When brown butter and a classic chocolate candy such as M&Ms collide, they make the most incredibly delicious cookies. These brown butter M&M cookies are the best. They are buttery and soft, leaving you with a party in your mouth, a grin on your face, and your entire body in a major moment of euphoria.
I love making these cookies for friend gatherings, birthdays, or for a weekend treat.
Cookies lend itself to creating variations, and so this recipe is inspired by my cookie skillet, my triple threat cookies, and my classic brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
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What are the ingredients for these brown butter M&M cookies?
- All Purpose Flour - the best type of flour to use for all sorts of baking.
- Baking Soda - our rising agent for the cookie to have that chewy texture.
- Butter - this needs to true room temperature. That means, if you place your finger tip onto the stick of butter and press in, it leaves a slight indent. Butter takes approximately 20-30 minutes to come to room temperature once removed from the fridge. For this recipe, however, we brown the butter, so we don't actually need it to be fully room temperature.
- Sugar - we use two different types of sugar in this cookie to give it the chewiest, most insanely velvety texture.
- Eggs - eggs are essential in all cookies which help bind the cookies together.
- Vanilla Extract - for a little additional flavor.
- M&Ms - I like to use the mini ones as they spread nicely across the batter.
See the recipe card below for specific information about quantities
How do I make this recipe?
Browning the Butter:
Add butter to a light-bottomed medium pan and turn flame on to a medium heat. It will begin to sputter and foam. This is a good thing! Continue to stir the butter and keep on a medium heat, ensuring the solids do not burn at the bottom. The aromas from the browned butter should be intense with nutty and buttery notes. Let the butter brown; keeping an eye on the butter for 5-7 minutes and turn off the heat. Scrape the browned bits and the browned butter into a bowl and set in the fridge for approximately 30 minute or until the browned butter has cooled just a bit.
Making the Cookies:
Step 1: Begin by adding the cooled brown butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl. Cream butter and sugar using a hand whisk or a stand mixer until it forms a creamy paste, approximately 3 minutes. Add in eggs one at a time and mix to combine.
Step 2: To the wet ingredients, add in flour and baking soda and mix a little at a time. Add in the mini m&ms and fold in with a spatula.
Step 3: Using a large cookie scoop, scoop the dough and form balls. Place the balls on a baking sheet and let chill in the fridge for an hour. Once the hour is done, preheat the oven to 350º and place a few cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Step 4: Bake the cookies for 11 minutes or until lightly brown; rotating racks from top to bottom halfway through. Let cool completely (approximately 30m) before serving to allow the cookies to fully set.
Hint: The cookies will continue to bake and set after they are taken out of the oven, so be sure to time them efficiently so that they don't over bake!
Recipe Swaps and Substitutions
If you're looking to adapt some things in this cookie recipe to fit your lifestyle, here's what I would suggest:
- Flour: you can swap out the all purpose flour to use gluten free, but the texture will change a little bit. If you are swapping out the regular flour, I recommend Bobs Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour for these.
- Butter: you can swap out the regular butter and opt in plant-based butter
- Chocolate: If you want to swap out the m&m's you can do so and just use chocolate chips.
Recipe Swaps and Substitutions
Cookies naturally lend itself to a variety of different add ins, so if you're trying to make this recipe your own, consider these variations:
- Skillet - throw the entire batter into one large cast iron skillet and bake for 30 minutes.
- Cookie Bars - add the batter to a 9x9 tin and bake for 25-30 minutes to form cookie blondies or bars
- Mix-ins: Get creative! Make these cookies with Reese’s pieces, and could be fun to throw in chopped milky way pieces or twix... SO GOOD!
Why you'll love these cookies
Who doesn't love a warm, soft, chewy cookie right out of the oven? I know you'll just fawn over these cookies because:
- They're so chewy! The brown butter paired with the two different sugars and the right ratio of flour makes these the ultimate cookie.
- You can make them for one event, and freeze the rest for another rainy day!
- M&Ms make these cookies even more fun. If you want to get kids involved in the kitchen, this is a great cookie to get them interested!
How do I store these cookies? Can I freeze them?
To Store: You can store any cookies in a plastic or glass container and can be left on the countertop for up to 5 days.
To Freeze: Add the cookie dough to an air tight freezer storage bag and be sure to label the date in which the dough was formed. Also, indicate the bake time and temp: bake at 325º for 18 minutes.
Hungry for More?
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
Brown Butter M&M Cookies
Equipment
- 1 large mixing bowl
- measuring cups and spoons
- 1 kitchen scale optional
- 1 hand or stand mixer
- 1 spatula
- 1 whisk
Ingredients
- 310 grams All Purpose Flour Approx 2 ¼ cups
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 8 oz butter 2 sticks
- 50 grams cane sugar ¼ cup
- 150 grams light brown sugar ¾ cup
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup mini m&Ms
Instructions
For the Brown Butter
- Add butter to a light-bottomed medium pan and turn flame on to a medium heat. It will begin to sputter and foam. This is a good thing!
- Continue to stir the butter and keep on a medium heat, ensuring the solids do not burn at the bottom. The aromas from the browned butter should be intense with nutty and buttery notes.
- Let the butter brown; keeping an eye on the butter for 5-7 minutes and turn off the heat.
- Scrape the browned bits and the browned butter into a bowl and set in the fridge for 1 hour or until the browned butter is cooled and becomes solid again.
For the Cookies
- Cream browned butter and sugars together with a hand mixer. Add in eggs one at a time and mix.
- Next, pour in the vanilla extract and continue to mix.
- Add in flour and baking soda half at a time and mix until all dough is mixed.
- Add M&Ms into the dough and fold in using a spatula.
- Using an ice cream scoop, make medium sized cookie dough balls and set on the baking sheet, leaving room in between.
- Set in the fridge covered with plastic wrap for 60 minutes. Approximately 20 minutes before the timer finishes, preheat the oven to 350º.
- After the temperature begins to rise, take the cookies out, remove the cling wrap and bake 350° for 10-11 minutes until golden brown on sides and soft to the touch of a fingertip.
- Let cool for 20m then transfer to a cooling rack.
Amelia
This cookie was great to bake ahead of time for my family tonight. There are no leftovers, which is a shame because I only had one. I added in red and green M&Ms to make them festive, and will be making them again for friends. Very easy recipe to follow, too.