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Chewy Christmas Snickerdoodles with pockets of melted chocolate – these cookies are so yummmmy! Made with browned butter, holiday M&Ms, pretzels, chocolate chips, and chunks of dark chocolate. Each cookie dough ball is rolled with cinnamon sugar for that classic Snickerdoodle finish before baking to perfection. There’s nothing not to love about these sweet chocolate Christmas cookies. Each bite is slightly crisp on the edges but soft and gooey in the center, with just a little salty pretzel crunch throughout.
Let the countdown begin! Twenty-five days until Christmas – Happy December everyone! I know I’ve been saying this all week, but I’m so excited for the holiday season, I just know it will be magical!
I have so many fun new recipes to share with you all, and on a personal note, I can’t wait to enjoy the season! Watch all the holiday movies, find the perfect gifts, and bake all the cookies!!
As I prepare to share my 2023 cookie box, I’m sharing a few new recipes in advance! My Hot Chocolate Cookies went live on Tuesday, and today, we’ve got a Snickerdoodle cookie recipe!
These are special snickerdoodles. They’re chewy like a Snickerdoodle with that classic cinnamon sugar coating. But they have similar mix-ins to my Christmas Monster Cookies – holiday candies, pretzels, and both chocolate chips and chunks.
They’re Christmas time in a nice big, chewy, snickerdoodle cookie. And they just might become a new holiday favorite. I love how easy they are, with no chilling required!
Here are the details
Step 1: brown the butter
Start by browning half of your butter, it really does add so much flavor that it’s worth the extra step.
Add one stick of butter to a skillet set over medium heat. Cook until the butter begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Place in the freezer for 5-10 minutes, but no longer.
Using one stick of browned butter and one stick of soft butter gives you the flavor of browned butter but leaves you with cookies that have great texture too.
Step 2: mix the dough
Grab the brown butter from the freezer and the stick of softened butter. Using an electric mixer, beat the two together in a large bowl with the brown sugar. I use dark brown sugar, but you can use whatever you have in the pantry.
Once the sugar is creamed into the butter, add the eggs. This dough requires 2 large eggs and 1 egg yolk.
Mix in the vanilla and then add all the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, and salt.
Step 3: the stir-ins,
These are the most important part. You’ll need salted pretzel twists, semi-sweet chocolate chips, and chunks of dark chocolate. And then, plenty of red and green holiday M&M’s, which really make these cookies!
Mix the stir-ins into your dough, then scoop the dough into scant 1/4 cup dough balls. A decent size but not too big.
Step 4: the cinnamon sugar
In classic Snickerdoodle form, roll each dough ball into the cinnamon sugar mixture.
I like to do a light roll, as I don’t like my cookies to be overly sweet.
Step 5: bake
Bake the cookies up until they are barely set on the edges.
To get the M&M’s to really pop, I like to add in a few just before the cookies finish baking completely. This way each cookie has a bit of the festive M&M’s right on top.
Remove the pan from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. The cookies will continue to bake on the warm sheet.
These cookies have chewy edges with soft and gooey centers. They’ve got a nice crunch plus a little saltiness from the pretzels – the best kind of cookies.
I’m excited to include these in the year’s Christmas cookie box. They’re perfect for packing up and gifting to friends for the holidays or making for a Christmas cookie exchange!
Looking for other Christmas cookies? Here are my favorites:
Easy Vanilla Bean Christmas Lights Cookies
Easy Hot Chocolate Lace Cookies
Lastly, if you make these Chewy Christmas Snickerdoodles, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And, of course, if you make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Chewy Christmas Snickerdoodles
Servings: 20 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 250 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Watch the How-To Reel
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 1/4 cups holiday M&M’s
- 1 cup mini pretzel sticks crushed
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chunks
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- 1. Add 1 stick of butter to a skillet set over medium heat. Cook until the butter begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Freeze for 10-15 minutes, but no longer.2. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.3. In a bowl, beat together the remaining stick of butter, the cooled browned butter, and the brown sugar until combined. Beat in the eggs and 1 egg yolk, one at a time, until combined. Add the vanilla, beating until creamy. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. 4. Fold in 3/4 cup of the M&M's, pretzels, chocolate chips, and chocolate chunks.5. Mix the sugar and cinnamon in a bowl. Roll the dough into rounded 2-3 tablespoon-size balls and then roll through the cinnamon sugar. Place 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet.6. Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pan and push the remaining M&M's into the cookies. Bake for 2-3 minutes more. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. They will continue to cook slightly as they sit on the baking sheet.7. Eat warm or let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
This post was originally published on December 1, 2023
I made these yesterday and they didn’t flatten out. Would increasing the butter help? They were not chewy either. Very tasty and looked festive but not what I had expected.
