Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (Santa’s Cookies)
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Super soft and chewy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with both milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips for a double the chocolate goodness in every bite! These are Santa’s favorite Christmas cookies!
Can’t get enough of these cookies? Try my other recipes for Best Easy Sugar Cookies, Soft and Chewy Gingersnaps, Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Super Soft Peanut Butter Cookies!
Why This Recipe Works
Soft cookies – I don’t know about you, but I like my cookies to be soft, not hard and crunchy, and this recipe guarantees a soft Christmas cookie every time. (Read more on that below.)
So festive – You don’t have to buy a lot of decorations or spend hours icing cookies with these jolly Christmas Cookies. The red and green M&Ms take care of the decorating for you.
Simple ingredients – All ingredients in these soft Santa’s Christmas cookies can be found at any old grocery store (or you probably have most of the ingredients in your pantry already).
Easy – Mix the wet ingredients, mix the dry, put them together with some chocolate chips and M&Ms and that’s about as hard as this recipe gets!
Here’s How You Make It
- To make these amazing Christmas cookies, first get out a large bowl and cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 1-2 minutes or until it’s fluffy. You can use a hand mixer or a stand mixer. Then, add the vanilla and egg and mix it all together. (not pictured)
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, vanilla pudding mix, salt, and baking soda. (photo 1)
- Mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until it’s all mixed together (do not over-mix). Next, stir in almost all of the chocolate chips. (Save some for decorating later.) Cover the dough and put in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour. (photo 2)
- While the cookie dough chills, preheat oven to 350 and very lightly grease a baking sheet. (I use a light misting of cooking spray, then wipe it off with a paper towel.) Alternately you can use a nonstick baking mat. (not pictured)
- Take the dough out of the fridge. Roll about 3 tablespoons of cookie dough per cookie into a ball (about the size of a golf ball) and place on prepared baking sheet. (photo 3)
- Gently press the remaining chocolate chips and the M&Ms into the cookie dough balls (this makes sure you can see the chips and the M&Ms after they bake!). (photo 3)
- Put these soft cookies in the oven to bake for 9-12 minutes or until they are set but still slightly underdone. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. (photo 4)
- Store in airtight container at room temperature.
How to Keep Chocolate Chip Cookies Soft
Do you have trouble keeping your chocolate chip cookies soft? I have several tricks and tips to help your Christmas cookies stay soft.
- Dry instant pudding is my secret ingredient for keeping soft cookies soft even when stored at room temperature. Just one small box is all it takes to keep the cookies from hardening up right away.
- Another way to keep your cookies soft is to stack them high in the container that you’re using to store them. This allows less air to get to each cookie, thus drying it out.
- I always underbake the cookies and cool on the pan since they will continue cooking on the hot baking sheet after you take them out of the oven. So that means, if you cook them longer than the directions suggest, and then take them out of the oven, they’ll cook even more on the sheet, resulting in a hard cookie.
- Do you have little (or big) hands stealing cookies and forgetting to put the lid back on or resealing the bag? That will lead to a dry cookie in no time! Make sure to keep that container or bag sealed up.
- Melt the butter. If your cookies won’t stay soft, try melting the butter and allowing it to cool a bit before adding the other wet ingredients to it can help the cookies stay moist. (Note, this can also make your cookies thinner so be aware of that.)
Frequently Asked Questions
First, be sure to measure flour properly by spooning into measuring cup NOT scooping with measuring cup
Softened butter is technically still cooler than room temperature. If you find that your butter has softened too much before starting the recipe, put it in the freezer for 5 minutes.
If you find cookie dough is too crumbly and dry and not coming together, add an egg white and mix. If still too dry add a second egg white and mix. If still too dry, then add 1 teaspoon of milk and mix.
If your dough looks too crumbly after mixing, try squishing it together with your hands to really work that butter in. This can help your dough come together.
Expert Tips
- Store in airtight container at room temperature up to five days.
- If these cookies are just one selection of many you plan on making, you can freeze them before the holidays. Thaw as needed.
- You could use Christmas or other holiday sprinkles or non-perils instead of or in addition to M&Ms if you want to mix up these cookies a bit. Plus, M&Ms come in a variety of colors now so you could make these for Hannukah, Kwanzaa, and more.
