I call these oatmeal M&M cookies my “slow bend cookies.” The centers are so buttery and chewy that they don’t crunch and break when you start to bend them. With hearty oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, a touch of molasses, and extra chocolate candies, there’s something for every cookie lover. Chilling the cookie dough for 30 minutes is an imperative step, so make sure you set aside enough time.
If you could only have one cookie for the rest of your life, which kind would it be?
Though the competition is pretty fierce, oatmeal cookies will always be my favorite. Oatmeal creme pies, iced oatmeal cookies, white chocolate chip cherry oatmeal cookies, peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal scotchies, monster cookies, white chocolate macadamia oatmeal cookies, you name it. And if I had to choose my #1, it would definitely be oatmeal raisin cookies.
But when raisins aren’t on the menu (because some aren’t a fan of those little things!!) oatmeal M&M cookies come to the rescue. These soft and chewy cookies have mega mass appeal. Each bite is filled with brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, and vanilla flavors. We’re using my favorite oatmeal cookie base and filling them with colorful milk chocolate M&Ms.
This is what I call a perfect stack!
I originally published these cookies several years ago and after making them at least 1,294,587 times (probably underestimating there), I decided to spruce up the photos and make a couple slight changes to the dough including using more oats, less flour, and a touch of molasses for that classic oatmeal cookie flavor.
The Slow Bend Cookie
Like my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, magic 5 cookies, oatmeal scotchies, and oatmeal raisin cookies, these are soft and chewy in the centers with buttery crisp edges. I’ve never had an oatmeal cookie quite like them. They’re so chewy and buttery that the cookies won’t immediately break when you bend them. That’s what I call a slow bend oatmeal cookie. No matter which add-in you use (raisins, M&Ms, chocolate chips, butterscotch morsels, etc), there’s enough chew to make a salt water taffy jealous. 🙂
Let’s Make Oatmeal M&M Cookies
- Cream butter + sugars: Use a hand or stand mixer to cream the softened butter with brown sugar and granulated sugar until smooth. For extra flavor and chew, always use more brown sugar than granulated white sugar in oatmeal cookies. We use a higher brown sugar to white sugar ratio in chewy chocolate chip cookies, too.
- Add eggs, vanilla, + molasses: Add eggs, then mix on high for about 1 minute until incorporated. Add vanilla and molasses, mix until combined.
- Dry ingredients: Mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together in a separate bowl. Pour this into the wet ingredients. Combine together on low.
- Add the extras: Beat in the oats and M&Ms on low speed. I usually use mini M&Ms so there’s more in each cookie. Regular size M&Ms work too.
- Chill: The cookie dough is pretty sticky, so chilling it is imperative. Without at least 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator, your cookies will spread into flat puddles. Chilling cookie dough is my top tip for how to prevent cookies from spreading.
- Roll: Roll cookie dough into balls and place on a lined baking sheet. I love using these baking mats. Since the cookie dough chilled, it’s much easier to work with.
- Bake: Bake the cookies at 350°F (177°C) for 11-12 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. The cookies might look under-baked, but they will continue to set as they cool.
3 Success Tips
- Molasses is an optional ingredient, but I find 1 Tablespoon makes them taste like grandma’s classic oatmeal cookies. I add it to nearly all my oatmeal cookies now!
- Use thick old-fashioned whole rolled oats, not quick oats. Quick oats are thinner and more powdery, so you’ll miss out on a lot of texture.
- This recipe calls for 1 cup (2 sticks; 230g) of room temperature butter. Room temperature butter is not warm or melted in the slightest. Rather, it’s cool to touch and about 65°F (18°C). If the butter is too warm, the cookies will over-spread, which completely ruins their texture (and appearance!).
Don’t forget to save a few M&Ms to stick into the tops of the cookies when they’re warm from the oven. I do this purely for looks, so it’s totally optional!
Let’s pretend the oats cancel out the butter and sugar. Basically health food here. THESE will be the only cookie you want for the rest of your life. And chocolate chip cookies, of course. (Not dramatic at all.)
But in case you need more choices…
More Favorite Cookie Recipes
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Maple Brown Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Snickerdoodles
- Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy Oatmeal M&M Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 3 dozen
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This is my favorite oatmeal cookie dough with big chewy oats and irresistible chocolate candies. I love using mini M&Ms so more candies are in every bite! Chilling the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes is imperative.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract (yes, Tablespoon!)
