M&M Cookies

These Small Batch m&m cookies are soft and chewy, and filled with m&m candy. The recipe comes together quickly and requires no chill time. This m&m cookie recipe uses melted butter and has an egg yolk chocolate chip cookie base for a perfectly chewy cookie!

m&m cookies

Hi hi! Just popping in to share the recipe for these m&m cookies- this is about as halloween as you're going to get from me. I've never really been into lots of spooky baking, but I am a massive fan of adding candy to cookies, and I LOVE m&ms.

Halloween isn't a thing really in NZ (it was yesterday here and I think I saw two people dressed up), but any excuse to make cookies, and I am all in. These m&m chocolate chip cookies are super delicious. I made them a whole bunch this week, tweaking the recipe to get it right.

These m&m chocolate chip cookies are a small batch chocolate chip cookie recipe. They have an egg yolk base, using two egg yolks rather than a whole egg, which gives the base of the cookie a super delicious chew and texture. They are absolutely jammed with m&ms and I popped some chopped dark chocolate in there too, just to balance things out. These disappeared very quickly in my house - I love them and I hope you do too!

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Why I love these m&m cookies

• No mixer required. I just use a bowl, a whisk and a spatula to make these cookies (and a scale of course). I love using my stand mixer but I also love the simplicity of a recipe just made by hand in a bowl.
• Super Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. This recipe uses two egg yolks rather than a single egg. The fat from the yolk provides amazing moisture to the recipe. It also gives the chocolate chip cookie base an incredible chewy texture. These are great to make if you have any extra egg yolks on hand!
• Small Batch Recipe. This m&m cookie recipe only makes 12 cookies - you can bake 6 off immediately and keep the rest for later, or do them all at once!
• No Chill Time. I know lots of cookies ask you to chill the dough (I have a few which do for a specific reason), but this recipe can be baked off straight away. I know I'm impatient sometimes and just want a quick cookie recipe - this is it!

How to make m&m cookies

These small batch m&m cookies are super quick to make. Here's how you do it.

• Mix together wet ingredients. In this recipe (and lots of recipes) sugar is classed as a wet ingredient. Pop it into a mixing bowl and add the sugars and the egg yolks, and mix it all together until thickened slightly.
• Add dry ingredients. This recipe is super simple - just uses All-purpose flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Pop those in an incorporate with a spatula. Don't over mix here. You will mix the dough more when you incorporate the mix ins, so it is ok to have a little flour remaining.
• Add your mix-ins. Add the m&ms and chopped chocolate and stir to incorporate.
• Scoop your cookies. I like to use a cookie scoop to portion out my dough.
• Bake. There is no chill time in this m&m cookie recipe, so you can just pop them straight into the oven!

The Role of Chill Time in Cookies

When I was making these m&m cookies, I ended up testing a whole range of chill times with the cookies. Please excuse the phone image below (I just grabbed it from my IG stories), but I think it is so interesting to see how the chill time in a recipe affects the final outcome.

You can see that I tested a whole bunch of chill times and sugar and butter ratios within the m&m cookies, just to get the perfect balance. The cookie in this recipe is the one that is pictured bottom right. You are welcome to tweak the recipe to your liking to achieve your favourite texture of cookie! (I just ask that if you do and you have a disaster, please don't blame my recipe! haha).

I often find that in terms of spread, there is a big difference between no chill and a 30 minute chill, especially when the recipe uses melted butter like this one. The time in the fridge gives the dough a chance to firm up a little. This means that the rate of spread is much slower than a cookie which is still at room temperature.

The difference between a 30 minute chill and an hour chill is not as significant. However I did notice a few differences - mainly that the cookie remained slightly thicker, whereas with the 30 minute chill time the mix ins stuck out a little on the top of the cookie.

I then tweaked again to see if I could eliminate the chill time in the recipe all together by reducing the quantity of butter by 30g and having quite a large brown:white sugar ratio within the mix.

I know some people swear by chilling their cookie dough, but I am impatient. Often I decide that I want cookies, and that they need to happen immediately. For this reason, I like to have a few recipes up my sleeve for instant cookies. A few of my other recipes do use a chill time. I find that the best way to make those and still have instant cookies is to freeze some of the dough so you always have it on hand.

Why the ratio of brown to white sugar is important in cookies.

You will see from the image above that I was also playing around with the ratio of brown to white sugar in the recipe. The most important thing that this highlights is how important it is to use a scale when you are baking. I was only altering the quantity of butter and sugar by 10 or 20g, and it was enough to make a huge difference.

Typically when I am testing, I tweak the quantity of brown and white sugar in recipes to control the spread of the cookie. In general, brown sugar gives a thicker, chewier cookie, while white sugar gives spread and the crunchy edges. Combined with the quantity of butter, these are the factors that I usually change.

The advantage of testing both chill time and the butter / sugar ratio within the same batch is that it saves you making a whole new batch each time. I just mix up one batch of dough, bake some off straight away, and leave some to chill and then bake those too. You can also play around with different oven temperatures for bake time here too, meaning you can get up to 6 tests just from the same batch of cookies (for example no chill, 350°f bake temp, no chill, 375°f bake temp, 30 min chill, 350°f bake temp, 30 min chill 375°f bake temp etc).

