Our M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with brown butter and have crisp, buttery edges and warm, gooey middles. The M&Ms can be swapped out for the different seasons making this the perfect cookie recipe to celebrate any season or holiday. Our chewy chocolate chip cookies are mixed by hand in one bowl so no need to take out your stand mixer.
Made with brown butter, these cookies have a sweet, caramelized flavor and are filled with chocolate. You can swap the chocolate chips and use any combination of milk or dark chocolate that you prefer. Our cookies pack up nicely for shipping and will make the perfect festive addition to your holdiay cookie boxes. Be sure to check out some of our other chocolate chip cookie recipes like our One Bowl Chocolate Chip Cookies or our Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies made with brown butter!
Jump to:
❤️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
- These m&m chocolate chip cookies are made in one bowl with simple ingredients
- Browning the butter adds an extra layer of flavor to this recipe creating chewy cookies with incredible flavor
- These chocolate chip cookies have perfectly soft centers and crisp, buttery edges
- You can scoop and freeze the cookie dough - making this the perfect recipe to make ahead of time
- Swap out the M&Ms for the holidays and seasons - this recipe can be made for Halloween, Valentine's Day or Easter
🍫 Ingredient Notes
- M&M Candies - You can choose the best colors for your celebration and swap them out as you please - both regular and mini m&ms will work for this recipe
- Chocolate Chips - You can choose your preferred chocolate for this recipe. I went with milk chocolate chips but dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips would be delicious too. You can even use white chocolate chips!
- Brown Butter - Brown butter adds a depth and flavor to the overall flavor of the cookies - see below for directions for browning butter
- Light Brown Sugar - adds moisture and flavor to the cookie recipe
- White Sugar - helps create crisp, buttery edges for the cookies
🍋 Variations
Caramel or Peanut Butter M&M - these cookies would be delicious made with peanut butter or caramel M&Ms.
🧈 Substitutions
Unsalted Butter - I prefer to bake with unsalted butter. If you only have salted butter, reduce the salt in the cookie dough to ¼ teaspoon
Chocolate Chips - Swap the milk chocolate chips out for another preferred chocolate chip. You can use dark, white or even a combination of chocolate chips for this cookie recipe.
🥣 Instructions
Be sure to see the recipe card for the full list of ingredients and detailed recipe instructions.
Combine the brown butter with the brown and white sugar. Whisk until well combined.
Add the two eggs and vanilla. Whisk well until the batter becomes light and fluffy.
Whisk in the salt. Allow the batter to rest for 2-3 minutes and then whisk one more time before adding the dry ingredients.
Add the dry ingredients - flour and baking soda to the butter and eggs. Mix until combined.
Gently fold in your chocolate chips and M&Ms.
Cover your cookie dough and chill for at least one hour in the refrigerator.
Preheat oven to 375°. Scoop the chilled cookie dough and arrange 2 inches apart on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are just golden brown and the middles look just a little underdone. Add 4-5 additional M&Ms to the top of each cookie.
🍳 How to Make Browned Butter
- Place butter in a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat until the butter becomes bubbly, fragrant and nutty smelling - swirl and stir as needed
- Watch closely for small brown bits to begin forming on the bottom of the pan - this will happen around 5 minutes
- As soon as you begin to see brown bits in the butter, remove the butter from the heat
- Transfer butter to your mixing bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes before proceeding with the recipe
🤓 Expert Tips
Use a Cookie Dough Scoop: This will literally be one of your best kitchen investments. I use a cookie dough scoop when I'm making cookies, but I also use it to add batter to a Madeleine pan, to scoop pancake batter in to the hot frying pan and even for making meatballs. There are just so many uses. I find this scoop from Solula to be the best cookie dough scoop that I have found.
Chill Your Cookie Dough: Cookies end up with a better overall texture and spread less when the dough has some chilling time. I prefer to scoop the dough right away when it is easier to scoop. I like to arrange the balls of cookie dough on a sheet pan and then chill or freeze the cookie dough. You want to chill the cooie dough for at least one hour but 3-4 hours is even better.
Hint: Scoop all of the cookie dough onto a quarter sheet pan and freeze it. Once the cookie dough is frozen, move it to a freezer bag. Label and store for future cookie cravings.
🍪 How to Freeze Cookie Dough
Freezing Cookie Dough
It's really nice to have some cookie dough stored in the freezer. If you scoop your cookie dough right away, you can place it on a parchment lined quarter sheet pan and move it to the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, move the balls to a large, freezer safe ziplock bag. Mark the bag with the recipe name, date you made the dough and the baking temperature and time. Pull this bag from the freezer and bake fresh cookies anytime you are in the mood for them.
Baking Frozen Cookie Dough
When baking frozen cookie dough, you will need to add an additional 1-2 minutes to the baking time. When you are ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375° and line a half sheet pan with parchment paper. Place the frozen balls of dough onto your pan about 2-3 inches apart. You can leave the dough to thaw just a bit while your oven is preheating.
Bake frozen cookie dough for 10-12 minutes. I like to start checking cookies at the minimum time suggested. If they are not ready, I add a minute and check again. Follow this process until you have those golden brown edges and lightly browned middles.
⭐️ Recipe FAQs About Baking Cookies
Yes! Absolutely you can! Read all of the details, tips and tricks right up above and learn how to freeze cookie dough like a pro!
Each cookie recipe is created differently and some require chill time. Chilling your dough helps to create a cookie that doesn't spread too much in the oven and also helps to create a cookie with a chewy center and crisp, buttery edges.
📦 Storage
Store baked cookies in an airtight container for 1-3 days.
Related Recipes
Love this recipe? We'd love to hear about it! Leave us a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating at the top of the recipe card! We read, respond to and appreciate all of your comments so don't forget to leave a comment below. We love hearing feedback from our readers!
We love connecting with all of you on social media. Head over and follow along @instagram @facebook or @pinterest
📖 Recipe
Want to Save This Recipe?
Enter your email & I'll send it to your inbox. Plus, get great new recipes from me every week!
By submitting this form, you consent to receive emails from Maple and Thyme.
Chewy Brown Butter M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter browned and cooled
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups (260g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup milk chocolate chips
- ¾ cup m&ms divided (use ½ cup for the cookie dough and ¼ cup for the tops of the cookies after baking)
Instructions
For the Brown Butter
- Place butter in a small sauce pan and cook over medium heat until the butter becomes bubbly, fragrant and nutty smelling - swirl and stir as needed
- Watch closely for small brown bits to begin forming on the bottom of the pan - this will happen around 5 minutes
- As soon as you begin to see brown bits in the butter, remove the butter from the heat
- Transfer butter to your mixing bowl and allow to cool for a few minutes before proceeding with the recipe
For the Cookies
- Add your sugars to the large mixing bowl with the cooled brown butter and whisk until nice and fluffy.
- Whisk in the eggs and vanilla. Allow the batter to rest for a minute or two.
- Whisk in the salt and allow the batter to rest for an additional minute or two. Whisk one more time before adding the dry ingredients.
- Fold in the dry ingredients.
- Add the milk chocolate chips and ½ cup of the M&Ms to the cookie dough. Fold gently until the add-ins are all well distributed through the dough.
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl and cover the finished dough with plastic wrap and transfer to the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Preheat the oven to 375°. Arrange the cookie dough on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Bake cookies for 9-10 minutes. The edges will be golden brown and the middles should just start to brown lightly.
- Immediately after removing cookies from the oven, add additional M&M candies to the top of each cookie. Push down gently so that the M&Ms sink into the cookies a bit.
- For best results, allow cookies to cool on the sheet pan for 5-6 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Tried This Recipe? Leave a Comment for Us!