Big, Soft Baked Peanut Butter M&M Cookies are a cookie lover’s dream! Classic soft peanut butter cookies combine with chocolate candies in a perfect, jumbo sized cookie that stays super soft with a candy crunch in every bite!
One of my favorite back-to-school tradition is to have milk & cookies ready and waiting when my kids walk in the door at the end of their first day. Particularly these big, soft baked peanut butter M&M cookies that are an all-time favorite. These really are the best peanut butter cookies ever!
What could be more classic than greeting your kids after school with cookies and milk? Some of our other favorites are Glazed Lemon Cookies, Monster Cookies, and White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies.
What You’ll Need
This is just a brief overview about some of the key ingredients. Full for measurements and recipe instructions, be scroll to scroll down to the printable recipe card below.
- Creamy Peanut Butter: I recommend regular peanut butter, not the natural kind that you have to stir before using. We like Skippy or Jif.
- Salted Butter: It might cause some controversy among bakers but I prefer baking with salted butter. If you only have unsalted butter, just add an additional ¼ teaspoon of salt for each ½ cup of butter.
- All-purpose Flour: I always use unbleached all-purpose flour in these cookies for the best results.
- Milk Chocolate M&Ms: These are our favorite and fun to do in seasonal colors when they are available, but you can use other M&M flavors if you prefer.
How to Make Soft Peanut Butter Cookies
- Beat peanut butter and butter until creamy. Whip the heck out of these two until they are smooth and combined, then scrape down the bowl and add both types of sugar, mixing until creamy and light.
- Add eggs and vanilla. Mix these in to the batter until combined, stopping to scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl again.
- Add dry ingredients. Next add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, mixing on low speed just until combined. There shouldn’t be any streaks of flour, but don’t overmix the cookie dough.
- Scoop. Drop scoops of cookie dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper and press a handful of M&M’s into the tops of each cookie before baking. I like to use a larger ¼ cup cookie scoop, but you can make them smaller, if you prefer.
- Bake. Larger cookies will take around 11-12 minutes to bake so that they are set but still very soft. Smaller cookies can bake for a shorter amount of time. The cookies will continue to set and firm up slightly as they cool even though they may look slightly underbaked straight from the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Recipe Tips
- These big, soft peanut butter M&M cookies are also great for holidays because you can easily swap in holiday colored M&M’s for the traditional colors and have an easy Halloween, Christmas, Valentine’s Day or 4th of July treat!
- No M&M’s? Try chocolate chips or chopped Reese’s peanut butter cups instead. Or roll the balls of cookie dough in crushed Oreo cookies!
- You could also roll each cookie into balls to create a smooth finish on your cookie, if you like. Or make them smaller and roll in sugar, then press down lightly with a fork to make a criss-cross grid pattern like traditional peanut butter cookies.
Storage Instructions
Keep any uneaten cookies in an airtight container on the counter for up to 5 days. They also freeze well for up to 2 months.
More of the Best Cookie Recipes Everybody Loves
- The BEST Soft & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Peanut Butter No Bake Cookies
- The Best Snickerdoodle Cookies Recipe
- Soft & Chewy Molasses Cookies
- Best Fudgy Chewy Chocolate Brownie Cookies
- Best Soft & Chewy M&M Cookies
- Toffee Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Double Lemon Glazed Cookies
- Soft Funfetti Whoopie Pies
Did you make this recipe?
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Big, Soft Baked Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 1 cup salted butter softened
- 1 1/2 cups (150g) light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups (353g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup milk chocolate M&M's
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the peanut butter and softened butter in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 1-2 minutes, until light.1 cup salted butter, 2 cups creamy peanut butter
- Scrape the sides of the bowl using a rubber spatula and add the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Beat for another 1-2 minutes, until light, scraping the sides of the bowl with your spatula as needed.1 ½ cups (150g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- Add the eggs and vanilla and beat well, until everything is completely combined.2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, then mix until combined, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure the cookie dough doesn’t have any streaks of unincorporated ingredients, but taking care not to overmix the dough.2 ½ cups (353g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- Scoop onto the parchment lined baking sheet using a ¼ cup measuring cup or ice cream scoop. Press a handful of M&M's into the top of each cookie – enough so that there will be M&M's in each bite of cookie after baking.1 cup milk chocolate M&M's
- Bake for 11-12 minutes, until set but be sure not to overbake. The cookies will continue to set and firm up slightly as they cool even though they may look slightly underbaked straight from the oven. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Nutrition
Recipe slightly adapted from Mel’s Kitchen Cafe by my sister, Jennie, who decided to take them to the next level by adding M&Ms.
This post was originally shared July 31, 2017. It has been updated with additional helpful information and tips.
These cookies look ahhmazing! I would get into so much trouble with a batch of these! lol
Mmm. I can just picture what these cookies will taste like! I love peanut butter cookies and look forward to making my first batch.
they look so dense, yet so light too.
i need to make these
AND You’ve Got Mail is the best movie ever! I named one of our dogs Brinkley 🙂
I could eat a whole plate of these! Yum!
Now these look amazing! I think I’ll use the m&ms to decorate the top too that way you get one in every bite, so yummy!
These look so good. Peanut butter cookies are a favorite and they are even better with m and m’s .. I just love your little red pitcher too.. sooo cute
Thanks so much! I love that pitcher too – it was a gift from a food blogging friend!
Peanut Butter and M&M’s are two hot favorites,you have combined them together.lovely!
Well homemade cookies are always the best. I just made some no bake cookies with my grandchildren. We used M & M’s too…and I had a hard time getting them into the cookie and not their mouths as they helped.
How colorful!! My nephew, niece (and husband) would be of course all over this. So, it’s not just for kiddies, at the end we grown ups have a bigger sweet tooth, no? Thanks for sharing!
Me and my dad love them.thx