M & M's Cookies

The cake mix cookie hack that actually delivers. Yellow cake mix gives these M&M cookies a soft, pillowy texture you don’t get from a standard butter-sugar-flour dough. Four main ingredients, one bowl, and about 20 minutes start to finish.

The batter is thick and sticky. Cake mix, eggs, oil, and a splash of water create a dough that’s looser than traditional cookie dough but firms up in the oven. The short bake time is key here. Pull them when they still look slightly underdone in the center. They’ll set up as they cool on the sheet and stay chewy instead of turning crunchy.

A generous amount of M&M’s gets folded right into the batter so every cookie is packed with color and that satisfying candy shell crunch.

Chef Tips

• Don’t overbake. Six to eight minutes is all they need. If the edges are just barely golden, they’re done. The centers will look soft and that’s exactly right.
• Press a few extra M&M’s onto the tops of the dough balls before baking for a prettier cookie with visible candy on top.
• Let them cool on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes. They’re too soft to move right out of the oven.
• Use regular M&M’s, not peanut or peanut butter. The regular ones hold their shape better in the thin cookies.

Variations

• Add coconut flakes and chopped nuts for a loaded tropical version.
• Use chocolate cake mix instead of yellow for double chocolate M&M cookies.
• Swap M&M’s for Reese’s Pieces for a peanut butter candy twist.