These soft and chewy Peanut Butter M&M Cookies are melt-in-your-mouth delicious, and bursting with creamy and nutty peanut butter flavor. The M&Ms studded cookies are perfect to enjoy all year round, but especially around the holidays! If you like peanut butter desserts and sweet treats, you’re going to love this recipe!
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Peanut butter has to be my second favorite after chocolate. The creamy, nutty deliciousness is unmatched, and whenever I see a jar, I just can’t help myself.
So, of course, I have a pile of delicious peanut butter dessert recipes here! I’ve experimented with everything from peanut butter fudge and peanut butter stuffed Oreos to pbj French toast and even a peanut butter cup ice cream.
In this recipe peanut butter combines with M&M's for a cookie recipe everyone will love!
Why You’ll Love This Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies Recipe
- Customizable: You can easily change these cookies to your liking!
- Soft and chewy: These cookies have a perfectly soft and chewy inside, and a slightly crispy outside.
- Utterly delicious: The rich, creamy peanut butter flavors shine in every single bite. It’s a treat for your taste buds.
- Easy recipe: The cookies are ridiculously easy to make. No complicated steps and no fancy equipment.
Ingredients
- Peanut butter: Use a good quality peanut butter like Jiff or Skippy. I used creamy peanut butter here, but if you like that bit of chunky texture, feel free to use crunchy peanut butter.
- Sugar: You’ll need a mix of white and brown sugar. Brown sugar lends that beautiful caramel-like flavor and deliciousness.
- Flour: All purpose flour works best.
- Butter: Ideally unsalted butter for that nice bit of flavor.
- Vanilla: For the aroma and natural sweetness. Use pure vanilla extract for the best results.
- Eggs: For the moisture and to add richness and flavor to the cookies.
- Baking soda: To help the cookies rise.
- Toppings: I used M&Ms here. Stick to the chocolate flavored ones if you love chocolate, or use the peanut butter variant if you want a more intense peanut butter flavor.
See the recipe card below for exact ingredient amounts, nutritional information, and detailed instructions.
Variations
- Explore Different Topping: Change up these chewy peanut butter cookies by adding caramel chips, chocolate chips, Reese’s pieces, toffee bits, marshmallows, butterscotch chips, smarties, sprinkles, chocolate-covered caramels and even malt balls.
- Gluten-free: Substitute the all purpose flour in the recipe for gluten-free flour to make gluten-free cookies.
- After Baking Add-Ons: Add a chocolate KISS candy, chocolate-covered caramel, or chocolate peanut butter cup to the center each cookie as soon as they come out of the oven.
How to Make Peanut Butter Cookies with M&Ms
Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees and preparing a baking sheet by lining it with some parchment paper.
Step 1: Cream the butter. Cream the butter, both sugars and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl until you get a smooth, uniform consistency.
Step 2: Mix in the eggs. Add in the eggs and vanilla and give it a quick mix.
Step 3: Add the dry ingredients. Add the flour and baking soda and mix until just combined. Cover up the bowl and chill the dough for at least half an hour, if not longer.
Step 4: Add the M&M's: Add the M&Ms into the cookie dough.
Step 5: Mix it up. Give this a quick mix and portion out the cookie dough and roll into balls approximately 2 inches in diameter.
Step 6: Shape the cookies. Roll each cookie dough ball into some granulated sugar until nicely coated on all sides.
Step 7: Arrange: Place the cookies on a prepared baking sheet, leaving enough space between them to allow the cookies to spread nicely.
Step 8:Bake and cool. Bake the cookies for 18-20 minutes or until the sides appear nice and crispy, but the center still looks just a bit undercooked. Get it out, allow to to cool down and enjoy!
⭐️ Hint: Don't Overbake. The cookies are done when the tops crack and you notice hints of brown around the edges. That's your sign to take them out of the oven. These cookies will look undone, but will firm up as they cool. Do not over bake them.
If you love easy cookie recipes like this one, you may also enjoy these caramel cookie bars, Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, Costco Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe, Kitchen Sink Cookies, Dirt Cake Cookies or this star crunch cookies!
Storage Directions
- Storing: Store your leftover peanut butter cookies with M&Ms in an airtight container at room temperature. They should stay fresh for 5-6 days.
