Monster Cookies
Monster Cookies combine many of the best cookies into one! They’re soft and chewy, with peanut butter, oatmeal, milk chocolate candies, and chocolate chips for a delicious treat.
If you’ve ever wanted “everything” in one cookie, then Monster cookies are for you.
The texture has bits of everything you could want: crisp on the edges, but a bit chewy as your teeth sink into it, plus bits of oatmeal for a hearty bite, and melty chocolate candies.
And then the flavor: there’s creamy peanut butter, the subtle flavor of molasses from the brown sugar, some hints of chocolate chip cookie with two kinds of chocolate, and slightly sweet oatmeal.
You’d think it’d be too “busy” for all of that to be going on, but it’s not. The same goes for the combination of chocolate AND oatmeal in The Very Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. It all works to create something that I view as an ultimate cookie.
The beauty of a monster cookie is you can do different types of mix-ins for it.
In the past I’ve done toffee bits, peanut butter chips, raisins, cranberries, and nuts. You can play with it to suit your tastes, or what you happen to have in your pantry.
One more thing I want to mention is that this recipe has been updated from when I originally published it in 2011. After several batches of testing, the most drastic change was decreasing the amount of oats and adding a small amount of flour to ultimately give it a more standard cookie texture, like that of a chocolate chip cookie.
You still get the oats in each bite, but I think this updated recipe is much better than the original. But the original, which is flour and gluten-free, is still pasted at the bottom if you prefer that.
Okay, let’s bake!
How to Make Them:
In a bowl, combine a stick of softened butter along with brown sugar and granulated sugar:
Using brown sugar in addition to the regular will give the cookie a slightly chewy texture that is heavenly!
Cream the butter and sugars together, then add creamy peanut butter, an egg, vanilla extract, and salt:
Cream that together to combine, then add the dry ingredients (flour and baking soda):
When the dry ingredients are almost mixed in, add some oats, chocolate chips, and chocolate candies:
You can do other mix-ins here too, like nuts, dried fruits, toffee bits, and more.
Also, for the oats, you want to make sure you’re using quick oats or slightly cut up old fashioned oats. Quick oats are better, but I usually only keep old-fashioned on hand. Simple pulse them in a food processor a few times to break them down slightly.
Stir everything together to distribute the ingredients, and to ensure all the flour is mixed in:
Use a cookie scoop to portion out large scoops of cookie dough onto a silicone mat or parchment lined baking sheet:
If you want to freeze your monster cookies: Freeze the scoops of cookie dough for up to two months. When ready to bake, bake straight from frozen at the same temperature, but adding a few minutes to baking time.
If desired, you can press a few extra chocolate candies into the outside of the cookie:
It’s only for the sake of looks, if you want to have whole pieces of candy on the outside, but it’s not necessary otherwise.
Bake the cookies until they’re slightly golden on the edges, but soft in the middle, about 11 minutes.
Enjoy warm with a glass of milk!
Monster Cookies will last for about 3 days at room temperature, or you can freeze them after they’ve been baked, for up to 2 months.
Similar cookies I love are these Peanut Butter M&M Cookies, Potato Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies, and White & Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies.
You can see all of my cookie recipes in my Cookie Recipes section of my Recipe Index. Happy baking!
Monster Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter*
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (3.75 ounces, by weight)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chocolate candies
- 1/2 cup quick cooking oats**
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar, for about a minute, until well combined.
- Add the peanut butter, egg, vanilla extract, and salt, and mix until smooth and combined.
- Add the flour and baking soda, and mix until the flour has almost disappeared.
- Add the chocolate chips, chocolate candies, and oats, and mix until evenly distributed and the flour has been incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Use a #20 3T large cookie scoop to portion scoops out on a silicone mat lined or parchment paper lined baking sheet, 9 per half sheet pan (you will have two trays).
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, until the cookies are slightly golden on the edges, but still soft in the middle. You want to pull them just before they seem done, as they will continue to cook on the sheet pan as they cool.
