Homemade Chewy Peanut Butter Monster Cookies Recipe
Bakery style, chewy monster cookies you can make at home full of chocolate, with zero chill time, and no regrets! Thick, chewy edges meet a soft center loaded with M&Ms, chocolate chips, and oats. This foolproof recipe unites creamy peanut butter, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and M&Ms for the best monster cookie recipe that delivers every time! Full recipe card below.
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What is a Monster Cookie?
I am always surprised by how many people have never had monster cookies before, so let me explain.
Monster cookies are not a novelty Halloween cookie with spooky googly eyes as the name might suggest. Instead they are called “monster” cookies because they are the Frankenstein of cookies. They have it all. They are part M&M cookie, part chocolate chip, with oatmeal and peanut butter. In other words they are everything but the kitchen sink cookies.
Why You will Love This Recipe
These are truly the best cookies that work for multiple occasions and are always a crowd pleaser! Monster cookies are a great recipe for bake sales, potlucks, and cookie exchanges because they travel well, stay fresh, and appeal to just about everyone. Bonus, one batch makes a good amount of chewy cookies and the colorful M&M chocolate candies make them a family favorite. I took them to a party recently and ALL the kiddos wanted one! I had zero leftover.
Ingredients
These chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookies with M&Ms and peanut butter are the best monster cookies and they are simple to make! While they use basic baking ingredients there are a few unique factors so these are my tips for the best results from my testing and experience.
- Butter – You will need room temperature butter, preferably real unsalted butter. Butter is the primary fat content in the cookie and needs to combine with the sugars which is easier when it is softened. Melted butter makes flat thin cookies. Bring the butter up to room temperature before making the cookie dough. No margarine. It’s not the same.
- Sugar – You will use equal parts white and brown sugar in this recipe. This is key to establish the ph of the cookie dough. Do not substitute or skip.
- Brown Sugar – Packed brown sugar adds moisture and chew. The ratio of white to brown sugar is important here and don’t skip the “packed” part. Press it into the measuring cup and dump it out so it looks like a mini sand castle. Light brown sugar or dark brown sugar will both work here.
- Peanut Butter – Creamy peanut butter is the base of the cookie. Crunchy peanut butter will be more difficult to combine. Use a standard grocery store brand like Jif or Skippy. Natural peanut butter (the kind with oil on top) will make the dough greasy and the cookies flat. You want the stabilized kind that holds its shape.
- Eggs – These bind the wet ingredients and dry ingredients together and add richness. If you try to make these with less eggs the dough will be crumbly and won’t hold.
- Vanilla – Pure vanilla extract is preferred for it’s richer flavor but imitation will work too. It adds an extra sweetness that combines with the other ingredients to create a complex flavor in the cookies.
- Baking Soda – This creates lift. Too much and they’ll puff up and collapse. Too little and they’ll be dense hockey pucks.
- Salt – A little bit of salt helps balance out all the sweetness from the sugars in cookie dough.
- Flour – Just enough to give the dough structure without drying it out. Stick to all purpose flour for best results. And yes, this recipe does not use much flour, that is not a typo. It relies heavily on the peanut butter and oats for structure.
- Oats – Quick oats work better than old fashioned oats because they are thinner, softer, and more uniform but you can use rolled oats too. The cookies will just have a more rustic texture.
- Chocolate Chips – Use semisweet chocolate chips to balance the chocolate flavor between the M&Ms. Milk chocolate and dark chocolate chips also work depending on your flavor preference.
- M&Ms – The candy coating keeps them from melting completely, which gives you pops of color and crunch. You can use mini M&Ms if you want more M&M to cookie ratio. Pro Tip: Press extra M&Ms and chocolate chips into the tops before baking. This makes the cookies look loaded and photo ready. It also ensures every bite has visible chocolate.