- 1 Tablespoon molasses
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3 cups (255g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats*
- 1 and 1/2 cups (240g) M&Ms*
Instructions
- Using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream the softened butter and both sugars together on medium speed until smooth, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs and mix on high until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the vanilla and molasses and mix on high until combined. Set aside.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. Beat in the oats and M&Ms on low speed. Dough will be thick, yet very sticky. Chill the dough for 30-60 minutes in the refrigerator (do the full hour if you’re afraid of the cookies spreading too much). If chilling for longer (up to 2 days), allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Roll balls of dough (about 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie) and place 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. I recommend using a medium cookie scoop since the dough can be sticky. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look soft and under-baked. Remove from the oven and let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies will continue to “set” on the baking sheet during this time.
- Cover and store leftover cookies at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well—up to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Oats: For these oatmeal cookies, I use and recommend old-fashioned whole oats. They provide the ultimate hearty, chewy, thick texture we love!
- Eggs: Room temperature eggs preferred. Good rule of thumb: always use room temperature eggs when using room temperature butter.
- M&Ms: I recommend using mini M&Ms so there’s more in each bite. Regular M&Ms work too. If the M&Ms are larger, such as peanut M&Ms or peanut butter M&Ms, I recommend chopping them. If desired, grab an extra 2 Tablespoons of M&Ms and press a few into the top of each cookie when they’re warm from the oven. This is purely for looks!
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
- Adapted from Loaded Oatmeal Cookies & Oatmeal Creme Pies. Recipe originally published on Sally’s Baking Addiction in 2012.
This is one of my favorite cookie recipes! The only problem I’ve been having is the cookies not flattening out after they bake. Any suggestions?
Hi Vanessa, How did you measure the oats? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too many oats into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
My advice to anyone making these for the first time is to scoop then chill completely. I tried making some after maybe 30 minutes in the fridge and they spread. I tried again an hour and a half later and they looked like the photos. I used a scoop (size 40) and didn’t roll them. I didn’t use convection. I used the weight measurements and they turned out great.
Your crab cake recipe is absolutely awesome.
My husband and I have been making the older recipe for this oatmeal cookie before it was updated, but we lost our paper copy and decided to try the updated version. They turned out well, but he doesn’t love them quite as much as the older recipe that was without the molasses and dough changes, and we can’t remember the old ratios.
Is there any way to get the old version of this recipe? Sending much love from long-time fans of Sally’s recipes!
Hi Kirsten, this recipe hasn’t changed since it was first published. Are you thinking about another oatmeal cookie recipe, perhaps this one?
Hi Kristen! I, too, prefer the original molasses-free version and thankfully still have my printout from 05/23/16 🙂 doesn’t look like I can upload a picture here, but the original “chewy oatmeal M&M cookies” recipe is the same as the current “loaded oatmeal cookie” recipe (that Sally’s team mentioned), except OMIT the molasses. All other ingredients and quantities are the same. And yes, HUGE fan of Sally and these cookies, just again, the non-molasses ones baked better for me. Happy baking!
Love it! Already in my favorites! It has this little something that reminds me of those oatmeal cookies I had in high school! Maybe it’s the molasses… However, will cut down a bit on sugar next time.
Hands down the MOST DELICIOUS cookies ever, we have re-named them “heavenly cookies”, an absolute hit in this house and turn out perfect every time.
This recipe turned out perfect! I followed everything exactly…only substituted vanilla bean paste instead of extract, and added peanut butter chips! 12 minute bake time worked well for me, and they didn’t spread much at all…thanks so much for another awesome recipe
Turned out perfectly! I’m not sure what issues the other people are having, but I did this recipe just as written, and they turned out great. I used chocolate chips instead of M&Ms, and also added some little heath toffee bits. Mmmm!
Guys, follow the butter and eggs at room temperature directions and, voila! Best cookies ever. Now saved as a favorite.
