Make easy Christmas cookies with a chocolate cake mix and Christmas M&M candies in under 30 minutes.
Baking Christmas cookies is a time honored tradition for many families. But let’s face it – Christmas is also exhausting for most moms. The thought of making complicated Christmas cookies during the busiest time of the year is just too much. That’s why we love these cookies!
You only need a few ingredients to whip up these cookies and one of them is a cake mix. We love using cake mixes for fun baking treats like our Cake Mix Cinnamon Rolls and Easy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars. Cake mixes are not just for cake, that’s for sure.
Fun red and green Christmas M&Ms give the cookies a truly holiday feel, too. You could definitely try other holiday colored candies in these cookies, too. But everyone loves M&Ms so we chose those.
If you are looking for an easy way to make some Christmas baking memories with your kids or grandkids, these Christmas M&M cookies are just what you need.
Christmas M&M Cookies Recipes
Start by preheating your oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. We like to use parchment paper for cookies because it really just makes life easier especially when baking with kids.
Alternatively, you can also pick up a silicone baking mat. These are reuseable. We have a mat that we got for our wedding shower over 15 years ago. So they are last a long time.
Next, make the cookie dough. In a mixing bowl, add cake mix, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. We have found that when working with cake mix, the dough can often be very stiff to work with. You may question if this recipe is missing something! It’s not! Just keep mixing. It takes a good minute or two to come together as a dough. It may be easiest to mix the dough with an electric mixer unless you want a good arm workout.
Finally, add the Christmas M&Ms candies. Once the dough is formed, add in 1 cup candies and mix well. Use a wooden spoon for this one.
Now that the dough is ready, scoop and drop the cookies on to your prepared baking sheet. To keep the cookies uniform in size, use a tablespoon portion scoop to scoop onto prepared pan and place 2″ apart on the baking sheet.
After scooping the cookies, press the remaining Christmas M&Ms candies into each cookie. Bake each sheet of cookies for 9-11 minutes.
Remove the cookies from the oven. Let set to cool on the baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing from pan to a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely.
This recipe will make 36 cookies if you use the tablespoon cookie scoop so it makes enough for a Christmas Cookie Exchange Party.
Christmas M&M Cookies Recipes
Ingredients
- 1 box 15.25 oz, chocolate cake mix
- 1/3 cup oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 package 11.48 oz, Red & Green M&M Candies
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl, add cake mix, oil, eggs and vanilla. Mix well. The dough will be very stiff and you may question if this recipe is missing something! It's not! Keep mixing, it takes a good minute or two to come together as a dough.
- Once you have everything mixed, add in 1 cup candies and mix well.
- Use a tablespoon portion scoop to scoop onto prepared pan and place 2" apart.
- Press remaining candies into each cookies.
- Bake for 9-11 minutes.
- Let set to cool on baking sheet for 2 minutes before removing from pan to a cooling rack and allowing to cool completely.