Mixing Options
For best results, you will want to use a large mixing bowl. Either an electric hand mixer or a stand mixer will be the best option to mix the cookie dough as it is relatively thick. For the M&Ms you will want to fold those in by hand so the candy coatings don’t break or get smashed.
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Homemade Chewy Peanut Butter Monster Cookies Recipe
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 40 cookies 1x
- Diet: Vegetarian
Description
These peanut butter oatmeal monster cookies are thick, deeply chewy, and loaded with so much chocolate chips and M&Ms that every bite feels like a small celebration. They stay soft for days, require no chilling, and come together in no time. Bakery style, chewy monster cookies you can make at home. This foolproof recipe unites creamy peanut butter, chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, and M&Ms for the best monster cookie recipe that delivers every time.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
- 1 cup White Sugar
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 cup Peanut Butter
- 1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
- 4 Eggs
- 4 1/2 cup Quick Oats
- 2 tsp Baking Soda
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Flour
- 1 cup Chocolate Chips
- 1 cup M& Ms
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Cream butter and both sugars in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed with a paddle attachment. Note, the butter must be at room temperature and soft but not melted for this to work. Do not use margarine.
- Add in the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla and mix again until combined.
- In a separate mixing bowl whisk together the dry ingredients (baking soda, salt, flour, and oats).
- Slowly mix the flour mixture into the bowl with the wet ingredients one cup at a time, mixing until combined. Do not over mix.
- Once the cookie dough is combined, mix in the chocolate chips and M&Ms. Mixing the M&Ms in by hand so the candy coatings don’t break or smash.
- Using a cookie scoop, scoop dough into balls and place on a prepared baking sheet. To make more uniform cookies roll the dough balls in your hands to make them smooth. Do not press down.
- To make the cookies more bakery style, press extra M&Ms and chocolate chips into the tops before baking. This makes the cookies look loaded and makes each cookie visibly chocolaty.
- Bake for 6-12 minutes. I find 9 minutes in my oven to be perfect. Baking time may vary so watch them carefully.
- Cool cookies on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack.
- Serve with a glass of milk!
Notes
Bake time will vary. These cookies are tricky because they don’t look “done” when they come out of the oven. The edges should be firm and lightly golden, but the centers will look soft, almost underbaked. That’s exactly what you’re going for. If you wait until the centers look fully set, you’ve overbaked them and they’ll turn hard as they cool.
Makes about 40 cookies depending on size.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Category: desserts
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
More Delicious Cookie Recipes to Try
- Copycat Crumbl Caramel Apple Cookie Recipe
- Grandma’s Kolaczki Polish Christmas Cookie Recipe
- Soft and Chewy Peanut Butter Blossom Cookie Recipe
- Halloween Ghost S’mores Snickerdoodle Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Crinkle Cookies Recipe
- Peanut Butter Cookie Cups with Chocolate Frosting
Storage
If you somehow have leftover cookies (unlikely, but possible), they stay soft for up to five days at room temperature, which is rare for homemade cookies.
Store them in an airtight container with a piece of bread. The bread releases moisture slowly, which keeps the cookies from drying out. Replace the bread slice every two days. If you skip this step, the cookies will still be good, but they’ll lose some of that signature chew by day three.
Do NOT refrigerate them. The cold will make the chocolate chips hard and the texture dense. Room temperature is the way to go.
If you want to freeze them, just freeze the raw dough not the baked cookies. Scoop it into balls and place in a freezer bag. Bake straight from frozen, adding one or two extra minutes to the baking time.
When to Make Monster Cookies
These are the perfect cookie for holiday baking because they make a lot of cookies perfect for holiday gifts and cookie swaps. You can even replace regular M&Ms for the holiday colors too. But they are definitely not only a holiday cookie. They can be made year round for birthdays, after school treats, 4th of July, or keep a stash in the freezer for when you are craving fresh-baked cookies. My favorite thing to do is bake them fresh and serve with a scoop of ice cream for dessert but they are yummy cookies on their own too 😉
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