Chewy Monster Cookies with Peanut Butter and M&M’s
Can’t decide between a peanut butter cookie, an oatmeal cookie and a chocolate chip cookie? These chewy monster cookies are all three in one, with chunky peanut butter and oats loaded up with chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and mini M&M’s. They’re flourless, they mix up in one bowl and they bake in about 10 minutes.
A Quick Look At The Recipe
- Recipe Name: Monster Cookies
- Serves: 4
- Main Ingredients: + 1/2 cups chunky peanut butter, dark brown sugar, white sugar, softened butter, eggs, vanilla, oats quick, baking soda
- Why You'll Love It: These are The Monster Cookies Everyone Loves because they have just the right ingredient for each and every person yet they are also easy to make!
They’re called the monster cookies everyone loves in our house because there’s a little something for every person in each bite. Swap in orange and brown M&M’s and they’re right at home on a Halloween party platter next to big chewy Halloween candy cookies.
Why These Monster Cookies Are So Chewy
Oats stand in for flour here, so the cookies bake up thick and chewy, and a full cup and a half of chunky peanut butter adds richness plus a little crunch. Using both dark brown and white sugar gives them crisp edges and soft centers, and letting them rest on the pan for 5 minutes lets the middles finish setting.
Ingredients for Monster Cookies
Chunky peanut butter: It adds texture, but creamy works if that’s what you have.
Quick oats: They hold the dough together in place of flour and keep the cookies chewy.
Mix-ins: Chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and mini M&M’s are the classic trio. Nuts, butterscotch chips or chopped candy bars work too.
You’ll find the exact amounts in the recipe card below.
Helpful Tips Before You Start
- Use a cookie scoop or roll golf ball-size portions so the cookies bake evenly.
- Press a few extra M&M’s on top of each dough ball before baking so they look bakery-pretty.
- Grease your cookie sheets well. If yours are worn out, I love these Caraway baking sheets.
- Let the cookies rest on the pan for 5 minutes before moving them, since they’re soft when they first come out.
How to Make Monster Cookies
1Mix the Dough
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Add the peanut butter, sugars, butter, eggs, oats, baking soda, vanilla and salt to a large bowl.
2Add the Mix-Ins
Mix well with an electric mixer, then add the chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and M&M’s and mix until blended.
3Scoop the Cookies
Roll the dough into golf ball-size rounds and set them 2 inches apart on greased cookie sheets.
4Top with M&M’s
Press a few extra M&M’s on top of each cookie.
5Bake and Cool
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Let them cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then move them to a rack.
Serving and Storing
Pack them in lunchboxes, take a plate to a bake sale, or set them out for a Halloween party with white chocolate candy corn cookies and ghost meringue cookies. You’ll find more ideas in our list of easy Halloween treats and desserts, and a glass of cold milk is all you need on the side.
Keep them in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.
Monster Cookies FAQs
Are monster cookies gluten-free?
There’s no flour in them, so they can be, as long as you use oats labeled gluten-free and check your candy and chips.
Can I use old-fashioned oats?
Quick oats give the softest, most even texture. Old-fashioned oats work but make the cookies a little chunkier.
Why are they called monster cookies?
They’re loaded with a little bit of everything, from peanut butter and oats to chocolate chips and candy, which makes them big, hearty “monster” cookies.
Chewy Monster Cookies with Peanut Butter and M&M’s
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups chunky peanut butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup butter 1 stick, softened
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 4 cups quick oats
- 2 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup semi sweet or milk chocolate chips
- 1 cup mini M&M’s plus extra for topping
- 1 cup peanut butter chips
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl combine peanut butter, sugars, butter, eggs, oats, baking soda, vanilla and salt. Mix well with an electric mixer.
- Add in all other ingredients and mix again until well blended.
- Form dough into golfball size cookies and place two inches apart on greased cookie sheets.
- Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before removing from pan. Enjoy!
Was planning your chocolate pound cake this weekend. Now adding these cookies to my list! Think I better add “double time at the gym” to my to do list! Thanks Christy! You never disappoint. These look amazing 🙂
Loved that story reminded me of my childhood my mama would bake a lot of our goodies too glad we couldn’t afford the fancy grocery store treats we would’ve missed out on all the love and goodness mama added to all her cakes pies and cookies.
Is this right, there is no flour in this recipe? How nice, going to store now.
Will bake this afternoon. Thanks Christy!
Doesn’t everyone make a double batch of cookies all the time?? Heavens, why waste the energy just making one batch!! Need to make it worthwhile, right? The first winter I lived in Washington state, I had nothing to do and no internet *gasp*, so I baked cookies – had over 100 dozen in a freezer and they only lasted 7 months! I’m going to give these a try using Splenda sugars for my diabetic DH – they may be making an appearance every week!
YEAH!!! I had forgotten about this old recipe, but it is another desert I can make for my husband, who has celiac disease and has to eat gluten free. Thank you, Christy!!!
I have been making these cookies for years…..LOVE them!!!
still make cookies weekly for just the 2 of us…homemade just tastes better and I can pronounce all the ingredients….
Just to show you how skewed children’s thinking has gotten – I also used to make cookies every week for my children. I would make 2-3 batches of different kinds every weekend so they would have cookies all week. My son cried one day and asked me why they had to eat homemade cookies instead of store bought like everyone else. I thought I was being a good mom. Instead my children viewed it as child abuse! Ha!
My youngest is the same about homemade mac and cheese vs. the “orange boxed” stuff! Yuck! Cannot fathom how a child would pick that over REAL cheese, butter and cream. :/ haha
I used to feel the same way when I was a kid–I would beg for Mom to buy cookies. What a little dork I was. LOL
we had a little neighbor girl come over one day while i was making cookies. I had a high school girls small group that met on monday nights at my house, and their favorite was snickerdoodles. I was getting ready for the girls when Mindy came over to visit. She had this look of total disbelief on her face when she saw what I was doing. She said, ” you mean you can really bake cookies. And not buy them from the store. I never heard of that.” I set her down with a plate of cookies and a glass of milk. She was converted, and a frequent raider of Mama Jane’s cookie jar until she moved away.