Get set up by preheating the oven to 350 F and greasing a large baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the butter and both sugars. Using the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until they are light and fluffy. Then, add in the eggs and the vanilla extract. Mix again using the stand mixer until the batter is well combined.

In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and baking powder. Soft cookie lovers, this recipe's for you! Baking powder is added in these cookies to ensure a light and fluffy texture. Because of this leavening agent, these cookies don't deflate in the oven, which leads to their soft consistency.

Add the mixed dry ingredients to the bowl of the stand mixer. Mix, once more, to incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet. Then, add the M&M candies. You do not want to use the stand mixer to add in the M&Ms as it can break up the candy pieces. Instead, using a silicone spatula or a wooden spoon, carefully stir in the candies.

Lastly, use a large cookie scoop to portion and place the batter onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake the cookies for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown. Your kitchen will smell amazing! Test the doneness by poking the center of a cookie with a toothpick. If it comes out clean, the cookies are done. If not, the cookies need more time baking.