M&M’s Cookie Bars — ❤️💚💙 Soft buttery bars loaded with M&M’s and chocolate chips are a guaranteed hit!! Fast, easy, foolproof, no mixer recipe that’s so much simpler than making cookies!!
Table of Contents
No-Fuss M&M’s Cookie Bars Recipe
The only thing I may possibly like better than soft and chewy M&M’S cookies are cookie bars. Bars are my favorite kitchen shortcut because they’re so fast and easy to make. No dough to chill or individual cookies to form.
For these very soft, slightly chewy, buttery cookie bars that are loaded with M&M’s and chocolate chips, I called upon my trusty blondie base.
When I want an easy, fuss-free, one-bowl, no-mixer recipe that I know everyone will love, it’s my go-to. With 25+ versions and counting, it never lets me down.
I loved the texture contrast of the soft bars, with gooey chocolate chips, and the Crispy M&M’s that stay crispy even after being baked. My family’s eyes lit up when they saw these M&M’s bars, and they sure didn’t last long.
These are now my family’s favorite!!! I did not put as much chocolate in them – only a cup of M&Ms or a cup of semi sweet chocolate chips because my son is not a huge chocolate fan but the result was the same – AMAZING!!!. I love that it only makes a small batch and cooks evenly. Thank you!!! — Jennifer Kraemer
Ingredients for M&M’s Cookie Bars
To make these easy bar cookies, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Egg
- Light brown sugar
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Crispy M&M’s
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make M&M’s Cookie Bars
Making cookie bars with M&M’s is SO quick and easy! Here are the basic recipe steps:
- Melt the butter, then whisk in the egg, brown sugar, and vanilla.
- Stir in the dry ingredients, then gently fold in the chocolate chips and M&M’s.
- Turn the batter into a foil-lined 8×8-inch baking dish and bake until done.
- Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving.
Baking Tip
Note that I always bake with metal pans and line them with foil for easier cleanup. If baking with a glass pan, your bars may turn out slightly different from mine.
Recipe FAQs
These M&M’s bar cookies will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
You should be able to, yes. However, some readers who have tried doubling this recipe have said their cookie bars have turned out too greasy. If that happens to you, I recommend scaling back the amount of butter to 1 1/2 sticks total and seeing how that works out for you.
I stirred in 1 cup of the new Crispy M&M’s, but anything from Dark to Pretzel to Peanut Butter M&M’s would be wonderful. M&M’S has a Pinterest page where you can check out new recipes for baking inspiration.
Yes, you can add different mix-ins besides chocolate chips, if desired. Chopped nuts and dried fruit would both be good additions!
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Chocolate Chip M&M’S Cookie Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, 1 stick, melted
- 1 large egg
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 cup Crispy M&M’s, or your favorite M&M’s like Dark, Pretzel, Peanut Butter, plus more for sprinkling
- ¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
- In a large, microwave-safe bowl melt the butter, about 1 minute on high power.
- Wait momentarily before adding the egg so you don’t scramble it. Add the egg, brown sugar, vanilla, and whisk until smooth.
- Add the flour, salt, and stir until just combined, don’t overmix.
- Stir in the M&M’s and chocolate chips.
- Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula.
- If desired, evenly sprinkle about 1 tablespoon each of M&M’S and chocolate chips for an extra visual pop, tapping them down lightly with your fingertip.
- Bake for about 25 to 28 minutes (I baked 26 minutes), or until done. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean, or with a few moist crumbs, but no batter. Bars firm up as they cool.
- Allow bars to cool in pan for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More M&M’s Dessert Recipes:
Loaded M&M Oreo Cookie Bars – Stuffed to the max with M&Ms and Oreos! Easy, no-mixer recipe that’s ready in 30 minutes. Always a hit! On the cover of Taste of Home Magazine and pinned 650K+ times!
Triple Peanut Butter Monster Cookie Bars – Peanut butter is use 3 different ways and baked into bars. Great for pantry odds-and-ends cleanout!
M&M’s Cookies — These bakery-style M&M’s cookies are soft, chewy, buttery, and LOADED with M&M’s and chocolate chips. No one can resist these cookies!
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip M&M’s Cookies — If you’re looking for a new M&M’s cookie recipe, this is THE ONE! Soft, buttery, and irresistible M&M’s Christmas cookies!
Monster Cookies — My recipe for classic monster cookies that are chock full of creamy peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and M&M’s makes both kids and adults reach for just one more cookie!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chex Bars — SO EASY, NO-BAKE, and ready in FIVE minutes!! Chex cereal, pretzels, and M&M’s glued together with peanut butter and marshmallows!! An IRRESISTIBLE salty-sweet combination!!
Post is brought to you by M&M’S. The recipe, images, text, and opinions expressed are my own.
This recipe is OMG delicious! Definitely on my Christmas cookie list!
Thank you for sharing!
This recipe is OMG delicious! Definitely on my Christmas cookie list!
Thank you for sharing!
Thanks for the 5 star review and I am glad these were delicious and are making their way to your Christmas cookie list!
Thank you for sharing this easy and delicious recipe.
I had some M&M’s leftover from Christmas that I needed to use up. A search for a recipe led me to yours. I love everything about it; the amount it makes, the simple ingredients and it can be whipped up quickly with minimal dirty dishes.
