These irresistible Lucky Charms cookies are soft, buttery drop sugar cookies bursting with sweet marshmallow flavor. They’re an easy St. Patrick’s Day cookie choc full of Lucky Charms cereal.
Turn your favorite breakfast cereals into delicious desserts. Try these Fruity Pebble sugar cookies and my Lucky Charms marshmallow ice cream, too.
Magical Lucky Charms Sugar Cookies
Craving a hefty dose of childhood nostalgia, and a deliciously soft sugar cookie? These Lucky Charms cookies have you covered! This recipe starts with my easy sugar cookie dough base. The cookies turn out rich and buttery, with soft-baked middles and lightly crisp edges, bursting with sweet marshmallows. Make these cookies for St. Patrick’s Day, and use any leftover Lucky Charms to make cereal milk whipped cream!
Why You’ll Love This Lucky Charms Cookie Recipe
- Soft and chewy. Some key ingredients, the right oven time, and leaving these cookies slightly underbaked all contribute to the perfect soft, buttery sugar cookie. The fantastical marshmallows are one big bonus to the chewiness.
- Easy ingredients. You’ll find mostly pantry staples in the recipe, but don’t skip the cream of tartar!
- Great for St. Patrick’s Day. I love making these cookies as a St. Patrick’s Day treat for the kids, but they’re so irresistible that you’ll never run out of excuses to make them year-round!
Ingredient Notes
I’ve included notes on the key ingredients you’ll need for these cookies below. Don’t forget to scroll down to the recipe card for a printable ingredients list and instructions.
- Butter – Softened beforehand. Room-temperature butter is cool to the touch and your finger should leave a slight indent when you press it.
- Sugar – This recipe uses a sugar cookie base, so granulated sugar is perfect.
- Vanilla – For the best flavor in baking, use real vanilla extract.
- Cream of Tartar – These cookies get a touch of tang and extra chewiness from the cream of tartar (just like my favorite snickerdoodle cookies!).
- Lucky Charms Cereal – Only the marshmallows! Separate by hand
- Decorations – White chocolate and sprinkles for an optional garnish.
How to Make Lucky Charms Cookies
Here’s a visual step-by-step showing how to make these buttery, colorful Lucky Charms cookies. Find the printable directions in the recipe card below the post.
- Mix the wet ingredients. Start by creaming together softened butter with sugar for several minutes until well combined. Next, add the eggs and vanilla.
- Add the dry ingredients. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl, and then add these to the wet ingredients, mixing to form the dough. Slowly fold in the marshmallows (I recommend doing this by hand), taking care that they don’t get crushed.
- Portion the cookies. Scoop the cookie dough onto a lined baking sheet using a large cookie scoop, or you can use a silicone baking mat.
- Chill. It is recommended to chill for at least 60 minutes or up to 24 hours (see recipe card for additional notes)
- Bake. Pop your Lucky Charms cookies into the oven for 10-12 minutes at 350ºF. Leave the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for a bit before moving them to a rack to cool.
- Decorate. Optional, but so fun! Melt some white chocolate in the microwave and drizzle it over the cooled cookies. I like to finish these colorful cookies off with extra rainbow sprinkles.
Recipe Tips and Variations
Just like other sugar cookie recipes, these Lucky Charms cookies turn out best with the following tips in mind:
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- Take the butter out of the fridge ahead of time. 30 minutes at room temperature usually does the trick.
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- Add icing. Instead of melted chocolate, drizzle these cookies with sugar cookie icing instead.
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- Add chocolate chips or sprinkles. White chocolate chips would be delicious in these Lucky Charms cookies! Add in a ½ cup of chocolate chips or sprinkles at the same time that you stir in the marshmallows. You can use milk or dark chocolate, too.
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- Buy marshmallows only. Some stores or Amazon have bulk bags of just Lucky Charms marshmallows, no cereal or imitation brands. Otherwise, you’ll simply need to pick out the marshmallows from a box of Lucky Charms. I always buy a box, and then eat the leftover cereal.
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- Measure the ingredients correctly. If your sugar cookies aren’t soft and chewy, it’s likely due to over-measured flour. Use a kitchen scale when possible, and see my tutorial on how to measure flour for tips.
- Be sure to line the pan. Marshmallows on the edge melt and become sticky. If you don’t line the pan, you’ll find it difficult to remove the cookies without damaging them.
