The SOFTEST Peanut Butter Cookies. They melt in your mouth and are exploding with peanut butter flavor!
In 100% complete seriousness, I’d like to crown these cookies the most perfect cookie I’ve ever made. That’s high praise for an innocent little peanut butter cookie! They easily take the cake for tastiest, fluffiest, chewiest, and peanut buttery-est cookie I’ve ever had.
Loaded with M&Ms for any holiday, these soft cookies are a year-round festive treat. My coworkers GOBBLED them up in minutes, even asking me if they were from a bakery.
The cookies are nothing like the traditional hard, crunchy peanut butter cookies you are used to. The exact opposite, in fact. They are so soft that they will literally melt in your mouth. A peanut butter cookie recipe GOLDMINE.
What I love most about these cookies is just how easy the recipe is. I’ve made them so many times and they never disappoint.
And if you’re looking for a regular version that is equally impressive, my flagship recipe for peanut butter cookies is for you. And be sure to try my peanut butter chocolate chip cookies next!
Enjoy! ๐
More M&M Treats
- M&M Cookie Bars
- Mini M&M Cookies
- Soft-Baked M&M Cookies
- M&M Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie
- One Giant Monster Cookie
Peanut Butter M&M Cookies
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 30 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes
- Yield: 32 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
The SOFTEST Peanut Butter Cookies. They melt in your mouth and are exploding with peanut butter flavor!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) salted butter, softened to room temperature*
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 cup (185g) creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/4 cups (156g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 and 1/2 cups (300g) mini M&Ms
Instructions
- In a large bowl, using a handheld mixer or stand mixer with paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed. Mix in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla (in that order). Slowly mix in the baking soda and flour. Do not overmix. Fold in the M&Ms with a wooden spoon. Chill the dough for at least 1-2 hours and up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Drop chilled dough by scant tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. I pressed a few M&Ms on top of the dough balls. Press the balls down (only slightly) since they won’t spread much while baking. Bake for 11-12 minutes. Cookies will be soft and may appear undone. They will firm up as they cool.
- Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Enjoy!
Notes
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Wooden Spoon | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- Butter: You may use unsalted butter in this recipe. If so, add 1/4 tsp salt with the flour.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking success tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Does it matter whether I use natural or regular peanut butter?
Hi Emi, for best taste and texture, we recommend a creamy processed peanut butter like Skippy or Jif.
You might want to suggest that this dough be tightly covered or wrapped during its “chilling” period. Refrigerators can seriously desiccate their contents. The writer with the dry, crumbly dough may have experienced this.
Can I use Crunchy Peanut butter?
Hi Aims! Creamy peanut butter is really best for these cookies.
I replaced the mini m&ms with peanut butter m&ms. They were way good.
These taste great, but I feel like I did something wrong and I can’t figure out what. I’ve re-read the recipe several times and I’m pretty sure I followed it to the letter. I triple-checked the ingredient amounts; I chilled the dough for an hour and a half; I mixed until the flour was barely incorporated so the dough wouldn’t be overmixed.
1 1/2 cups of mini M&Ms feels like way too much–my cookies seem like they’re more M&M than cookie dough. The cookies also turned out really small and I got more than the recipe called for–about 40 cookies, and that was after I started making them rounded tablespoon-size instead of scant-tablespoons on my third tray because the first two turned out so small. They don’t look like the ones in the picture, either; they’re more like little lumps of cookie than cookie-shaped–which, again, is fine, they taste good and have a nice texture–it’s just funny because I almost always have the opposite problem with cookie recipes from this site, where they spread too much instead of puffing up.
If I make these again, I’ll probably reduce the M&Ms to one cup and make the cookies bigger, but if you have any ideas as to where I might have gone wrong this time, I’d appreciate the help!
Hi Ellie, thank you for giving these cookies a try! It sounds like the cookies may have a bit too much flour in them, which is causing them to stay in a ball shape rather than flatten. Be sure to spoon and level your flour (or use a food scale) to ensure just the right amount of flour in your dough. You can also certainly cut back on the M&Ms if you wish. If you have troubles with cookies not spreading in the future, we have a few troubleshooting tips in this post — see section titled “What if my cookies AREN’T spreading?” Hope these tips are helpful for next time!
The best recipe. I always love all your recipes.
