Cookies for a Crowd-Sheet Pan Cookies
Brown sugar cookie dough with added sprinkles and M&Ms, is pressed into a half sheet pan and baked to golden perfection. This recipe requires no chilling, no scooping, and no mess! Easy to throw together for parties and celebrations, this soft baked sheet pan cookie will be your go-to cookie recipe this weekend.
I can’t tell you how many times I have made this sheet pan cookie. They are easy to throw together, only use one bowl, and the ingredients are standard pantry items most have on hand right now. Since Valentine’s Day falls on a Tuesday this year and Super Bowl is this Sunday, I feel like this is the perfect recipe to share right before the weekend hits.
I’m not big on football but I can assure you I am rooting for ‘Team Food’ this Super Bowl Sunday. I don’t even care who is playing the halftime show, I know, unpopular opinion. ‘Pass those hot sticky chicken wings’, ‘Who needs more cold beer?’ ‘Here, try this roasted feta dip with these sourdough crackers!’ ‘Yes, I am taking two slices of cookie cake with me.’ The sound of Super Bowl Sunday in my house, or at least what is most memorable to me.
I will say, I despise a cookie cake that goes stale too quickly. Cut pieces of cookies, sadly, are quick to dry out and lose their soft chewiness as they sit out. This is why I use a combination of dark brown sugar, corn syrup, and corn starch keep this cookie incredibly soft and chewy with the highly coveted edge pieces having a nice crispness to them.
The colors of the M&Ms I used are in celebration for Valentine’s Day. You can use any color of M&Ms you like and mini M&Ms would work great here too. I opted not to add chocolate chips since I wanted to enjoy the crisp candy coating of the M&M candies in their full cookie dough covered glory, but chocolate chips would work great in this recipe too. The color of the sprinkles used can be changed to whatever you have in your pantry. Rainbow sprinkles with M&Ms are a great combination.
These cookies are great for any Valentine’s Day school function or festivities and can be cut into smaller pieces for larger crowds. I cut them into 24 squares for easy sharing with my local pediatrician’s office this morning, but when I make them for my son’s school next week , I will cut them into 48 bite sized cookies. This saves so much time than having to scoop, bake, and cool 48 cookies!
Need More Cookie Recipes for a Crowd, here are my favorites:
Why I Love This Recipe
Flavor-The base of this cookie has dark brown sugar instead of my usual go-to light brown sugar. I use dark brown sugar for added flavor, this type of sugar has more molasses added into it and results in a richer, well-rounded flavor. The cookie dough is flavored with high quality vanilla extract and the M&M candy pieces are give the cookies a sweet milk chocolate kick. These cookies are balanced with salt in the cookie dough, so they don’t get too sweet. These are indulgent cookies and have a nostalgic cafeteria school lunch cookie vibe to them. So good.
Texture -With the combination of dark brown sugar, corn syrup, and cornstarch, these cookies stay so soft and chewy. It’s the perfect texture of soft baked cookie with crunchy bits of candy-coated milk chocolate M&Ms. The sprinkles also add a bit more texture and the cookies can be decorated with extra sprinkles and M&Ms.
Super Easy-One bowl and 20 minutes is all you need to make these cookies. Super easy and quick to put together, this recipe requires melted butter so no need for creaming butter and sugars together. This cookie recipe doesn’t require and chill time or scooping, no need for multiple pans to bake cookies. You just mix the ingredients together, press the dough into a sheet pan, and bake. This recipe should be added to your arsenal of easy desserts.
Ingredients You Need
-Butter- unsalted.
-Dark Brown Sugar-Use light brown sugar as a substitute.
-Sugar
-Eggs
-Corn Syrup-this will keep your cookie soft and chewy. If you don’t want to use corn syrup you can use honey instead or omit entirely.
-Cornstarch
-Baking Soda
-Baking Powder
-Vanilla Extract
-Salt-for flavor.
-Flour
-M&Ms- I used an entire 10-ounce bag of Valentine’s colored M&Ms. You can use whichever colors you prefer, I personally love to bake with the mini M&Ms since there is more chocolatey crunchy goodness in every bite.
-Sprinkles-I used Valentine’s Day colored sprinkles, please use whatever colors you have on hand or omit entirely if you don’t have any.