Cookies spread even though I read through comments and made sure butter and eggs were room temperature. Read the comment about grams conversion possibly being wrong so I used measuring cups/spoons. I baked a test batch of 6 cookies and they were perfect. I baked one batch at a time and popped the dough back in the fridge in between scooping out cookies onto a cookie sheet. I did not reuse warm cookie sheets. Starting with the second batch the dough spread and with every batch it got worse, even though I made sure to keep the dough cold. I don’t get it. Flavor is OK; nothing special. This is the first recipe from this web site that was disappointing.
Hi Robbie, we’re sorry to hear your cookies overspread and you were disappointed with this recipe. Usually cookies spreading too much in the oven is due to butter that was too warm to start with–here’s some information on proper room temperature butter in baking and here are some more tips to help keep cookies from spreading! You may also have better luck with these soft M&M cookie bars, which can’t spread since they’re baked in a pan.
I don’t get it either. You sound like you have the exact same problem as myself. Every time I make cookies not this recipe yet, the first batch turns out great but then every batch after they spread and gets worse and worse. I just don’t understand why! I keep trying different little things. One thing I have found is turning up the oven to 375 instead of 350 does help some! Your oven might not have the right temp like mine. Hope this helps! I’m determined to figure this out haha
Nothing is worse than wasting expensive butter, eggs and M&Ms on a recipe that is a joke. I usually trust Sally – with the exception of the terrible blueberry scone recipe I threw out because although recommended, you can absolutely not use frozen berries.
ANYWAYS – this dough tasted great. And that’s where it stops. Fridged for well over 3 hours, yet somehow they spread terribly and the middle wouldn’t cook. Fine – eat a bit of raw dough. NOPE. they wouldn’t hold together or firm up. I baked then 20 minutes and it was still raw in the middle. Another baker here had the same issue so I know I’m not nuts.
Just don’t waste your time or money. STAY AWAY.
I think you must have made a mistake somewhere. I just made them tonight and they are amazing! They aren’t in any way greasy and they are perfectly chewy and brown on the bottom.
I’m confused by what you have done to make these recipes come out so horribly. I have made the blueberry scones with frozen blueberries many times and they are always incredible! I have also made these cookies many times and my god, they are the best! Maybe it’s your oven?
Your butter was likely too warm. Room temperature does NOT mean room temperature of your kitchen. It means 65 degrees, and I can assure you I don’t keep my home cooled that low. Would suggest you test your butter’s temp with an instant read meat thermometer. Chill the dough for less than 3 hours, and definitely buy a good quality oven thermometer so you can calibrate your oven temperature if needed. I have made these numerous times, following all the above suggestions, and they always turn out fabulous. So don’t blame the recipe.
LOVE! Ive made this recipe twice! once w/o molasses because i didnt have any and once w/. Didnt chill thr 2nd time, i forgot lol but they turned out great both times!! i think the trick is definitely having the butter at room temperature and using old-fashioned rolled oats. Soo good. i definitely recommend it!
I followed the recipe to a T and these came out perfectly. I put in red + green mini m&ms for Christmas. My boyfriend’s family went nuts over them, even with all of the other Christmas cookies in the house.
Awful. Followed recipe exactly. The cookies were greasy blobs. Went in the garbage.
I liked this recipe and it baked up thick and chewy, but I think there is a mistake in your Oats and M&M volume-weight proportions. I’m pretty sure the grams are not equal (or even close) to the volume measurements. That might be why some people are having a problem. I started out doing using the weight measurements, but saw the last two ingredients could not be correct so I switched to volume. Can you double-check this?
I have made this give or six times with great success. Thank you for another reliable and delicious recipe. Sometimes I make it with choc chips instead of M&Ms and it is also very yummy.
Hi there! I was wondering how i could make these cookies a bit less sweet without altering the texture? Thanks!!
Hi Meg, we haven’t tested it, but some readers have reported reducing the sugar and having good results. Let us know if you try it!
I absentmindedly forgot to add vanilla and molasses . I later added them after the m&ms and oats. Please tell me it would still turn out well
These cookies are AMAZING! Such a beautiful chewy texture with all those amazing oats and a nice richness with the molasses! Disappeared in no time in our house!
These tasted amazing! Unfortunately mine spread out like crazy even after chilling for an hour +. I’d like to add a little more flour or maybe baking powder?? In hopes they’ll get a little puffy and not bake so flat. Is that a bad idea? Any recommendations?
