St. Patrick’s Day is just around the corner, and what better way to celebrate than with these Lucky St. Patrick’s Day M&M Cookies with Pepitas? These chewy and crunchy cookies are a delightful combination of green Milk Chocolate M&M’s, miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips, and nutty roasted salted pepitas. Topped with green Peanut M&M’s for an extra pop of color and crunch, these festive and delicious cookies are sure to be a hit at any St. Patrick’s Day gathering and are the perfect way to spread some lucky holiday cheer.
And here we go again with yet another cookie recipe from my leftover stash of red and green seasonal M&M’s. There’s nothing I love more than buying holiday M&M’s on clearance, sorting them by color, and using them in recipes throughout the year. Since I had some green Milk Chocolate M&M’s leftover from these Chocolate Chip Cookie Blondies with M&M’s, as well as some green Peanut M&M’s leftover from these Chocolate Chunk Cookies with Peanut M&M’s, I decided to bake a batch of cookies for St. Patrick’s Day and free up some space in my “baking jar” before things could get too crowded. I have a bad habit of buying cookie add-ins and then forgetting to use them before the date on the packaging expires. No matter how hard I try to use everything, the jar always seems to be overflowing. Thanks to this cookie recipe, I was able to fit our new Easter M&M’s in the jar, which means that I’ll be baking yet another batch of cookies with festive M&M’s in the next few weeks. Thank goodness I absolutely adore M&M’s, otherwise we might have a serious problem. Serving friends pastel-colored M&M’s in the middle of summer would certainly earn me a few judging glances. P.S. If you don’t have a “baking jar” where you stash leftover holiday cookie add-ins, feel free to use a plain ol’ bag of Milk Chocolate M&M’s and a plain ol’ bag of Peanut M&M’s for this recipe. Unlike some of my friends, I won’t send any judging glances your way.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 3/4 Cup Roasted Salted Pepitas
- 1/2 Cup Green Milk Chocolate M&M’s
- 1/4 Cup Miniature Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Green Peanut M&M’s
Directions:
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Add the egg; mix on medium speed for 1 minute.
- Add the vanilla; mix on medium speed for 1 minute.
- Add the cornstarch, baking soda, and salt; mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
- Slowly add the flour while mixing on low speed. Mix until just incorporated.
- Stir the roasted salted pepitas, Milk Chocolate M&M’s, and miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips into the cookie dough with a silicone spatula.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 12 cookies out onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes. The cookies should no longer appear wet on top and will just be starting to lightly brown around their edges. Immediately after you remove the cookies from the oven, press 3 Peanut M&M’s into each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
Suggestions:
- Mix the cookie dough batter before preheating the oven. This will allow the dough time to rest while the oven is preheating.
- I used green M&M’s in this recipe because I had some still hanging around from Christmas and thought they would look festive for St. Patrick’s Day. Feel free to use whichever M&M’s you have on hand. You can purchase green M&M’s online or stock up around the holidays. Sort the red and green M&M’s and use the red ones for Valentine’s Day and the green ones for St. Patrick’s Day.
- You can usually find roasted salted pepitas in the produce section of your market alongside the pre-shelled nuts and dried fruits. If you can’t find the salted variety, go ahead and use the unsalted variety. Just make sure to add an additional 1/4 teaspoon of kosher salt to the cookie dough.
- Pressing the Peanut M&M’s into the tops of the cookies after you remove them from the oven, helps to give the cookies a bumpy and more desirable appearance. It also helps to keep the candy coating from melting while baking.
- As soon as the cookies have cooled, store them in an airtight container.
- This recipe will yield approximately 3 1/2 dozen cookies. The number of cookies you end up with will depend on how large you make each cookie.
Improvements:
- Add 1/2 cup of peanut butter chips to the cookie dough.
- Not a fan of peanuts? Add chopped pecans or walnuts to the cookie dough or top the cookies with additional Milk Chocolate M&M’s.
- CLICK HERE to check out all of our past cookie recipes. Don’t forget to check out our St. Patrick’s Day section.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup Unsalted Butter, Softened
- 1 Cup Light Brown Sugar, Packed
- 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Egg
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 1 Tablespoon Cornstarch
- 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
- 1/4 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 2 1/2 Cups All-Purpose Flour
- 3/4 Cup Roasted Salted Pepitas
- 1/2 Cup Green Milk Chocolate M&M's
- 1/4 Cup Miniature Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
- Green Peanut M&M's
Directions:
- In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugars together on medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Add the egg; mix on medium speed for 1 minute.
- Add the vanilla; mix on medium speed for 1 minute.
- Add the cornstarch, baking soda, and salt; mix on medium speed for 30 seconds.
- Slowly add the flour while mixing on low speed. Mix until just incorporated.
- Stir the roasted salted pepitas, Milk Chocolate M&M's, and miniature semi-sweet chocolate chips into the cookie dough with a silicone spatula.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop 12 cookies out onto a Silpat or parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes. The cookies should no longer appear wet on top and will just be starting to lightly brown around their edges. Immediately after you remove the cookies from the oven, press 3 Peanut M&M's into each cookie. Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before removing them to a baking rack to finish cooling completely. Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
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