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How to make cookies thinner

I wanted to include this as I am often asked what my recipe process is / how to change the texture of a cookie etc and because I tested all the variations, I can confidently tell you how these m&m cookies will turn out if you change the factors. Here's what you can tweak for your very own recipe testing if you like:

• Super thin and crispy. Increase the butter quantity to 120g, and use 55g of white sugar and 110g brown sugar. Bake immediately. They will spread loads on the pan. Check after 10 minutes bake time.
• Still thin but with a little thickness in the centre. Same as above, but chill the dough for 30 minutes to an hour before baking.
• Slightly chewier, slightly thinner than the recipe as written: Use the same sugar quantities as the recipe in this post (45g white and 120g brown), but increase butter quantity to 120g. Bake straight away for thinner cookies, and chill dough for 30 minutes to an hour for slightly thicker.
• Slightly Thicker cookies with no chill. Make the recipe as written. I found this was fairly similar to the 120g butter with a 30 minute chill time recipe, but spread just a touch less. For me this is perfect, although it is good to know if I want it just a tiny bit thinner, that increasing the butter quantity and chilling the dough works great too.

Tips for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

There are a few tips that I use every time for perfect chocolate chip cookies. These tips can be applied to every cookie recipe. They are completely optional (aside from using a scale of course!) but make a big difference if you're looking for perfect chocolate chip cookies!

• Chop your chocolate. Chopped chocolate gives you pockets of chocolate and perfect chocolate shards distributed throughout the cookie. I prefer chopped chocolate over chocolate chips in cookies forever. Chocolate also melts much better than chips. It's the best ever.
• Use a cookie scoop. You can weigh out your cookie dough balls if you don't have a cookie scoop, but they are a great investment. They help to get the dough all relatively the same size and make things super quick and easy. I use this one.
• Add chocolate puddles. If you would like to get puddles on the top of cookies, press the dough into a disc and press additional chocolate on the top, then squish it back up into a ball of dough. This encases all the chocolate inside and as it bakes you get perfect puddles. I didn't do this step for this recipe as I wanted the m&ms to show up but if you like chocolate puddles, go for it.
• Scoot your cookies. The "Cookie Scoot" is my secret weapon to perfectly round cookies. It's a totally optional step, but one that I really love. All you do is take a round object slightly larger than the cookie. As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, while they are still hot, put the cutter over the cookie and 'scoot' it into a perfectly round shape. The best. I do it basically every time now.

FAQ for m&m cookies

• What tools and equipment do you use?

You can see a full list of all the tools I use here

• Can these cookies be made ahead?

I haven't tried freezing the dough but this dough formula is incredibly similar to other recipes which freeze great. To freeze cookie dough, freeze it on a lined sheet pan until solid then transfer to a ziploc bag. You can also freeze in a container with the lid off and pop a lid onto the container once frozen.

• Can these be made without the m&ms?

Yes, if you like you can just sub the m&ms for chopped chocolate, for an amazing egg yolk chocolate chip cookie!

• Why do you say to re-weigh the butter?

When you melt butter, a little evaporates. This rate of evaporation may vary from butter brand to butter brand, so the only accurate way is to weigh it once it has melted. 100g of butter, melted is not the same thing as 100g melted butter. Try it for yourself if you're curious - measure out 100g butter, melt it, then re-weigh. It may be a tiny bit off and we are all about accuracy here at Cloudy Kitchen!

For more Small Batch Cookie recipes, check out:

• Malted Nutella Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Small Batch Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Small Batch Double Chocolate Cookies

Made this recipe and love it?

If you made this recipe then I would LOVE for you to leave me a review below to let me know how you liked it! Also, please make sure to tag me on Instagram if you make it!

A note on salt and oven temperature

It is important to note the type of salt that is called for in a recipe. I use Diamond Crystal salt throughout my recipes - if you use a different sort of kosher salt or regular table salt you will need to adjust accordingly as some salt is 'saltier' than others. Morton's salt is twice as salty, so you will need half the quantity. Same goes for a regular table salt. I am working to get gram measurements throughout my recipes for salt but still getting there.

All oven temperatures are conventional unless otherwise stated. If you are baking on fan / convection, you will need to adjust the temperature. An oven thermometer is a great investment to ensure that your oven is the correct temperature.

Using the double / triple function in the recipe card

You will notice that there is a '1X' '2X' '3X' button in my recipe card. This can be used for doubling or tripling a recipe. However, please note that this only doubles the ingredient quantities in the ingredients list and NOT in the method. If there are quantities or pan sizes in the method of the recipe (for example weigh out 150g brown butter), you will need to scale this number manually. It will also not change the baking time in the recipe so you will need to adjust this yourself too. It is always a good idea to read through a recipe fully before doubling it just to check this. If you would like to scale this recipe or convert for another pan size, use my calculator!

Tools and equipment

For a list of my go-to tools and equipment, I have a post you can refer to here.

Why is this recipe in grams?

I post my recipes in grams as it is the most accurate way to bake. Cups are not only inaccurate but they vary in volume worldwide. There is no way for me to provide one cup measure that works for everyone. However, posting in weight fixes this issue. If you would like the recipe in cups you are welcome to convert it yourself via google, but please do not ask me to do it for you as I am not comfortable providing a recipe using a method that I have not tested. Baking with a scale is easy, accurate, and also makes cleanup super simple. Here is the scale that I use if you would like a recommendation! Here's to accurate baking!

Recipe For m&m cookies

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