4th of July Rice Krispie Cookie Recipe

This simple rice krispie cookie recipe combines a classic white chocolate chip cookie with M&Ms and rice krispies for a cookie full of taste, texture, and fun 4th of July colors! Switch up the colors to make these fun rice krispie cookies work for any occasion!

You’ve probably had rice krispie treats. You may have even made my 4th of July rice krispie treats.

But have you ever had rice krispie cookies? This fun rice krispie cookie recipe combines a delicious white chocolate chip cookie with rice krispies for a cookie full of fun flavor and crunch!

Once you’ve tried cookies with rice krispies in them, you’ll wonder why you haven’t been making them all along!

While I made these a 4th of July version to go with any other red, white, and blue desserts you might be serving, you could totally switch up the colors and use them for Christmas (red and green), Halloween (black and orange), or even Easter (pastel colored M&Ms).

They’re a great addition to a 4th of July dessert table or as a fun treat to give out at the end of this 4th of July scavenger hunt. Or just eat the entire batch yourself after fireworks, I’ll never tell!

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• Unique – not many people have had rice krispies cookies so bringing these cookies to a party means people will get to try something new and unique!
• Versatile recipe – I mentioned it once but this recipe is great for changing up with the seasons! Add green and red M&Ms and bring it to holiday cookie exchanges, use regular M&Ms and sell them at a bake sale. So many ways to enjoy these delicious cookies!
• No chill dough – these simple cookies are made by just dumping a bunch of ingredients into a bowl and baking. There’s no chilling, rolling out, cutting out, or any other fancy steps involved! They’re ready to eat in just a few minutes!

Ingredients

Ingredient Notes

• Rice krispies – any crispy rice cereal will do but traditional Rice Krispies are always best.
• Sprinkles – these are optional but can be a really fun addition for color and festive accents! If you do add sprinkles, I recommend adding smaller ones that are easy to eat in a cookie!
• M&Ms – I used patriotic M&Ms in these particular cookies, but you can really use any color you want to change things up for a different holiday season! Also, I prefer these with regular size M&Ms because they come in fun festive colors, but you could technically use M&M minis if you want as well.
• Butter – I recommend using one cup salted butter that’s softened to room temperature. Unlike a lot of cookie recipes (including this 4th of July pinwheel cookie recipe), the salt in the butter adds a nice contrast to the otherwise sweet nature of these cookies.
• White chocolate chips – I always recommend using a high quality chocolate chip like Ghirardelli or Nestle. Store-brand or generic ones just don’t melt the same way and give you the yummy cookies you’re going for.
• Vanilla – I always recommend using a pure vanilla extract compared to knock-off or cheap brands but anything will work.
• Brown sugar – you’ll want to use light brown sugar in these compared to dark brown.
• Flour – all purpose flour is best for these, anything else will change the texture of the cookies.

How to make rice Krispie cookies

The good thing about these cookies is how simple they are to make. The bad thing is that they are so addicting, they may never actually make it to your cookie jar. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Preheat the oven to 375°F and line a baking sheet (aka sheet pan) with parchment paper. Set the prepared baking sheet aside while you make the cookie dough.

First, you need to cream butter, brown sugar, and white sugar in a large mixing bowl until fluffy. Since you’re using brown sugar, the mixture won’t really get much lighter, but it should get creamy and fluffy.

You can either do this in a large bowl with an electric mixer or in the bowl of a stand mixer. I prefer the stand mixer just so you can get the mixture totally creamed together. Your total time mixing will just be much less!

Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated and smooth. Once that mixture is smooth, mix in the baking soda and salt.

Now fold in the flour and mix until just barely combined. Mix on a low speed and stop mixing once you don’t see any more of the flour poking through the butter mixture.

Carefully stir the M&Ms, white chocolate chips, Rice Krispie cereal, and sprinkles. You can stir these in with a spatula, wooden spoon, or just a regular spoon. Stir gently so you don’t break all of these larger ingredients into small pieces.

Use a 1 1/2 tablespoon cookie scoop (aka a medium cookie scoop) to scoop dough and place on the prepared cookie sheet. We’re going for small to medium size cookies, not large cookies.

Add any leftover chocolate chips, M&Ms, or sprinkles to the top if desired. This is how a lot of bakeries get cookies that look amazing, but it’s not necessary.

Place in the preheated oven and bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges just barely start to brown. If you don’t have two ovens, bake the first batch first then bake the second batch after so you get the right consistency during baking.

Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

Let cookies cool completely before eating. These are delicious on their own or served with a glass of milk. I mean milk and cereal – does it get any more delicious?

Expert Tips & Storage Info

Store these in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days.

Make the cookie dough ahead of time then chill the dough until you’re ready to bake. Bake the cookies directly from chilled using the same baking ingredients for the perfect cookie.

Freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to three months. Simply place them on the prepared cookie sheet, freeze the cookie balls on the baking sheet, then place them in a zip top freezer bag once frozen.

Mix it up with different colored M&Ms and different types of chips. While I really like the white chocolate chips for the red, white, and blue look, you could also make these with butterscotch chips, caramel chips, or even peanut butter chips if you really wanted to.

Recipe FAQs

More Easy Cookie Recipes

If you’re after delicious cookie recipes, here are some others to try after you make this yummy rice krispie cookie recipe!

• Dirt cookies – these fun dirt and worm cookies are as cute as they are delicious!
• Caramel toffee cookies – a delicious caramel cookie topped with toffee chunks!
• 4 ingredient pumpkin cookies – super simple pumpkin cookies made from a box cake mix!
• Sugar cookie bites – the best mini sugar cookies ever, delicious and simple to make!
• Kentucky butter cake cookies – sweet buttery cookies topped with a butter cream cheese frosting!