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.
I went to the grocery store to get some mini MnM’s just the regular ones because Im boring like that ;) and they were $5.99! HOLY, so instead I bought mini reeces pieces ($3.99) and Im pretty excited about it! They are in the oven as I type!
Hi, im waiting to see how mine turn out!! i used pumpkin spice latte m&ms and just kinda stirred anything together and made sure all the lumps were out :)
The bars are so versatile with almost any kind of add-in being able to be accommodated. I’m sure the PSL M&Ms will be great in them!
The guys I work with love cookie days and with summer being busy I love the shortcut of bars over cookies. I was in the mood for something “M&M-ish” and having such success with your snickerdoodle bars that put this recipe on the top of the list for me. Needing to make enough for 20 guys I often have to make 2 batches, so I was really happy to read through the comments to find success with doubling the batch.
While I rarely comment, I had to tell you what a huge hit these were! I doubled the batch, used a 9×13″ pan and baked for 28 min and ended up with 32 squares. Complete perfection! Thank you so much. You’ve made baking fun for me (and for my taste testers)!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you with doubling the recipe and glad the guys at work loved them! Thanks for the wonderful compliments – I appreciate that!
I doubled the recipe and put them in a 13×9 pan and they came out great. In fact I made 3 pans!
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and that doubling it worked great!
These look delicious but I need to make them for a crowd. Do you think I could double the recipe to an 8×13 pan?
Thank you
Probably will be fine but haven’t personally tried so can’t guarantee, but probably ok.
I had a problem getting these to bake, I had to cook them for 45 minutes at 350. They were not light but very dense and greasy. Maybe the foil was a problem with the spray? I have never used that combination baking anything before.
Are you sure your oven is working totally normally and is calibrated? Baking times do vary but 45 minutes is a long time for this recipe. I’ve made this blondie base hundreds of times over the years https://www.averiecooks.com/tag/blondies-2 and know it’s a very solid base. Probably the most well-tested base I have on my site. So….maybe for you, don’t line with foil? I do it b/c it saves tons of time with cleanup and you can just lift the whole thing out using the foil so for me it’s great. I have a feeling though that something is going on with your oven or possibly you under measured the flour? They are a dense bar and buttery, but not greasy. Thanks for trying the recipe and I wish I could pinpoint where the trouble came in for you.
Just made these bars and they were pretty chocolatey so it tasted okay, but mine burnt. :(
I baked it for 26 minutes and 350 degrees, because first when I checked at 24 mins it didn’t look done. I didn’t melt the butter so that it was completely liquify/clear-ish color, I’d say I melted it for about 30 seconds. Could this be why? Also, it tasted a little too bready-like/like dough or flour? Do you know why this happened? I followed the recipe as is..maybe I over mixed the flour? I’d like to try this again and hopefully it will go better next time!
All ovens, pan, climates, etc. vary and so you have to really watch your item in your oven and conditions.
Next, you didn’t melt the butter fully and YES that will absolutely impact results in this recipe! It will cause the batter to be drier in general, and cook quicker, and likely this is why it tasted a bit flour-ey. I have made this blondie base recipe hundreds (not exaggerating) of times over the years with a million different adaptations and it’s a keeper and easy, but you just need to follow the recipe fully next time and you’ll be all set.
Also don’t hard-pack and use a heavy hand with flour; most people over-measure their flour. Just something to keep in mind for the future.
Averie, you’ve done it again! My family thinks I’m a rock star pastry chef because of you! :) It’s rare that a bag of M&Ms lasts long enough at my house to actually permit cookie-making, so that in itself was something. I love this blondie base. I used the regular candies, and these turned out gooey and YUM. The 8X8 pan was gone in a day–my 4 boys (1 adult and 3 preteens) fought over the last piece. Thanks, Averie.
Thanks for trying the recipe and I’m glad it came out great for you and I’m actually surprised that it lasted 4 days with 4 teen boys in the house! That’s actually impressive :) And glad you look like a rock star pastry chef!!
Every single shot above made my jaw drop further. I want to try every single cookie, brownie and “cookie pie” on this page. Time to buy some ingredients I think.
Looks so good! You can’t deny, M&Ms are so much more exciting to look at in cookies, and taste even better! Thanks for all the great M&M ideas!
I love everything about these bars! I didn’t realize I needed them until now. It’s like you read my mind and combined my favorites in a way that is easier than making individual cookies! I’m both thrilled and freaked out at the same time.☺
OMG! I LOVE THIS SO MUCH! THE PICTURES ARE REALLY MAKING ME RECONSIDER MY DIET!
Oh serendipity! I saw this at 5:15 this morning. Yum! I should make these some day. Flash forward 1 hour as I turn into the candy aisle as I grocery shop…bam! Pastel/Easter m&m on sale $1.69 a bag (not the $3.69)…oh yes! Thank you universe for speaking so loudly. They’re in the oven and I have 25 minutes of sun time (it’s going to be 70 today…yay). Thanks for the recipe and bringing all the pieces together today! *grin*
Thanks for trying the recipe with your very serendipitous pastel candies that were on sale that you scored (love those kind of finds!!)
Enjoy the bars!
These look delicious!
Lorna | http://www.studsanddreams.com xx
These cookie bars are so amazingly fun to look at & I bet even better to taste!!
I always love coming and checking out your recipes. I feel comforted just looking at these m&m blondies :)