Hi Destiny! Usually cookies spreading too much in the oven is due to butter that was too warm to start with – here’s more information on proper room temperature butter in baking and here’s more tips to help keep cookies from spreading!
I would like to add creamy peanut butter to this recipe, but don’t know how much, and if I then need to subtract or decrease any of the other ingredients. Please advise.
Ps, I have used manny if your recipes and my favorite is the raspberry jelly shortbread cookies with icing. A family favorite at holiday time.
Hi Mari! We recommend this monster cookie recipe (with oats and peanut butter) instead! You can leave out the peanut butter cup.
Turned out perfectly! Added chopped salted peanuts and used regular M&M’s. Used a large cookie scoop and baked for 14 minutes. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I totally disappointed may just want to give up after this.
I followed the instructions just as they where only didn’t use two this because one my daughter is allergic to cinnamon and In my county they don’t sell molasses. My cookies stayed like a ball, I had to press them down. 🙁
Can you make these without any add-ins? Just plain old fashion oatmeal cookies like my great grandma made.
Hi Deborah, absolutely — or you might like our Iced Oatmeal Cookies or Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (leave out the raisins) instead!
These are fabulous.
My question is, do you recommend using convection on your oven?
I’ve made them a few ways with very minor tweaks.
1) Triple batch using mini reeses pieces per my partner’s preference, an extra tablespoon (3 total) of vanilla extract, and one less tablespoon (3 total) sugar. I always add extra vanilla and drop a bit of sugar for things like cookies. I tell myself it’ll work out swapping in some “wet” via the water portion of vanilla extract for sugar, considered a wet ingredient. This has worked on unfussy recipes.
The triple batch was too much for my 6qt stand mixer. I made it work with a lot of manual intervention but do yourself a favour and double the batch at most.
2) I’ve also made them gluten free by using GF oats, GF chocolate chips instead of M&Ms, and subbing in Bob’s Red Mill brown rice flour 1:1 for the AP flour, with a half tsp of guar gum and xanthan gum mixed in to for each cup of the brown rice flour before adding to the mix. For a single batch of this recipe that works out to 1.5 cups brown rice flour and 3/4 tsp guar gum + 3/4 tsp xanthan gum. You could also just sub in one of the fabulous AP flour replacer mixes that are now commercially available. I like the effect of the brown rice flour substitution, and started doing it before commercial blends were popular or very good.
They all turned out fabulously despite my fiddling with things along the way. They’re now a staple in our household, and beloved among my GF family members and friends.
Hi Chantelle! All of the recipes on this site are written for conventional settings. Convection ovens are fantastic for cooking and roasting. If you have the choice, we recommend conventional settings when baking cakes, breads, etc. The flow of air from convection heat can cause baked goods to rise and bake unevenly and it also pulls moisture out of the oven. If you do use convection settings for baking, lower your temperature by 25 degrees F and keep in mind that things may still take less time to bake.
They were perfect and love the molasses added spice. Thank you
I’m not sure what I did wrong but these did not turn out right at all. I followed the instructions exactly as written and even used a kitchen scale to measure the ingredients, and I chilled exactly as it said. However, when I baked them they would only bake on the outside edge and bottom, and the top center was completely raw. No matter what I tried I couldn’t get the center to bake right without burning the rest of the cookie. I ended up having to throw all of it out. 🙁
Hi Rachel! Sounds like your oven may have been running a bit hot – that’s usually the cause of uneven baking. We always suggest using an in-oven thermometer for the most accurate temperature reading and baking results. Thank you for giving these cookies a try!
Had the same exact thing.
Turned out pristine!!! I did Chocolate Chip and M&M. First batch was great. Second batch was a bit undercooked so I placed it back into the oven and slightly over cooked them due to boyfriend talking to me.
THANK YOU SALLY!!
I chilled my dough for over an hour but my cookies still spread like flat little pancakes. Very good taste, but disappointed in how much they spread.
I had the same thing happen. I wonder if my food scale was off and I didn’t add enough flour??
Mine did the same thing
Hello! Would these be able to be made two days in advance?
Definitely! Cover and store leftover cookies at room temperature for up to 1 week. Or you could make the cookie dough ahead of time, freeze, then bake fresh the day of – see recipe notes. Enjoy!
Awesome, thank you!