Super easy, quick and a huge hit in this household! The browned butter adds so much flavour wise! I added some skor in there for more gooeyness !
Thank you so much! Sooo happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe! 🙂 xT
It says to “Fold in 3/4 cup of the M&M’s, pretzels, chocolate chips, and chocolate chunks”.
What about all the rest of those ingredients that are called for in the recipe? When do those go in or do they? Thanks
New baker What do I do with leftover. M&m, pretzel and choc. Chips if only use 3/4 in recipe?
Do you think this would work with GF flour?
Hey Abby! I haven’t ever tried this with Gf flour so I can’t say for sure! If you do try it out I would recommend Bob’s red mill GF flour and just use the 1:1 ratio! xT
These cookies are easy and tasty. My cookies stayed more round and cake like instead of gooey I think my eggs were too small. I get eggs directly from a farm and the are usually large this last dozen seemed a bit small and as a result I think my cookies needed more moisture still very good and I will try again. Thanks for all your great recipes
Thanks for the feedback JoAnn!
I just made your brown butter pumpkin snickerdoodles and they were unreal! Can’t wait to try these next. Thank you!!
Thanks so much Amanda! xT
My family loved these! I’m obsessed with all your recipes! I pushed them down lightly with a spoon prior to baking in order to really show the texture as they really hold their shape in the oven.
Thank you sooo much! Love to hear that you enjoyed this recipe! xT
I added a tsp of cream of tartar as some reviews suggested and I’m not sure if it made a difference or not and I didn’t have any issues with them flattening out. They came out fantastic!!
I’m not sure what we did wrong but these did not flatten. 😞
Oh no I’m so sorry! Anything I can do to help? xT
I had similar problem they are good but wouldn’t flatten
I usually use unsalted butter. Those of you that have baked these, how was the salted butter addition? Did you notice?
Made these this afternoon! Delicious and beautiful! Thank you for another great recipe! I will be sending some to my daughter as a treat before her final exams 🙂 xoxo
Thanks sooo much Heather! 🙂 xT
Can you make these gluten-free? Would you substitute all-purpose with 1:1 baking flour?
Hi Janie! I’m so sorry I haven’t ever tried these GF before, but I think that should work well! xT
Doesn’t a snickerdoodle need both a cinnamon sugar coating as well as cream of tartar in order to not just be a sugar cookie?
It’s in the instructions. Mix 1/3 cup sugar and 2 teaspoons of cinnamon.
Tammy, where is the cream of tartar in the instructions? Thanks!
I was thinking the exact same thing about the cream of tartar. While they sound tasty they’re technically not a snickerdoodle without it.
I wonder if you could just add some cream of tarter to give it the snickerdoodle taste?
do these freeze well?
This type of cookie freezes beautifully.
Yes, they should freeze well! 🙂 xT
Hi! Beautiful cookies! Can these dough balls be frozen and baked later in the month of December? Would you thaw and bake or do you put them straight into the oven frozen and bake longer? Thank you! Planning ahead for a busy holiday season!
I bake from frozen!
I noticed this with last year’s “snickerdoodle” recipe. There is no cream of tartar in the recipe? That’s what technically makes it a snickerdoodle and not just a Cinnamon sugar cookie. Snickerdoodles get their distinct taste from the cream of tartar. These are basically loaded Cinnamon sugar cookies without it.
Hi there! Yes, you can definitely freeze to bake these later on in the month! I would maybe let them rest for a bit before putting them in the oven! xT