Brown butter lucky charms cookies that are soft with crisp edges, loaded with lucky charms cereal & marbled with marshmallow fluff.
This post may contain affiliate links, please read the privacy policy for details.
lucky charms cookies
I love creating desserts for the holidays because food is one of the best ways to bring people together. I am, however, not particularly a fan of green-dyed desserts. A fun way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day without dyeing everything green is by making these super delish lucky charms cookies. Here’s why I think you’ll love them:
- Brown butter: an easy way to instantly level up your cookies with toasty notes in every bite.
- Lucky charms cereal: the cute little marshmallows make these cookies gorgeous & delicious.
- Marshmallow fluff: we’re marbling marshmallow fluff throughout the cookie dough.
expert baking tips
Weigh your ingredients:
My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.
how to marble in the marshmallow fluff
Marshmallow fluff is definitely not an easy ingredient to work with. I recommend dumping out some of the marshmallow fluff into a bowl before starting to make things easier. Then, grab two small spoons and use one to grab a dollop of the marshmallow fluff, and the other to scrape it off into the cookie dough. Repeat until you have a decent amount of the top layer of dough covered, then scoop out your cookies. Once you’ve used most of the marshmallow fluff, repeat the marbling so that every cookie has some on top.
Mix the dough carefully:
When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.
Under bake for perfect cookies:
Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
The secret to perfectly round cookies:
Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!
A note on oven temperature:
Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.
ingredients for lucky charms cookies:
- All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
- Baking soda & baking powder: helps the cookies rise and the edges crisp up.
- Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
- Lucky charms cereal: I used their St. Patrick’s Day edition but the regular version – or any off-brand version – will work here as well.
- Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
- Granulated sugar & light brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers.
- Egg: for binding and for moisture.
- Vanilla: for flavor. Vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract will work here.
- Marshmallow fluff: for marbling on top of the cookies.
how to make lucky charms cookies
Below are a few images showing the process of making these cookies. You can find the full recipe and instructions at the end of this blog post.
- Brown the butter, then set it aside.
- Separate out the lucky charms cereal.
- Crush up the lucky charms cereal.
- Mix together the butter & both sugars, followed by the egg and vanilla.
- Mix in the dry ingredients, then chill the dough.
- Spread marshmallow fluff over the dough, scoop it out, bake, and enjoy!
lucky charms cookies recipe q&a
what is brown butter?
Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.
Because the butter gets cooked for a while, you do lose most of the moisture present in butter – just another reason I highly recommend weighing your ingredients! You should have 90g of butter left from the 113g at the start. Any less and you’ll want to add some water to the butter to bring it to 90g, or you’ll end up with some dry and crumbly cookies.
can I double this recipe?
Definitely – I’ve tested this recipe up to quadrupling it with no problem. Please be sure to use grams for the best results.
can I make these cookies ahead of time?
Definitely – cookie dough really only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again.
How to store lucky charms cookies
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 5 days, but will taste the best 1-3 days after baking.
tools and ingredients:
You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!
other recipes you might enjoy:
did you make this recipe?
I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery
Lucky Charms Cookies
Ingredients
- 113 g unsalted butter room temperature (8 tbsp.)
- 50 g lucky charms cereal (no marshmallows)
- 100 g light brown sugar (½ c.)
- 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
- 1 egg room temperature
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 140 g all purpose flour (1 c. + 2 ⅔ tbsp.)
- ½ tsp. baking powder
- ½ tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- 30 g lucky charms marshmallows (scant 1 c.) + extra for topping
- ~50 g marshmallow fluff (½ c.)
Instructions
- Brown the butter: In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
- Pour the brown butter into a medium sized mixing bowl. You should have 90g of brown butter – if you have a little less than that, you can add in a few grams of water until you reach 90g. Set aside.
- In the meantime, pour out some lucky charms into a medium sized bowl. Separate out 30g of the marshmallows and set them aside. Add 50g of the cereal (without marshmallows) to a ziploc bag and use a rolling pin or bowl to crush up the cereal. Set aside.
- Mix the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the brown butter.
- Whisk in the egg and vanilla.
- Add in the flour, crushed lucky charms cereal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few flour streaks remain.
- Add in the lucky charms marshmallows and fold just until no flour streaks remain.
- Cover the bowl tightly with a lid or with plastic wrap, and set the dough to chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, and up to 2 days.*
- Once you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Spread dollops of marshmallow fluff on top of the cookie dough.
- Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of dough. Once you have used all of the marshmallow fluff on top, add on some more. Place the cookies spread apart to allow room for spreading.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Immediately after taking the cookies out of the oven, take a bowl that is slightly larger than the cookies and swirl it around over the cookies to make them a little more uniform and circular. Also, press some more lucky charms marshmallows into the cookies while they're still hot, if desired. Enjoy!
Looks delicious.Your lucky charms marshmallows don’t look the the ones in the box Did you use a diff kind thx Debbie
Hi! I use the St. Patrick’s Day edition Lucky Charms but off-brand or regular Lucky Charms will work as well!
Can’t wait to try this. I appreciate you posting both types of measurements and what each ingredient will do for the recipe. (:
Thank you so much Mattie, I hope you enjoy the recipe! 🙂
Wow! These are amazing! Everyone in my house can’t stop eating them!!