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M&M Sugar Cookies
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M&M Sugar Cookies

The perfect M&M sugar cookie is soft and chewy in the center and crispy around the edges, with notes of sea salt and vanilla and colorful candy coated milk chocolate pieces peppered throughout.

Cook Time
12 mins
Total Time
45 mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American

Ingredients

  • 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt fine sea salt
  • ¾ teaspoon baking soda
  • ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
  • ¾ cup butter at room temperature, unsalted
  • ¼ cup vegetable shortening at room temperature, unflavored
  • 1¼ cup granulated sugar plus more for rolling
  • 1 egg at room temperature, large
  • 1 egg at room temperature, large, yolk
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • ⅔ cup milk chocolate M&Ms plus more for topping (you'll need about 200g total)

Instructions

    Cup of Yum
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two heavy, light or medium colored baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt and set aside.
  3. In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and beat on high speed for 30-60 seconds until smooth. Mix in vanilla.
  4. Dump in dry ingredients and mix on low speed until incorporated and no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Add 2/3 cup M&Ms and fold until evenly distributed.
  5. Scoop dough into 50g balls (a generous scoop of dough with a medium #40 cookie scoop, or approximately 2 tablespoons worth). Roll into a ball between your palms, then roll in a small bowl filled with granulated sugar until evenly coated.
  6. Place on cookie sheet with 2 to 3 inches of space between cookies to allow for spreading. Press a few more M&Ms into the top of each dough ball for a prettier baked cookie (you can place them pretty close together as they will spread out in the oven).
  7. While you can bake the cookies immediately without chilling, I recommend popping the entire cookie sheet in the fridge for 10 to 15 minutes; this will help the cookies bake more evenly and not spread quite as much. If you find your cookies are spreading too much still, chill the dough balls for up to 30 minutes as needed.
  8. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes (10 to 11 minutes if baking from room temperature dough) or until tops are puffed and edges are just barely golden brown. I recommend checking on the cookies at around 9 minutes; rotate the cookie sheet, also give it a good hard rap on the oven rack once or twice to deflate the tops and ruffle the edges, then bake for a few more minutes as needed.
  9. Immediately after removing from the oven, swirl a large round cookie cutter around the warm cookies, tucking in the uneven edges to create perfectly circular cookies. Let cool on cookie sheets for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  10. Freshly baked cookies are best enjoyed the same day, or refrigerated in a bag or airtight container for up to 3 days. For longer storage, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and place in a zip top bag in the freezer for up to a month. Let come to room temperature for 30 minutes before serving.