- Reheating: While you can enjoy the cookies at room temperature too, if you prefer them warm, just heat them up for a few seconds in the microwave.
- Freezing: These cookies freeze beautifully! In fact, you can even freeze the raw cookie dough for up to 3 months. Simply scoop the cookie dough into balls on a baking tray lined with parchment paper and freeze them until they’re solid. Then, transfer them to a freezer-safe container or a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. You can bake them straight from the freezer and just add a couple minutes to your baking time.
Serving Suggestions
This chewy peanut butter cookies recipe is my absolute party and all-occasion staple. I love serving these cookies as a snack after a wholesome and hearty fall lunch of pumpkin chili or Dr Pepper glazed ham.
I think they would also be wonderful to follow up after some delicious turkey burger sliders for your next cookout.
These cookies taste fantastic on their own, but if you want to take things further, you can pair them with a nice festive gingerbread dip.
Recipe Tips
- Add More Toppings: One little trick I’ve picked up over the years is to top the cookies with some extra toppings of your choice halfway during the cooking time, after the cookies have spread a bit. Doing this helps the toppings stay on the tops of the cookies.
- Mix Perfectly: Avoid overmixing the cookie dough. Once you add the eggs in, mix just until everything is combined.
- Don’t overbake: The cookies can look just a bit undercooked in the center at the 18-20 minute mark. If the edges start to turn golden brown, it’s the perfect time to remove them from the oven. The center will cook in the residual heat and the cookies will retain that perfect chewy texture you love.
Recipe FAQs
Adding too much flour can make the cookie mixture too dry, and will cause the cookies to fall apart after they’re baked. Make sure you measure the ingredients correctly, and you should have the perfect cookies.
Chilling the dough is a very important step when it comes to baking almost all kinds of cookies. Doing this helps keep the cookies from spreading too thin when they’re in the oven. I wouldn’t recommend skipping this step.
More Delicious Peanut Butter Desserts
If you are like me and always on the lookout for more dessert recipes using peanut butter, I have included some of my favorites below.
How to Make Video
Ready to get cooking? Remember that you can print this recipe if you would like.
Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups peanut butter, smooth or crunchy,
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 cup butter, salted, room temperature
- 2 large eggs
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ cup additional sugar for rolling if desired, you might need a little more or a little less
- 1 cup M&M's, your favorite variety
Instructions
- In a large bowl, using a handheld or stand mixer, cream butter (including peanut butter) and sugars together until light and fluffy.
- Add egg, and then the vanilla. Slowly mix in the baking soda and flour. Do not overmix. Stir in the m&m candies.
- Chill dough for at least an hour.
- When you are ready to bake preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
- Remove dough from fridge and roll into balls. I make little golf balls around 2 inches in diameter. You can make them as big or as small as you would like.
- Spread a thin layer of granulated or raw sugar on a plate and roll each dough ball to evenly coat (if desired). I usually do this and my husband always skips this step.
- These cookies spread so be sure to space them out on your cookie sheet. I usually use parchment paper on an ungreased baking sheet.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes, on your middle rack, if your cookie balls are about 2 inches wide. Leave cookies on your baking sheet for 5-10 minutes and then transfer to a rack to cool.
- Note: No matter what size you decide to make your cookie balls, you will know when they are done because the tops will crack and you might notice a little brown around the edges. That is time to take them out of the oven. These cookies will look undone, but will firm up as they cool. Do not over bake them.
- These cookies will stay fresh and soft in an airtight container for up to 5 or 6 days and freeze beautifully.
Notes
- Add More Toppings: One little trick I’ve picked up over the years is to top the cookies with some extra toppings of your choice halfway during the cooking time, after the cookies have spread a bit. Doing this helps the toppings stay on the tops of the cookies.
- Mix Perfectly: Avoid overmixing the cookie dough. Once you add the eggs in, mix just until everything is combined.
- Don’t overbake: The cookies can look just a bit undercooked in the center at the 18-20 minute mark. If the edges start to turn golden brown, it’s the perfect time to remove them from the oven. The center will cook in the residual heat and the cookies will retain that perfect chewy texture you love.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in December 2018. It has been updated with new content and images.
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