A soft, melt-in-your-mouth butter cookie full of chocolate, marshmallows, and pretzels is Santa’s favorite cookies for a Christmas snack. This tasty cookie has all of Santa’s favorite ingredients, lots of festive Christmas colors, and is perfect recipe for enjoying under the Christmas tree or for Christmas morning.

A close up view of a single cookie stacked on other cookies on a plate from overhead.

Why We Love Santa’s Favorite Cookies

Soft And Gooey Cookies– Buttery cookies that melt in your mouth are the perfect cookie with a cup of hot chocolate. The vanilla pudding mix makes an extra soft and chewy cookie.
Full Of The Best Mix-Ins– You can make these delicious easy cookies as is with the creamy chocolate, gooey marshmallows and salty crunchy pretzels, or add your own favorite treats mixed into these soft cookies.
Santa and Elf Approved– Leave these cookies out on Christmas Eve for Santa Claus and your favorite elves and watch these tasty cookies disappear!

Santa loves festive treats, and I bet it was really hard for him to pick a favorite. You can also try these fun twisted Peppermint Candy Cane cookies, Christmas Tree Merguine Cookies, the white chocolate peppermint fudge or my favorite adorable Christmas Tree Rice Krispie Treats!

Ingredients For M&M Pudding Cookies

Ingredients for cookies in bowls and set on a counter with text labels from overhead.

1 cup unsalted butter softened, 2 sticks
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
2 large large eggs + 1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3.4 ounces vanilla instant pudding mix One box, must be instant
2 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
¼ cup chocolate chunks semisweet, or chips plus extra for decorating
¼ cup M&Ms red and green, plus extra for decorating
¼ cup mini marshmallows plus extra for decorating
¼ cup pretzels pieces – plus extra for decorating

Marshmallow Tip- I love the addition of the gooey marshmallows and slightly salty pretzels, but if you prefer you can substitute them for more M&Ms or chocolate chunks in this recipe.

How To Make Santa’s Favorite Cookies

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar with an electric mixer until well mixed.

Butter, brown sugar and white sugar in a mixing bowl on a counter from overhead with other cookie ingredients on the counter nearby.

Add the eggs, extra egg yolk, vanilla extract and mix until combined. Pour in the instant pudding and mix well.

Eggs, wet ingredients and pudding mix being mixed into creamed butter sugar mixture in a large bowl on a counter from overhead with more ingredients on the counter nearby.

In a separate bowl add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix to combine. Add this dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix with an electric mixer until a dough forms.

Mixing the dry flour and other ingredients into the wet ingredients for the cookie dough in a large bowl on a kitchen counter from overhead.

Fold in the chocolate and M&Ms and mix into the dough. With a silicone spatula to keep the pretzels from crushing too much, fold in the marshmallows and pretzel pieces, mixing until just combined.

Cookie dough being mixed with red and green M&Ms, chocolate chunks, pretzels and marshmallows in a mixing bowl from overhead on a counter.

Chill the dough for at least 1 hour, but can be overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
With a medium cookie scoop. portion the cookie dough balls into two tablespoon balls. Leave at least two inches between cookies when placing them on the prepared baking sheet. Top each cookie dough ball with several extra chocolate chips, marshmallow pieces, pretzel pieces and M&Ms. Marshmallows on top can be added later for a prettier cookie. See notes at the bottom of the page in the recipe card.

Baking sheet with cookie dough balls covered in chocolate chunks, red and green M&Ms, marshmallows and pretzels pieces.

When you add the dough balls to the pan, try not to put a marshmallow that is in the dough in direct contact with the bottom of the pan. The marshmallows do tend to melt if they touch the pan, but are delicious inside or on top of the cookie dough.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until they set at the edges and lightly browned on top. You don’t want to overcook these, it’s better to underbake in the middle slightly.

Plate of cookies covered in red and green M&Ms, chocolate chunks, marshmallows and pretzel pieces on a counter from above with a glass of milk nearby.

Let the cookies cool for 2-3 minutes on the pan, then transfer the cookies to a wire racks to finish cooling completely. Enjoy!

How Long Will These Cookies Last?

Santa’s favorite cookies will last for 4-5 days when stored in a covered airtight container on the counter but will taste their best if eaten within 3 days. Santa usually gobbles them up pretty fast though if he is nearby!

Variation Ideas

These cookies kind of remind me of Panara’s Kitchen Sink Cookies, they have a little bit of everything in them. You can totally get a little creative based on ingredients you may already have in your pantry.

Swap out the Instant Pudding Flavor– Try french vanilla, white chocolate, butterscotch or cheesecake-flavored pudding in these cookies. Since the cookie flavor isn’t a chocolate base I would suggest sticking to a lighter-colored pudding for this recipe. With chocolate pudding, the chocolate flavor may not be strong enough with the butter and brown sugar base of the cookie, but so many of the flavors are delicious!

Sprinkle In Nuts– Try peanuts, walnuts or pecans in these cookies for a delicious crunch, just swap out one of the other mix-ins.

Add Toffee Bits– crunchy, buttery toffee bits are a great addition to these cookies.

Sprinkle Candy Canes– Crushed up Candy Canes can be added to these cookies. I like to sprinkle them over the cookies just as they come out of the oven as the candy cane bits can melt in the oven.

Peppermint Chocolate Bits -Use peppermint chocolate baking chips such as Andes mints or peppermint truffle baking chips. These can usually be found at the grocery store around Christmas.

Other Cookies You Will Love

Molasses Cookies– These delicious cookies are soft and chewy gingerbread cookies that are so flavorful. I’ve shown how to decorate them extra special for the holidays if you like too!

Reese’s Pieces Peanut Butter Chip Cookies– Peanut butter cookies stuffed with reeses pieces, peanut butter chips and peanut butter cups, these cookies are sweet, salty and full of peanut butter flavor in the best way.

Santa’s Favorite Sugar Cookies – These cutout cookies are soft and buttery, require no chill time and don’t spread. The perfect cookie recipe to decorate with frosting for the holiday season.