-I am using a half sheet pan to bake in (13×18 inches) for this recipe. You can also use a 9×13 inch pan, adjust the bake time up by 2-3 minutes.
Easy Cookies in 1,2,3!
In a large microwave safe dish, melt the butter until all melted. This took me around a minute in my microwave. I let the butter sit for a few minutes so it was closer to room temperature.
Next, add the sugars and mix into the butter. I then add in the eggs, corn syrup, and vanilla extract and mix until no bits of egg remain. It should be smooth and glossy.
Add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, salt to the bowl and mix until it comes together into a soft dough.
Reserve a handful of M&Ms for the top and add in the rest of the bag to the dough. I make sure the candies are evenly distributed before tipping the bowl out onto a half sheet pan.
I like to line the bottom with parchment to keep clean up easier but this step is optional.
Press the dough evenly on the bottom of the pan then top with the remaining M&Ms and sprinkles.
The cookie will bake for 14-16 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Don’t over bake. It’s ok for the center to look slightly underdone, the cookie will continue baking and setting from the residual heat from the pan after taking out of the oven.
Allow the cookie to cool for 20-30 minutes before slicing. Or you can get some spoons out and large scoops of ice cream on top and make it a party with hot fudge sauce. Let everyone dig in and have little fun. I won’t judge.
Using a sharp knife, I slice the cookie in half, length wise, then I slice each long section in half again to make 4 evenly spaced cut sections. I repeat on the long side, cutting in half then cutting each half into evenly spaced thirds. This will give you 24 cookie bars.
I use the term “evenly spaced” loosely here. Unless you have a ruler or are a professionally trained pastry chef, most of us will have some larger sections and some smaller sections. Don’t sweat it. There is always going to be some who prefer a small bite of cookie cake where others will want larger slices or multiple slices. The variety in sizes is half the fun and the cookies are delicious no matter how evenly they are cut.
Also, if you want to cut out shapes from the cookie cake you can do so with whichever cookie cutters you have on hand. Heart shaped M&M cookies would be really cute for Valentine’s Day! If you do decide to cut out shapes, you will have cookie scraps. You don’t have to eat these right away, although I will admit I am guilty of sneaking bites of cookie scraps.
I like to chop the cookie scraps up and place in a plastic sealed bag to toss in the freezer. I then use these for literally any topping on EVERYTHING. Cakes, cupcakes, ice cream, as a crumble on top of frosted cookies, I add them into brownies, top my oatmeal with them, mix it into banana bread batter, top rice crispy treats, the list goes on. Always save the scraps, they are fun to use for later.
Enjoy!
If you try this recipe and love it as much as I do, please tag, follow, and like @sunshinetxcookies on Instagram and Facebook. New posts every Thursday so be sure to follow me for more delicious cookie recipes. Happy Baking!
Cookies for a Crowd-Sheet Pan Cookies
Equipment
- 1 half sheet pan 13x18 inches
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter unsalted.
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tspn vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp corn syrup optional
- 1 tspn cornstarch
- 1 tspn salt
- ½ tspn baking soda
- ½ tspn baking powder
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 10 ounces MMs I used a bag of Valentine colors. Use any MMs you like. MM Minis work great too.
- ½ cup sprinkles optional. Choose a color to match the them of your MMs.
Instructions
- In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the butter in the microwave until just melted. Allow to cool to room temperature.
- Add the dark brown sugar and granulated sugar and mix to combine with a fork.
- Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and corn syrup and mix until no traces of egg remain.
- Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt to the wet ingredients. Mix until it just comes together into a soft dough.
- Reserve a ¼ cup of MMs to sprinkle on top.
- Add the remaining MMs to the dough and mix.
- Dump the cookie dough out onto a half sheet pan 13x18 inches. You can line with parchment for easier cleanup.
- Sprinkle the reserved MMs on top and add sprinkles to the top if desired.
- Bake at 350* for 14-16 minutes or until the cookie is golden brown. The middle may be slightly shiny, that's ok. it will continue to bake and set as it cools.
- Cool the sheet pan cookie on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting into. The longer it can cool the better it will hold up for slicing.
- Slice the sheet pan cookie into 24 pieces. 4 across the short side of the pan and 6 cuts along the long side of the pan.
- Ready to share with a large crowd. You are a cookie hero.
- Enjoy!
