‘The Pioneer Woman’: Ree Drummond Says Her Easy M&M Cookies Are ‘To Die For’

Ree Drummond uses one special ingredient that takes her M&M cookies recipe to the next level. The Pioneer Woman star shared how a classic cookie gets an upgrade by adding one small step.

‘The Pioneer Woman’ star adds 1 easy step to cookie recipes

Drummond wrote about her M&M cookie recipe in a 2014 blog post for The Pioneer Woman website, where she sang the praises of the delicious treat. “Browned butter cookies are to die for, and adding M&M’S just makes them extra crazy!” she wrote.

The Pioneer Woman star shared that “browned butter is one of life’s pure pleasures” and adding the ingredient to cookies is an absolute game-changer.

Drummond continued, “Browned butter cookies, as you can imagine, are one of the most miraculous uses of browned butter there is. Whether it’s oatmeal cookies, sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, or chocolate chip cookies, subbing browned butter for all or some of the butter in whatever recipe you use will catapult your cookie into another dimension.”

Ree Drummond’s M&M cookies recipe is so easy to make

Drummond noted that she uses the trick in a variety of cookies and shared that “because I was feeling saucy, decided to go the browned butter route” while making her M&M cookies.

The Pioneer Woman star said she borrowed the idea from her friend, who adds half browned butter/half regular butter to her cookies. “I used the recipe I usually use for any incarnation of chocolate chip cookies, but rather than brown all of the butter in the recipe, I did what Joy the Baker does in her browned butter cookie recipe, which is to use half browned butter, half softened butter,” she wrote. “Worked like a charm.”

Drummond shared the easy steps to brown the butter, pointing out the need to monitor the process. Once the butter melts, she starts swirling the pan. “Keep a watchful eye on the butter,” she explained. “Once it starts to brown, it can brown very quickly, so time is of the essence!”

She added, “You want the butter to be deep golden brown and the solids at the bottom to be an even deeper brown … but definitely not black! If they’re black, the butter is burned, and it’s best to start over with a new stick of butter.”

The Pioneer Woman star removes the butter from the heat and allows it to cool completely before adding it to the cookie dough. The cookie recipe is pretty standard for the most part. After creaming together the regular butter and sugars, Drummond slowly adds the cooled browned butter with the mixer running on low speed, followed by the vanilla and eggs. After combining the dry ingredients in another bowl, she slowly adds them into the mixing bowl.

Finally, she mixes in the M&M’S, noting that you can do a half mixture of M&M’S and chocolate chips. She bakes the cookies in a 375 degree Fahrenheit oven for 7 minutes.

Drummond guarantees there’s no coffee flavor

In her blog post, Drummond offered up a promise to anyone concerned with the addition of instant coffee — the taste doesn’t come through but it does enhance the recipe’s flavor.

“Now, for the coffee haters out there: Don’t worry! You won’t even taste it,” she explained. “My husband has never ingested a cup of coffee in his entire life, but he loves my chocolate chip cookies. And that’s because he has no idea there’s coffee in them.”

She added, “The coffee just adds a nice depth of flavor and a richness, but definitely not an overwhelming coffee flavor. Cross my heart.”