You had a recipe for PB cookies with PB M&M and pretzels – can you share again?
Hi Gracie, we removed that older recipe from our site, but if you send us an email at sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com, we’d be happy to share a copy with you. Thank you!
If I only have UNsalted butter on hand, how much salt could I add to help balance the dough? Thank you!
Hi Cassie, add 1/4 tsp salt with the flour.
Hello was wondering if I could also put peanuts in with mixture.
Yes, absolutely! We would keep the total amount of add-ins to 1 and 1/2 cups, so you can reduce the m&ms to make room for peanuts (you may want to roughly chop them).
I made these cookies with my mom and I’m waiting for them to cool down after baking I wanted to give some to my grandpa who is here
This may be a dumb question but if Iโd like to form the balls then freeze them do I still need to chill the dough for 1-2 hours first or can I form them right after mixing? I know you said you can bake frozen dough balls just by adding an extra minute. Thank you!
Hi Kristin! We prefer to chill the dough before rolling balls just because the dough can be a bit sticky to work with. But you can go ahead and roll the dough, then freeze without chilling if you don’t mind the sticky dough!
My dough is in the fridge right now, but I do wonder what would happen if I baked them without chilling the dough first. Iโm impatient!
Hi Darlene, without chilling the dough, the cookies will spread too much in the oven and result in flat cookies. It’s worth the wait!
These cookies are soooo good and they are my moms favorite!
If I’m going to bake I always use your recipes! how about making these w normal chocolate chips? Any reason I shouldn’t try this? Thanks!
Chocolate chips will be fantastic in these cookies, Bethany – enjoy!
Wow! Made these cookies on a whim when looking for recipes to use with peanut butter m&mโs. I donโt normally like PB cookies or do I leave a review but these are amazing! They were even better the day after. I was a little worried because the cold dough was a little dry, especially toward the end of scooping. I tried one pan where we pushed them flat as we stuck m&mโs on and another one where I left them as rounded as possible. Round ones were better, I think. A little crumbly when they first come out but as they cook, they firm up into a cakey kind of cookie (well, as cakey as you can get with a PB cookie). This recipe is definitely a keeper. Thanks!
Hi Sally can I send these P. and M&M cookies in the mail?
Sure can! This is the Best Way to Ship Cookies.
Just found out a dear relative is gluten-free. Can this recipe work gluten free using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free 1 to 1 Baking Flour?
Thanks
Hi Marjorie, I haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flour but please let me know if you do!
Hi Sally! Wow these look fantastic. Iโm making cookies for Christmas and trying to do as much ahead of time as possible. Do the baked cookies freeze well? Thank you for the delicious bakes!
Yes! Bake, cool, then freeze for up to 3 months. You can thaw at room temperature.
Thank you so much!
Hi Sally, what do you think of using peanut butter filled m&m’s? I have some on hand so I thought I would try put i’m worried they might turn out too gooey. Any suggestions?
Thanks!!
Hi Emily! They won’t be too gooey at all. The PB M&Ms are rather large, so feel free to chop them before adding to the cookie dough.
I tried this recipe with peanut butter m&ms because thatโs all I had and they turned out great! Not too big at allโ
Hi Sally! Just discovered your website! Can I freeze this dough? I like to have cookies ready to treat my toddler.
If yes, what is your suggestion for thawing?
Sorry, I meant to say “I like to have cookie dough ready to treat my toddler!”
Yes – you can freeze the individual dough balls so that you can just pop them out of the freezer and bake a few at a time. No need to thaw – just add an extra minute to the bake time!
Hi Sally, I’m a huge fan of your cookies and long-time follower! Question regarding chill time– if I need to make these cookies 1 day in advance, is it okay to chill the dough overnight? Would you recommend I let the dough come back to room temperature before baking? Thank you!
Thank you, Mallory! Yes, you can shills the dough overnight. If it is too hard to scoop you can leave it out at room temperature for about a half hour.
Is it alright if I halve this? Would I need to alter baking times or temp? Thank you!
You can halve this without any alterations!
I made these with red, white and blue M&Ms, for Veteran’s Day. I did add about 2 tbs of cookie butter, as it finished off the jar and a handful of mini chocolate chips. Took about 3 dozen to the VFW and when I left, there were only 3 left. Everyone loved them. Thanks, Sally, for another keeper!