I will be making more of the recipes you have shared.
Have a blessed day and be safe.
Thank you for sharing this easy and delicious recipe.
I had some M&M’s leftover from Christmas that I needed to use up. A search for a recipe led me to yours. I love everything about it; the amount it makes, the simple ingredients and it can be whipped up quickly with minimal dirty dishes.
I will be making more of the recipes you have shared.
Have a blessed day and be safe.
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these were easy, delish, and you could use up those Christmas M&Ms! Hope you enjoy the future recipes of mine that you try!
Hi. I really love the recipe for your M&M’s choc chip cookie bars and would love to give them a go. My problem is that I live in the UK and I have no clue about the measures for the ingredients as I only have metric measures. I’ve tried to find a conversion chart but every one I’ve found has given different answers! Please could you help as my grandchildren are standing by desperate to be taste testers!
https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart
This is a very reputable flour (baking) company in the US. Perhaps this will help you.
Yet another knockout recipe! I love that the cookie dough itself is super flavorful (I hate when the only thing you taste in cookies / cookie bars are the mix-ins. Like, what’s the point of that??). The bars were incredibly easy to make … so easy in fact that I convinced myself I’d forgotten an ingredient! But I hadn’t, so these came out perfectly! I underbaked mine a tad because I wanted them a bit gooey, I’m thinking the leftovers deserve to be served a la mode :)
Yet another knockout recipe! I love that the cookie dough itself is super flavorful (I hate when the only thing you taste in cookies / cookie bars are the mix-ins. Like, what’s the point of that??). The bars were incredibly easy to make … so easy in fact that I convinced myself I’d forgotten an ingredient! But I hadn’t, so these came out perfectly! I underbaked mine a tad because I wanted them a bit gooey, I’m thinking the leftovers deserve to be served a la mode :)
Thanks for the 5 star review, Claire, and glad these turned out great for you! And yes, so super easy without many ingredients! Gooey is the best way for me!
This is truly the best recipe ever! I have even made it with frozen blueberries. Thank you so much for the recipe!
This is truly the best recipe ever! I have even made it with frozen blueberries. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad it’s the best for you and have even made the bars with frozen blueberries!
Great site!!! Just a quick question please!!! How come you don’t add in either baking powder and/or baking soda?
Thanks so much!!!
It’s not necessary, for me, in this recipe. You can experiment with either if you’d like.
Hi! I recently discovered these and first want to thank you for sharing the recipe! Secondly, I’ve made them twice and unfortunately both times they’ve come out very greasy on the bottom, almost to the point where they feel very undercooked. I’m generally a good baker, so I’m puzzled about what I’m doing wrong. I’ve tried both a glass dish and a metal pan (no foil either time) and have baked about 10 minutes longer than called for. Other recipes come out fine, so I don’t think it’s an issue with my oven. I did double the recipe each time – maybe it’s too much butter when doubled? Any ideas you may have would be appreciated, I’m determined to get this right! Thanks so much! :)
This is odd…hmmm. You could scale back by 2 tbsp on the butter. You could add an extra 1/4 or so cup of flour, that would dry them out, either method.
Normally I would say bake longer but you already did that.
And WAIT I just read down to the part that you doubled the recipe. That is probably the culprit. For whatever reason when doubled, the butter is just too much as written with 2 sticks. I would do 1 1/2 sticks and see how that works next time.
Thank you so much for the quick response! I’ll give that a try next time and I bet that will solve it. Have a blessed day!
These are now my family’s favorite!!! I did not put as much chocolate in them – only a cup of M&Ms or a cup of semi sweet chocolate chips because my son is not a huge chocolate fan but the result was the same – AMAZING!!!. I love that it only makes a small batch and cooks evenly. Thank you!!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these are your family’s favorite!
These are now my family’s favorite!!! I did not put as much chocolate in them – only a cup of M&Ms or a cup of semi sweet chocolate chips because my son is not a huge chocolate fan but the result was the same – AMAZING!!!. I love that it only makes a small batch and cooks evenly. Thank you!!!
I just made these with Red, White and Blue Carmel M&Ms. My children gave them 10 thumbs up! I doubled the recipe and followed the instructions exactly except I only used 1 cup of chocolate chips. Doubling would have required 1 1/2 cups. I also pressed additional M&Ms in the batter once the batter was in the pan. The recipe base is definitely a keeper and I love that I don’t have to wait for butter to soften! Also, I baked the bars 28 minutes. Love!!!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad your kids loved the bars!
I just made these with Red, White and Blue Carmel M&Ms. My children gave them 10 thumbs up! I doubled the recipe and followed the instructions exactly except I only used 1 cup of chocolate chips. Doubling would have required 1 1/2 cups. I also pressed additional M&Ms in the batter once the batter was in the pan. The recipe base is definitely a keeper and I love that I don’t have to wait for butter to soften! Also, I baked the bars 28 minutes. Love!!!
Delicous! They do not need nearly as many chocolate chips as the recipe calls for in my opinion though. I made these once for my class, and ever since I have been known as the class baker! I am now expected to bring them to every class party. These bars are worth your time!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these are always requested!
And yes feel free to cut back on the choc chips quantity if you prefer a bit less.