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Valentine cookies are soft and chewy with chocolate pops of pink, red, and white M&M’s. They are Valentine’s perfection!
For more Valentine’s Day cookie recipes try making heart-shaped Valentine’s Sugar Cookies or our favorite Sugar Cookie Bars!
We Love Pink & Red COOKIES!
I adore showing everyone how much they mean to me, especially around Valentine’s Day. Baking and making sweets is one way I do this. After all, I think food is my love language.
We have several cookie ideas, but I love that these Valentine cookies are chewy, delicious, and packed with chocolaty M&Ms!
Why we love them:
- Quick and easy. These cookies are ready in under 20 minutes!
- Delicious. This classic twist is a flavorful favorite.
- Cute. These pink and red cookies are great for after-school treats, a class party, or a family Valentine’s dinner.
- Giftable. Valentine cookies make adorable little gifts for friends and teachers!
These are a great go-to Valentine’s Dessert!
Ingredients
- sugar
- brown sugar – For a chewier cookie increase the brown sugar and reduce the white sugar by the same amount. Using 1⅓ cups of brown sugar and ⅔ white sugar is a good place to start.
- Butter – Use room temperature butter. If it’s too cold the butter can’t incorporate as well and if it’s too warm, the cookies will spread and flatten.
- vegetable oil
- Large eggs – Room temperature eggs incorporate best with the other ingredients.
- baking powder
- salt
- baking soda
- vanilla extract – or almond extract
- all-purpose flour
- M&M’s – Plain chocolate M&M’s work best in this recipe. Since these cookies are geared toward Valentine’s I chose to use pink, red, and white, but you can easily use other colors. I also added a few Mini M&M’s to the top for extra decoration.
How to make Valentines Cookies
- PREP. Preheat oven to 350°F.
- DOUGH. In the large bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment on, cream together sugars, butter, and oil. Add eggs and beat until fluffy. Add dry ingredients as well as vanilla.
- M&M’S. Mix in chopped M&Ms {however many you want}.
- BAKE. Form the dough into balls and place them on a greased pan. Top each with 5 M&Ms. Bake for 7-8 minutes.
Recipe Tips
- Texture. For a thicker and more rounded cookie, chill the dough.
- Scooping. Use a cookie scoop to ensure evenly sized dough balls that bake at the same rate.
- Don’t overmix the dough as it can create a tougher texture instead of a light soft texture.
- Chopping M&Ms. Use a nut chopper, food processor, or place them in a Ziploc and crush them with the bottom of a cup.
- Bakery style cookies. Once the dough balls are scooped, place 5 M&M’s on top of the dough ball. Be sure they are all near the center of the dough ball. As the cookies spread, the M&Ms in the center will too.
- Variations. Add Valentine-shaped sprinkles, Jimmies, or festive sugar crystal sprinkles to the tops instead of extra M&M’s.
Storing Tips
- STORE. Keep cooled Valentines M&M cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days. Add a piece of white bread into the container to keep the cookies soft.
- FREEZE. Place the batch of cookies in a freezer Ziploc separating layers with parchment or wax paper. Freeze for 3-4 months.
- Freeze cookie dough.
- Balls. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet. Add the M&Ms on top now, or save them to add right before baking (I add them later). Put the dough balls in the freezer. Once solid transfer them to a freezer Ziploc. Freeze for 3-4 months.
- Log form. Divide the dough into two and form a cookie dough log. Wrap the log tightly with plastic wrap and again with foil. Thaw and shape before baking.
- To bake. Place dough balls on a baking sheet and allow them to thaw while the oven is being heated. Bake according to the recipe directions. You may need to add 1-2 more minutes to account for the colder dough.
For More Valentine’s Treats:
Valentine Cookies
Valentine cookies are soft and chewy with chocolate pops of pink, red, and white M&M's. They are Valentine's perfection!
Ingredients
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups plain M&M's, red, pink & white, chopped and whole, separated
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Cream together brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and oil.
- Add eggs and beat until fluffy.
- Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla.
- Mix in 1½ cups chopped M&Ms {or however many you want}.
- Place in balls on a greased pan, and insert 5 M&Ms on top.
- Bake at 350°F for 7-8 minutes.
Video
Notes
Avoid flat cookies. Keep the butter and dough from getting too warm. If needed, chilling the dough will help keep the butter in the dough cold and keep the cookies from spreading.
Store cookie dough, wrapped with plastic, in the fridge for 1-2 days. You can also freeze the dough for 3-4 months. See How to Freeze Cookie Dough for tips.
Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days. Add a piece of white bread into the container to keep the cookies soft. They can also be frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition
Calories: 136kcal, Carbohydrates: 19g, Protein: 1g, Fat: 6g, Saturated Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 15mg, Sodium: 127mg, Potassium: 36mg, Sugar: 11g, Vitamin A: 90IU, Calcium: 15mg, Iron: 0.6mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
FOR MORE VALENTINE COOKIES
Be sure to check out some of these other favorites. Not only are they simple too, but they’re delicious and festive and perfect for Valentine’s Day!
1 Valentine’s Day Sugar Cookies
2 Strawberry Cookie Recipe
3 Drop Sugar Cookies
4 Copycat Swig Cookies
5 Red Velvet Cookies Recipe
We love to make these cookies several times a year. They turn out every single time!
Thank you so much for sharing this amazing recipe! Will surely have this again! It’s really easy to make and it tasted so delicious! Highly recommended!
Awesome!!!
I made this without the M&Ms and it turned out great! This is a very easy and delicious sugar cookie recipe. The cookies were soft and chewy. They turned out great even though I didn’t have a mixer.
Love to hear that! Thank you so much for trying them!
Question. I’m in Texas. Grandkids in Missouri. Will this recipe work well to mail? Thanks!
They should! I would make sure they have completely cooled (and possibly even freeze them before packing them up). You could probably google a few cookie mailing tips too. Hope they enjoy!
This is my all time favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Adding the colored M&m was a festive twist.
I love these cookies for Valentine’s Day. There just so perfect and colorful.
This is such a beautiful and chewy recipe for cookies. Not only perfect for Valentine’s day but for other special occasions too! My family enjoyed the first batch that I made for them, will definitely make another batch soon. Thank you for sharing this recipe with us.
How big should I make the balls of dough
There is no wrong answer. You can make them as big or as small as you’d like. I used like a tablespoon scoop, but made them a little bigger.
So pretty! As soon as my daughter saw these she betted to make them! 🙂
I love that there are both chopped and whole M&Ms in this recipe! The texture and flavor are so much better than if they are only whole! Yum!!
Love Valentine’s Day & these are so perfect with the pink, white, & red m&m’s! Love giving them to friends for a special treat!