- Let them cool on the pan, and you can enjoy them slightly warm or after they've cooled. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition is estimated using a food database and is only intended to be used as a guideline for informational purposes.
Note: this post and recipe was updated in June 2018, and it was originally published September 2011.
24 Comments on “Monster Cookies”
Joanne–Thanks so much ! I had absolutely no idea ! And the most obvious reason–that different manufacturers add different amounts of salt to their butter–never occurred to me–DUH !
It all makes sense to me now, and I also learned –in addition to the salted vs unsalted question–that not all butter is the same, which I also did not know. I had previously thought that they were all interchangeable, and so I had always bought the cheapest one on sale. Thanks for the link !
I have always wondered this, but never asked, so here goes: Why do so many recipes call for unsalted butter, and then go on to list salt as one of the other ingredients ? Why not just use regular “salted” butter that most people have in their homes already, and then omit the actual salt in the recipe if it will end up making the food too salty? Or does unsalted butter have qualities that regular butter doesn’t have (besides lower sodium)? What am I missing ?
Hi Alicia, this is a great question. There are many reasons why, and this post sums up the reasons pretty well. Let me know if you have more questions. http://joythebaker.com/2013/09/baking-101-why-we-use-unsalted-butter/
I am definitely going to try this recipe; but, for the unitiated, what is a “disher”?
Hi Patricia, a disher is another name for a cookie scoop, like this one: http://amzn.to/1oqYqS8
Thank you for that information. I am 84 years old and have never heard a scoop called a disher. But, what I would call an ice cream scoop is now called a cookie scoop. Live and learn.
Made a batch of these last weekend. They are awesome. I didn’t have the toffee bits so I used cranberries. Off to make a double batch right now. One to leave home and one to take to a friends house tomorrow. I’m going to leave out cranberries and use pecans. Thanks again for another GREAT recipe.
Hi Vikki, glad you enjoyed these cookies! You can definitely put in whatever mix-in ingredients you’d like in here. Happy baking!
Just made these yesterday, with a small twist…absolutely delicious! Thanks for the recipe:)
YAY!!! That’s great. What was your twist??? I’d love to hear what your spin was.
Oh I am so craving a good chewy cookie! One moment on the lips- forever on the hips but I am sure it is worth it. Take Care
Chewy biccies are my fave!!! These look so yummy, just wish I had some here to try 🙂
Was just looking for a cookie recipe which includes peanut butter, chocolate chip and oats, So happens I have some extra toffee bits too. Perfect!
I made a version of these awhile ago but added rice krispies- added a nice crunch!
I think my comment was lost in cyber space! These are really incredible! I love the combination of the stuff in them…all my favorites!
GREAT theory! These look so amazing if I made them I would have to give them away immediately, or I would eat them all….YUMMY!
Toffee AND peanut butter? My perfect cookie. Well, I might remove the chocolate chips, just because I’m crazy and don’t like chocolate. 🙂 But otherwise, YUM!!
Seriously great looking. My wife would love these. She’s always throwing extra stuff in cookies.
A cookie with an oatmeal base goes well with so many add ins and makes for a wonderful hearty cookie. These look so big and chewy- hard to resist. Yum!
Hum – these look excellent like the cookies my husband has been trying to get me to make “right” for years! I’ve tried cookies 3 times and they are always thin and crispy and he likes the thick and chewy kind – like these. I might just have to give these a try. Do you know if there are any adjustments for high altitude? I live at exactly 1 mile high. Good looking cookies!!!
These are definitely thick and chewy! Usually with thinner cookies the issue is a high butter content, so maybe try using less butter with other recipes? Also if you chill the dough before baking it won’t spread as much. But definitely no need to tweak this recipe if you want a thick chewy gooey cookie! As far as the altitude…I have no idea. I’m sorry! I live right on the coast so I’m right about at sea level. The altitude must be so tricky to deal with!!!
Love your theory as to how these came to be! I am sure you are not far off! Your cookies look awesome!
LOL thanks. It’s definitely my reasoning!