More Christmas Cookie Recipes
- Flourless Peanut Butter Cookies (4 Ingredients)
- Cowboy Cookies
- White Chocolate Cashew Cookies
- Frosted Pumpkin Cookies
- White Chocolate Cranberry Cookies
Did you make this recipe? FANTASTIC. Please rate the recipe below and be sure to tag me on social when you share a photo on social – I love seeing what you’re up to in the kitchen!
Santa’s Cookies (Double Chocolate Chip M&M Cookies)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup butter, softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg
- 2 cups flour
- 1 small box instant vanilla pudding mix – dry, not prepared, (one 3.4 ounce box, it must be INSTANT – not cook and serve, etc)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup white chocolate chips
- 1 cup red and green M&M candies
Instructions
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, brown sugar, and sugar for 1-2 minutes until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg and mix well.
- In another bowl whisk together flour, vanilla pudding mix, baking soda, and salt.
- Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients until incorporated. Stir in most of the chocolate chips. (Reserve a few chocolate chips and the M&Ms for later) Cover and chill for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 350. Very lightly grease a baking sheet. (I lightly mist it with cooking spray, then wipe it off with a paper towel) Roll about 3 tablespoons of cookie dough into a ball (Should be about the size of a golf ball) and place on prepared baking sheet. Gently press remaining chocolate chips and the M&Ms into the cookie dough balls (this makes sure you can see the chips and the M&Ms after they bake!).
- Bake for 9-12 minutes until cookies are set but still slightly underdone. Allow to cool for at least 10 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. Store in airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m not sure what I did wrong, but my cookies never flattened while baking. I thought I rolled them too big, made smaller balls, but they still aren’t flat. Any thoughts on what may have gone wrong?
There could be number of reasons, not enough sugar or eggs, too much flour, your butter might not have been soft enough, or your oven might not have been hot enough. I would just be extra careful next time with measuring and softening the butter, and make sure your oven is the correct temperature 🙂
I hope you can help me. I made 2 batches of the dough but then had to run out of the house for an emergency and now the dough has been refrigerated for over 24 hours and is super hard. Thoughts? Will it still work?
It should still be okay! Let it sit out in room temperature for a bit to soften back up. You can even knead it a bit with your hands. Warming it up a bit and kneading it should be enough for it to be good to use again 🙂
Approx how many cookies does 1 batch make? I’m making these on Friday for a cookie exchange.
About 18 🙂
Hello! Made these last year and loved them! I want to add peanut butter how much should I add?
I’m sorry but this recipe hasn’t been tested with peanut butter. So I cannot say how much you’d need. I would, however, start with replacing half the butter with 1/3 cup peanut butter. There is a peanut butter cookie recipe on this website you can use and add in chocolate chips and m&ms.
it’s really good
are the cookies supposed to to be cakey?how can i get them to be thinner?
They’re a bit chewy but not cakey, no. That usually happens when there’s too much baking soda and/or egg or the dough was overtaxed. Hope they turn out better next time! 🙂
Can this recipe be doubled? Thanks in advance for your help. I cannot wait to make them.
Yes, they should be fine being doubled. Someone else has said this, “the dough can get crumbly right after making if your mixer speed is too high. But I smooshed it down before covering in the fridge and it took care of that. If you don’t roll the balls out fast enough the dough can start to dry out, too. I made a double batch and was being DISTRACTED by my kids which started to cause this. But if you put a little oil on your hands it can help. Or just be faster :)” Hope this helps!
M&M size I think the recipe used Mini M&Ms going to try to make them this weekend
hi
Hello! Thank you for the five star review 🙂
I loved the cookies and how crunchy they are. Make them every weekend and pls make more cookies like this and my whole family loves chocolate. And when they heard is was Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with M&Ms they were excited. I usually make Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with peanut butter M&Ms or chocolate M&Ms. And thank you sooo much for this Recipe.
Glad you enjoy these cookies so much! There are more cookie recipes on this website if you want to check them out 🙂
Are they crunchy or soft? I thought they were supposed to be soft. I want to make these.
They can be crunchy if you bake them for long enough but if you prefer them soft, you would bake them for the shorter amount of time recommended in this recipe 🙂