The Best Monster Cookies

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This moist and chewy cookie is the perfect treat to satisfy your peanut butter and chocolate craving! The rolled oats and peanut butter combine to form the perfect chewy cookie base while the m&m’s and chocolate chips add just the right amount of sweetness. Bring these to any get-together and you’re sure to receive some compliments!

I decided I would start my blog with a few tried-and-true recipes that I have used over the years. So here we are! Monster cookies. This delicious blend of peanut butter, oatmeal and chocolate is always a crowd pleaser. This cookie recipe is also very versatile and could be turned into bars, mini cookies (using mini chocolate chips & mini m&m’s) or (my personal favorite) homemade ice cream cookie sandwiches! The hefty amount of peanut butter in this recipe helps make the cookies extra soft and chewy. It also never hurts to add a few extra chocolate chips or m&m’s.

Additional tips for these cookies:

• This recipe makes a lot of dough – be sure to use a large mixing bowl if you are using a hand-held mixer (the bowl on a kitchenaid mixer is big enough). I usually use our large pyrex bowl (4.75 qts) since we don’t have a mixing bowl that is large enough
• Be generous with the peanut butter! It makes the cookies nice and chewy. If you have a kitchen scale, I recommend just weighing out the peanut butter as you add it (I included the weight and the cup measurement in this recipe). Peanut butter can be a hassle to measure otherwise (plus weighing is more accurate).
• Use rolled oats (not quick oats). Quick oats are rolled oats that are coarsely chopped (and processed slightly differently) to allow for quicker cooking. When baking, rolled oats will provide a better structure and a coarse, chewy texture. While instant or quick oats can be used in a pinch, it is not recommended for this recipe as they will absorb more liquid which leads to a cakier cookie.
• Slightly chill the dough before balling it (30 mins to 1 hour). The dough will not drop as much if it is fully chilled or frozen, creating thicker cookies (if this is what you are looking for, then go for it!). Balling them at room temperature is totally fine too, it’s just messier and harder to get even shapes on your cookies

Extra cookie baking tips:

• Check the expiration date on your baking soda! What? Baking soda and baking powder expire? The answer is YES. Once they have reached their shelf life, their potency is drastically reduced which can result in flat cookies. Click here to see the steps to check if your baking powder or baking soda is still potent enough to use in your baked goods.
• Use parchment paper or a silicone baking mat: this helps the bottom of the cookies (especially the chocolate) from getting over baked/burning.
  • Parchment paper tip: grease the pan before adding the parchment paper. This helps the paper stick to the pan!
• Use a cookie dough scoop for faster and more even cookie balling. Also, try greasing the scoop beforehand to keep the dough from sticking.
• When making cookies, I rarely bake them all at once unless I have a specific event for which I am baking. Most of the time I will bake a pan or two of cookies, then roll the excess dough into tube shapes and freeze them. When you are ready to bake them, just use a large knife to cut them into 1-inch slices and pop them in the oven!