M&M's Chocolate Buttons

M&M’s Milk Chocolate

M&M’s are milk chocolate lentils inside a hard sugar shell, and the shell is the entire trick: it keeps the chocolate off your fingers and gives the bite a crack before the chocolate arrives. Mars have made them to the same idea since the 1940s and the recipe has barely moved.

This is the plain milk chocolate version — no peanut, no crispy centre — which Mars sell in the UK simply as M&M’s. It is a till-side impulse bag rather than a sharing pouch, and it sits on the counter next to the dog chews for the person, not the dog.

Performance & Benefits

• Milk chocolate centre in a hard, brightly coloured sugar shell.
• The shell keeps the chocolate from melting onto hands, pockets and steering wheels.
• 480 kcal per 100g, with 19.0g fat of which 12.0g saturates.
• Carbohydrate 70.0g per 100g, of which sugars 66.0g; protein 5.1g; salt 0.13g.
• Colours in the current UK recipe include beetroot concentrate alongside the declared E numbers.
• A counter-top impulse line that sells steadily alongside drinks and snacks.

Suitable For

• A quick sweet at the till or in the van.
• Sharing, or keeping in a glovebox where a bar would melt.
• Anyone who wants plain milk chocolate rather than the peanut or crispy versions.
• Suitable for vegetarians as far as the ingredient list goes, but note carmine is among the declared colours.
• Absolutely not for dogs, cats, horses or any other animal — see the Care & Caution section.

Feeding

• A confectionery treat for people, eaten as it comes.
• Store somewhere cool; the shell holds up better than bare chocolate but will still soften in a hot car.
• Keep the bag closed once opened so the shells do not go tacky.
• Check the on-pack date and the current ingredient panel, which is the authority if the recipe changes.

Composition & Analysis

• Ingredients: sugar, cocoa mass, skimmed milk powder, cocoa butter, lactose, starch, milk fat, palm fat, glucose syrup, shea fat, stabiliser (gum arabic), dextrin, glazing agents (beeswax, carnauba wax), colours (E100, carmine, E132, E133, E150a, E150c, E150d, E153, E160a, E160e, E162, E163, E170), beetroot concentrate, emulsifiers (soya lecithin, E445), salt, flavourings, palm kernel oil, antioxidant (E306).
• Nutrition per 100g: energy 2,013kJ / 480kcal, fat 19.0g of which saturates 12.0g, carbohydrate 70.0g of which sugars 66.0g, protein 5.1g, salt 0.13g.
• Allergens: contains milk and soya. May contain peanut, hazelnut and almond.
• Mars publish no product called M&M’s Chocolate Buttons; the plain milk chocolate variety above is what this listing is.
• Mars publish no pack weight for this counter line on their nutrition pages.

Care & Caution

• Contains milk and soya, and may contain peanut, hazelnut and almond — not safe for anyone with those allergies.
• Chocolate is toxic to dogs. Theobromine poisoning can kill, and a bag left within reach of a dog is a genuine emergency, so keep these away from pets entirely.
• Chocolate is also dangerous to cats, and the sugar shell and whole lentils are a choking hazard for small children.
• Recipes change. The ingredient and allergen panel on the pack in your hand is the one that counts.