I’m super excited to share these delicious M&M’S Christmas Cookie Bars! The recipe is really, really good and perfect for holiday baking. These are easy to make and packed with chocolate, yum!
The texture of the M&M’S with the mini chocolate chips and white chocolate chips is so good. Perfect for a party or holiday gift giving. These make a big 9×13 pan of rich and delicious M&M cookie bars. Depending on how you cut them, they can make 18 bars all the way up to 36 bars.
You can already grab a big bag of Christmas M&M’s for your holiday baking needs!
I initially planned on just baking these with mini chocolate chips and Christmas M&M’S, but after I transferred the cookie dough to the pan, I thought a pop of white chocolate chips would make it look even more festive.
So when I pressed the additional M&M’S and mini chocolate chips onto the top of the cookie dough bars, a trick I always use when making chocolate chip cookies or M&M’s cookies, I added some white chocolate chips too.
These baked up perfectly!
These cookie bars are getting me so excited for Christmas!
Check out my Christmas Sugar Cookie Bars!
- 2 sticks of butter at room temperature
- 1 cup of granulated sugar
- 1 cup of firmly packed golden brown sugar
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups of all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon of baking soda
- 3/4 teaspoon of salt
- 1 1/2 cups of Christmas M&M's plus more for topping
- 1 cup of mini chocolate chips plus more for topping
- 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Line a 9x13 baking dish with foil, leave some overhang to make removal easier.
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Spray foil generously with nonstick cooking spray.
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In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until fluffy.
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Add in eggs and vanilla extract and continue to beat.
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Lower speed of mixer and add flour, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.
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Add M&M's and mini chocolate chips and give a final stir, reserving some M&M's, mini chocolate chips and white chocolate chips for topping cookie bars.
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Transfer cookie dough to prepared baking dish.
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Press additional M&M'S, mini chocolate chips and white chocolate chips into top of cookie dough.
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Bake 35 to 40 minutes on oven rack in lower third of oven to prevent over browning.
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Let cool completely and cut.
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Erlene Amat
November 29, 2016 at 12:48 pmThis recipe looks so festive and delicious! I wanted to let you know that I include this in a holiday recipe round-up with a link back. If not acceptable, please let me know.
Andi
December 4, 2018 at 4:32 amCan u use parchment paper instead of foil ? Andi
Melissa
December 4, 2018 at 10:10 amThat should be fine, the cookie dough is pretty thick though so I imagine it will be harder to spread on the parchment paper. The foil is stable in the pan, and parent paper would be loose. I’m sure it would work, just a bit trickier.
mia
December 1, 2016 at 2:35 pmThese cookie bars look so good! If i don’t have a mixer, can I still make it if I mix it by hand?
Melissa
December 8, 2016 at 6:28 pmSure, but that would be a lot of dough to mix by hand! Maybe a hand mixer would work better for you!
Mariam
December 3, 2016 at 10:43 amCan these be frozenm
Melissa
December 8, 2016 at 6:27 pmI haven’t tried it yet, but it’s just cookie dough so I don’t see any reason not to!
Tash
December 8, 2016 at 1:22 amHi,
I’m in Australia and keen to make this for my sons daycare teachers for Christmas. Can you please tell me how much a stick of butter is in weight.
Thanks x
Melissa
December 8, 2016 at 6:26 pmI found this on Nigella’s website. Hope it helps!
https://www.nigella.com/ask/what-is-a-stick-of-butter
Mel
December 10, 2016 at 5:34 pm1 stick of butter is 113 grams 🙂
Megan
December 8, 2016 at 5:28 pmDelicious! Making these for the second time right now. Thanks for sharing!
Melissa
December 8, 2016 at 6:24 pmAwesome! Thanks, Megan!
Emily
December 9, 2016 at 7:47 amLove these! Found them to have a bit too much chocolate for us but we will just put a bit less next time! the best cookies bars so far.
Lisa
December 10, 2016 at 1:03 pmCan I use the dough to make cookies? Thank you
Melissa
December 24, 2016 at 1:43 pmI haven’t tried, so I’m not sure. The dough is pretty soft so I suspect they would spread too much.
Meg
December 11, 2016 at 12:02 pmI found that my cookies were getting too brown too fast. So after about 20 minutes of baking I covered the whole pan with foil and finished baking them. That seemed to work out! Very yummy and festive.
Sharon
December 12, 2016 at 1:30 pmThese are so cute. I had seen holiday M and Ms but couldn’t think of what to do with them. Great idea.
Bobbi
December 13, 2016 at 7:23 pmWill these hold up just like cookies in an air tight container? Was going to slice & store just like my regular cookies.
Melissa
December 14, 2016 at 9:56 amYes! Air tight container is perfect!
Mary
December 15, 2016 at 12:44 pmThese are delicious!!!!
