Oatmeal Skillet Cookie with M&Ms for an easy shareable dessert
If you have a cast iron pan on hand, this giant oatmeal skillet cookie is an easy way to end a good family dinner. Grab a pizza wheel and serve it in wedges with ice cream, and you’ll never miss the pricey restaurant equivalent.
Like oatmeal M&M cookie bars you get all the happy color and chocolate of M&Ms with all the cozy chewy soft brown sugary oatmeal cookie flavors you look for in an oatmeal cookie.
| Taste | Texture |
| Brown sugar oatmeal with chocolatey M&Ms | chewy, soft |
| Active time | Total time | Yield | Difficulty |
| 10 min | 33 minutes | 32 cookies or more | Easy |
What are skillet cookies?
A skillet cookie is one giant cookie baked in a skillet, served warm with ice cream. When served, the cookie is cut into wedges, which makes sense given that skillet cookies have their origins in pizza restaurants like BJs (they call theirs the pizookie, aka pizza cookie).
Why you’ll want to make an oatmeal skillet cookie
- Easier than a cake: Make the dough, pat it into the pan, and bake it. This is a low time commitment recipe with big rewards.
- Easy to make ahead: You can easily make the dough in the morning and put the cookie in the oven as you’re eating dinner. Sitting around the table with your family or friends, bringing out this cookie topped with ice cream is definitely going to garner some appreciation.
- Easy to portion: Just like with pie or cake, it’s easy to cut yourself a bigger or smaller portion of a skillet cookie. Actually it’s easier because skillet cookies hold together better than either pie or cake. To serve more people, cut it into squarish pieces instead.
- Fun presentation: It’s legitimately fun to serve a dessert out of a cast iron pan. They have a classic look, a warm inviting feel, and they do a good job of protecting your cookie from being crushed.
Ingredients for Oatmeal M&M bars
- Cooking spray, for the pan
- Butter, at room temperature
- Granulated sugar
- Light or dark brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- Old fashioned rolled oats
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- M&Ms candy, any mix of colors (I’m using Trader Joe’s dye free chocolate candies) or chocolate chips or your favorite chocolate bar chopped up
Equipment needed
- 10″ or 12″ cast iron skillet or other heavy bottomed skillet you can bake in
- parchment
- double rolling pin : helpful but not necessary
- Pizza wheel
What kind of skillet should I use?
Cast iron is the classic choice here, but any heavy bottomed skillet that is oven-safe should work. If you use a pan lighter than cast iron, you may need to bake the cookie for less time since lighter pans won’t take as long to warm up. I’m using my Le Creuset 12″ skillet here, but my All Clad 10″ or 12″ pans work equally well. The cast iron wins on style points, so there’s that.
How to make an oatmeal skillet cookie
- Line your pan: Press a piece of parchment paper around the top rim of a cast iron skillet. As you do this, it should leave enough of a mark that you can use a pair of scissors to cut out a circle the size of your pan. Spritz the pan with enough cooking spray to help the parchment stick to the bottom of the pan, and then press the parchment into the pan.
- Make the skillet cookie dough: Mix the butter and sugars until it’s a smooth paste. You don’t need to beat this as much as for the loaded oatmeal cookies since these are a flatter cookie. Give it a minute, and you’re good to go. Add in the eggs and vanilla, then the oats, flour, baking powder, salt, and about half the M&Ms. Mix until the flour just disappears.
- Pat the dough into the pan: Scrape out the dough into the pan. Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap and press on top the plastic wrap to press the dough to cover the bottom of the pan.
- Bake: Top the dough with the rest of the M&Ms, and then bake in a 350 F (180 C) oven for about 20-23 minutes. The edges will be just browning at this point, and the cookie should feel set. Serve it warm with a scoop of ice cream.
Ice cream to serve with your M&M skillet cookie
Oatmeal Skillet Cookie with M&Ms
- Total Time: 33 minutes
- Yield: 8 large cookie wedges 1x
Description
A fun shareable giant cookie baked in a cast iron pan that’s a great end to a good family meal.
Ingredients
Scale
Cooking spray, for the pan
- 1 stick butter (113 grams), at room temperature
- 6 Tablespoons granulated sugar (75 grams)
- 6 Tablespoons packed brown sugar (80 grams)
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats (95 grams)
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (130 grams)
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 oz bag of M&Ms, any color
Equipment
- 10” or 12” cast iron skillet or other heavy pan you can place in the oven
- parchment
Instructions
Prep the pan
- Press a piece of parchment paper around the top rim of a 10” or 12” cast iron skillet. As you do this, it should leave enough of a mark that you can use a pair of scissors to cut out a circle the size of your pan.
- Spritz the pan with enough cooking spray to help the parchment stick to the bottom of the pan, and then press the parchment into the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180C).
Make the skillet cookie dough
- Cream the butter with the sugars on low speed (Kitchen Aid 1 or with a hand mixer) for about 1 minute, just enough to make the sugars and butter into a smooth paste. It’s not necessary to beat more air into this mixture.
- Add in the egg and the vanilla and beat for a few more seconds.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and about half the M&Ms in a bowl.
- Scrape the bowl and beater well, paying attention to the bottom of the bowl which always likes to hide a little pocket of unmixed butter.
- After you’ve finished scraping, pour in the dry ingredients (the mixer should be off!).
- Lower the mixer paddle into the whole mix, then carefully turn the mixer on then off rapidly. If you make this on/off motion in one little microsecond burst at a time, the flour won’t go everywhere. After a few power pulses, the mixer should be able to mix everything without flinging flour. Mix just until you see no flour–about 10 seconds.
Bake the cookie
- Scoop the dough into the middle of the skillet.
- Cover the dough with a piece of plastic wrap and press the dough against the parchment to cover the bottom. Top the dough with the remaining M&Ms.
- Place the skillet in the oven to bake for 20-23 minutes, just until the edges start to brown and the middle of the cookie feels set.
- Allow the cookie sheet to cool about 5 minutes. Use a pizza wheel to cut the cookie into wedges. Serve the cookies straight from the pan with ice cream.
- You can store the skillet cookie at room temperature for up to 2 days. To freeze the cookie, pop the parchment out of the pan. From there you can wrap the whole cookie in a plastic bag or individual wedges for up to 3 months.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 23 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