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- Don’t overbake the cookies. The secret to bakery-style cookies is to leave them slightly underbaked. If the cookies are golden brown, they’re over baked! Take the cookies out of the oven when they’re just set at the edges and they’ll continue to set while they rest on the baking sheet.
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- Get the look. For a pretty presentation, reserve a handful of Lucky Charms mallows and press them gently into the tops of the cookies right before they go into the oven.
- Marshmallow will be chewy. After they cool and once stored, the marshmallows will be soft and chewy not crunchy. The dehydrated marshmallows absorb the moisture from the cookies,
Why Did My Cookies Spead?
This cookie is meant to be thin and rather flat, and that is in part due to the marshmallows which melt when baking. First, right when these cookies come out of the oven, take a large round cookie cutter or a spatula and press the edges of the cookie back into the center of the cookie.
If the butter is too warm, the cookies will spread more, even after chilled. Alternatively, improperly measured dry ingredients is often a culprit of cookies spreading. This is why it’s so important to use a food scale when measuring ingredients.
What is Lucky Charms Cereal?
In case you’re unfamiliar, Lucky Charms Cereal with Marshmallows is a classic breakfast cereal in the US, famous for being “magically delicious!” The marshmallow shapes include hearts, stars, horseshoes, clovers, blue moons, unicorns, rainbows, and red balloons, mixed in between toasted oat pieces.
How to Store
- To store. These Lucky Charms sugar cookies will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 5-7 days. Make sure to store them covered in an airtight container.
- Freeze. Freeze the baked cookies in a freezer-safe container or resealable freezer bag for up to 2 months. Thaw the cookies at room temperature before serving.
More Easy Cookie Recipes
- Cinnamon Toast Crunch Marshmallow Cookies
- Fruity Pebble Marshmallow Cookies
- Strawberry Pop Tart Cookies
- Circus Animal Sugar Cookies
Lucky Charms Cookies
- Prep Time: 40 minutes
- Chill Time: 60 minutes
- Cook Time: 11 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 51 minutes
- Yield: 20 Cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These fun Lucky Charms cookies are soft-drop sugar cookies choc full of Lucky Charms Cereal marshmallows. They’re an easy St. Patrick’s Day cookie.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups (380g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoon (10ml) pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups Lucky Charms dehydrated marshmallows
- 2 ounces white chocolate bar or chips (optional)
- Sprinkles (optional)
Instructions
- Allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes. Combine the butter with the sugar and beat on medium speed until well creamed together. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until the eggs are well beaten.
- In a separate bowl, combine the remaining dry ingredients. Add to the wet ingredients and beat on medium-low speed until well combined until the dough forms. Finally, mix in the marshmallows with a spatula or with your mixing speed on low so they do not get crushed.
- Use a large cookie scoop and portion out the cookie dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Chill for at least 60 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. If the dough was chilled for more than 60 minutes, let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes first. Bake one tray at a time in the middle rack of the oven at 350° F for 12-14 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for several minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To decorate (optional): Microwave the white chocolate at 50% power in 20-second increments, stir and repeat until melted and stirred smooth. Drizzle over the cookies and add sprinkles right away.
Notes
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- To store. These Lucky Charms sugar cookies will stay fresh at room temperature for up to 5-7 days. Make sure to store them covered in an airtight container.
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- Freeze. Freeze the baked cookies in a freezer-safe container or resealable freezer bag for up to 2 months. Thaw the cookies at room temperature before serving.
These turned out really good! Just want to point out that you said “no chilling needed” above the recipe, then in the recipe, you say to chill for 60 min. Waiting is a tough thing when you’re baking with twin 4 year olds:)
I am so glad to hear that!! Thank you for the note, I updated the recipes to include the chilling time, I will make that adjustment.
Hi, I’d like to try this recipe, but can you tell me how many grams of marshmallows is needed?
Many thanks 😊
It difficult to measure the weight for that specifically. The cereal box specifies that 1 1/2 cups would be about 54grams, but that’s inclusive of the cereal and marshmallow together. The marshmallows are much lighter. Similar products on Amazon list 1 cup to be about 30grams. So in this case it would be around 45grams. If you measure it out and it feels like not enough, throwing in a little extra won’t hurt!