Tayla
December 16, 2016 at 4:00 amWould these hold their shape if i used a cookie cutter on after baking? I want to cut them into heart shapes or is it too crumbly?
Melissa
December 24, 2016 at 1:45 pmI haven’t tried using a cookie cutter. Please let me know if you try it!
Kelly
December 19, 2016 at 6:07 amMade these and they are delicious, but are you sure you only used a 9×13 pan? Mine came out 2 & 1/2 inch thick! Had to re-bake the middle. Will definitely make again!
Melissa
December 24, 2016 at 1:37 pmHi Kelly!
I used a standard sized 9×13 glass Pyrex dish.Thank you!
Amanda
December 20, 2016 at 4:25 pmThese are so delicious! I couldn’t find the holiday M&Ms so I just used the holiday chocolate chips instead, and they still came out great. My students couldn’t get enough of them!
Christiane Mulholland
December 23, 2016 at 3:11 pmI baked 6 batches of these and NONE of them came out right. I followed the recipe EXACTLY each time, aside from having to bake them for 65+ minutes instead of 35 minutes and the middles still came out raw. I have. O idea what I’m doing wrong.
Melissa
December 24, 2016 at 1:41 pmHi Christiane!
What kind of pan are you using? Another reader was using a disposable pan and was having issues with it baking unevenly. I recommend a glass 9×13 baking dish for best results. Hope that helps!
Courtney
February 5, 2017 at 12:45 pmI am having the same problem- with a brand new oven. Frustrating!
Jessica
December 24, 2016 at 8:16 amDo you use unsalted or salted butter?
Melissa
December 24, 2016 at 1:39 pmHi Jessica,
I generally use salted because that’s what I have on hand, but I’ve used both kinds of butter in this recipe and they both worked fine.
Thrai
December 28, 2016 at 5:18 pmI can’t wait to make them!! I wanted to know if they would still taste as great if I made them ahead of time and seal them up?
Melissa
December 30, 2016 at 2:10 pmThey can be stored just like freshly baked cookies!
Amy
December 28, 2016 at 11:42 pmSome butter sticks are only a half a cup while others are a full cup. I was wondering for this recipe do I use 2-1 cup sticks or 2- 1/2 cup sticks? Thank you.
Melissa
December 30, 2016 at 2:09 pmTwo 1/2 cup sticks. A total of one cup of softened butter.
Courtney
February 5, 2017 at 12:43 pmI tried baking these twice in a corningware dish and it came out like chocolate soup both times… I doubled the cooking time and still no luck. Disappointed
Melissa
February 8, 2017 at 10:39 amI’m sorry you are having trouble. Are you making any substitutions? If not, I would double check the ingredients. Is your cookie dough before baking thick like the one pictured?
Jenelle
November 8, 2018 at 12:22 pmDo you have to use aluminum foil in the baking dish? Could you use nothing at all or parchment paper?
Brittany
November 8, 2018 at 2:49 pmThese look so yummy!! I am thinking of shipping these to my family for Christmas. Just curious if you thought these would ship well? I plan on making them on a Sunday and shipping them Monday.
nicole
November 27, 2018 at 1:24 pmHas anyone tried these gluten free yet? If so, how did it turn out?
Sarah
December 3, 2018 at 1:43 pmCan you make the dough ahead of time and let sit to room temp before baking? I have to do things in steps to optimize my time.
Melissa
December 4, 2018 at 10:11 amFor sure! That’s a great time saver!
SYD
December 5, 2018 at 2:04 pmYum!!!!
Shanna E
December 5, 2018 at 2:08 pmI made these with a Thanksgiving twist using Reese’s Pieces and they turned out delicious! I always love the recipes this blog releases!
Melissa
December 5, 2018 at 7:16 pmSounds so good! Thank you, Shanna!
Hernando Mondragon
December 5, 2018 at 2:12 pmSo good!
Ginger Wejmar
December 5, 2018 at 2:22 pmThese are so delish!!!
Mindy Stevens
December 6, 2018 at 5:15 pmI made the 4th of July ones, and they were a hit. I plan on making these for Christmas too!!
Jill
December 16, 2018 at 6:11 amWill these get stale if they are baked a week ahead of serving them? I’m not sure if they keep more like a cookie or more like a brownie. Thanks!
Susie
December 17, 2018 at 4:03 amCan you just grease the pan instead of lining it with foil and cut them out like you would a brownie?
Amber Hatfield
December 17, 2018 at 9:19 pmI’m not sure why so many people are having issues. This is just your basic cookie dough recipe with a bit more flour and eggs…maybe chec your oven temperature with a thermometer.lb I have found that’s usually the issue.
Kathy
December 20, 2018 at 6:19 amI’m traveling over the holidays and want to freeze these after baking. Has anyone tried this?
Dianna
December 22, 2018 at 6:24 pmIs the dough supposed to be sticky. It was hard to spread and stuck to the wooden spoon.
Thanks
Dianna