Vegan M&M Cookies
These vegan M&M cookies are so soft and chewy with the perfect crispy edges, you’ll swear they came from a bakery. This recipe combines the best vegan chocolate chips made even better with colorful vegan chocolate-covered candies.
You may or may not know that vegan M&Ms are not all that common. They are more commercially available these days than ever, so I’m more than a little excited to offer you this vegan M&M cookie recipe.
What Makes This Recipe Shine?
- Combining vegan M&Ms with dairy-free chocolate chips makes an intense chocolate flavor in these cookies
- Using both granulated and brown sugar makes a rich and tender cookie
- Vegan butter creates the perfect buttery flavor, especially when creamed together with sugar.
- Adding chocolate chips and candy pieces to the top of each cookie dough ball (before baking) makes these cookies look as good as they taste!
Key Ingredients
You can find the full printable recipe, including ingredient quantities, below. But first, here are some explanations of ingredients and steps to help you make this recipe perfect every time.
Here are the ingredients you’ll need for this recipe, including substitution ideas:
- Vegan Butter — Use storebought or make your own vegan butter.
- Sugar — We’ll use both granulated sugar and brown sugar (use light, dark, or homemade brown sugar).
- Flax Egg — I prefer a flax egg for this recipe, but you can use a chia egg.
- Cornstarch — We’ll add cornstarch to create soft, chewy cookies. You can substitute arrowroot powder.
- Vanilla extract — This adds a subtle vanilla flavor, but it’s optional or you can substitute a different extract, such as coffee extract.
- Flour — I recommend all-purpose flour, but you can substitute whole wheat pastry flour (different than whole wheat flour).
- Baking soda + baking powder — Make sure yours are fresh by testing baking soda in vinegar or baking powder in hot water. Both should bubble, indicating that they’re fresh.
- Salt — I use simple table salt, or you can use sea salt.
- Chocolate Chips — Choose from the many dairy-free chocolate chips available these days
- Vegan candy-covered chocolates (paid link) — See below for more on vegan M&Ms.
- Cream butter and sugar by adding the butter to a mixing bowl and creaming on medium speed until fluffy. Then add sugars and cream another minute. Add the flax egg and vanilla and mix to combine.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
- Make cookie dough by pouring the flour mixture into the mixing bowl and beat until the dough is combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and vegan candies and then cover and chill in the fridge for 15 to 30 minutes.
- Drop cookie dough balls on a prepared baking sheet and bake in a pre-heated oven for 9 to 10 minutes.
Storage Tips
Store cooled cookies in a lidded container. They will keep at room temperature for 4 to 6 days, in the fridge for up to 10 days, or in the freezer for up to 2 months.
Do M&Ms have Dairy?
To date, there are no vegan M&Ms, which means they are not dairy-free. Even the dark chocolate M&Ms have dairy in them. However, there are other brands available that provide dairy-free candy-coated chocolate.
Marly’s Tips
- This beating process is important. It’s known as mechanical leavening and creates a nice structure for your cookies.
- This recipe is based on my vegan chocolate chip cookies recipe and it’s pretty easy to make.
- Press additional chocolate chips and candy pieces to the top of each cookie dough ball before baking to create a bakery shop look.
Reader Reviews
★★★★★
Greta
These are my new favorite cookies! Thanks for the vegan M&M recommendations!
Vegan M&Ms
It used to be that it was impossible to find vegan M&M’s but not these days! If you’re looking for dairy-free M&Ms I recommend these brands:
- Unreal — this brand offers vegan candy-coated dark chocolate pieces (I used this one for these cookies)
- Little Secrets — they have candy-coated dark chocolate
- NoNo’s — They have vegan candy-coated chocolates.
You can find some of these brands at health food stores or online.
I hope you love these vegan M&M cookies as much as we do!
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Ingredients
- 1 flax egg
- 1 cup vegan butter
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, sift, spoon, and level to measure
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dairy-free chocolate chips
- 1 cup vegan candy-covered chocolates (see post tips for finding these)
Instructions
- Make the flax egg and set it aside.
- Place the butter in a mixing bowl. Use either a handheld or stand mixer on medium speed and beat until light and fluffy. Add the sugars and beat again until light and fluffy. Add the flax egg and vanilla and beat to combine.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir to combine. Pour the flour mixture in with the butter mixture. Stir to combine. Be sure to use the sift, spoon, and level process to measure flour.
- Assess your batter. If it's dry, stir in a tablespoon or two of plant-based milk. If it's too wet, stir in a tablespoon or two of flour. Wet batter can create flat cookies.
- Add the chocolate chips and candy covered chocolates, reserving a few of each to place on the top of each cookie before baking. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge for about an hour.
- Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Use a cookie scoop to drop cookie dough on a prepared cookie sheet. Add a few chocolate chips and candies. Bake for 9 to 10 minutes, until golden brown on the edges. Remove from the oven and cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in a lidded container.
Recommended Equipment
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Notes
Measuring Flour
Use the sift, spoon, and level process to measure flour, otherwise, you risk adding too much flour to the batter, creating a dry batter. To do this, sift the flour (it settles when it sits) to lift it, then spoon it into a measuring cup until it’s higher than the cup’s edges. Then use a butter knife to level it.The nutrition information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator and should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
This post was originally published in 2014 and was updated to include new photos, new text, and an updated recipe in 2021.
These are my new favorie cookies! Thanks for the vegan M&M recommendations!
My favorite cookies and now i can make them vegan friendly. Yes!
I love cookies, and these ones are so cute and colourful. A definite must try.
i love the colors. they look great!
i clicked the link to look at the sunspire dark chocolate drops and the website says they have milk fat in them, so they are not vegan. 🙁
Oh yeah, and they also contain beeswax, also not vegan. maybe they changed the recipe and the ones you got were vegan but it doesn’t look like they are anymore.
These are so pretty!! I love the Candy-Covered Sundrops!!
These look awesome, but unfortunately the sundrops aren’t vegan at all. They contain both milkfat and beeswax. 🙁 (ingredient list at the link provided). I’ve been sending sunspire emails for years asking them to make their sundrops vegan. I’ll still be making these delicious looking cookies, just without the sundrops. Thanks!!
I was wondering if there might be different ingredients in their packaged vs. bulk products. You never know!
These are so fun and I can’t believe they are vegan. Amazing!
I’m with you, Joelen!
Looks delicious and I’m a sucker for anything baked with chocolate!