Monster cookies are peanut butter cookies packed with chewy oats, chocolate chips, and M&Ms. This recipe for big giant monster cookies yields 2 dozen extra-large cookies that are extra-perfect for cookie monsters who have a hard time choosing between oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies, and chocolate chip cookies!
One reader, Rachael, commented: “Amazing cookies! I made these with my son and he is sure that these are your best cookies, Sally! They are chewy in the middle with perfect crispiness on the edges. I will be making these again! โ โ โ โ โ ”
If you’ve never had monster cookies before, think of a soft peanut butter cookie… now combine that with a chewy oatmeal chocolate chip cookie… now add some mini M&Ms… and add more… and more… don’t be shy! There ya go. ๐
If these look familiar, it may be because these monster cookies are on the cover of my third book, Sally’s Cookie Addiction. As I’m gearing up for the release of my fourth book, Sally’s Baking 101, I decided it was time to revisit a favorite recipe from a previous cookbook era.
This time, I made them even BIGGER.
Tell Me About These Big Giant Monster Cookies
- Texture: Packed with delicious add-ins, these cookies have soft and chewy centers and a delightful mix of textures from wholesome oats and crunchy mini M&Ms. With more oats than flourโmore so than my smaller, thick monster cookiesโexpect a heartier, chewier bite throughout.
- Flavor: Ordinary oatmeal chocolate chip cookies are buttery sweet on their own, but the peanut butter-chocolate pairing brings an irresistible indulgence to every bite. If this flavor duo is a favorite, add these peanut butter chocolate swirl cookies to your list, too.
- Ease: Simple to make, the dough comes together in just minutes using a few staple pantry add-ins like oats and peanut butter. Make them for same-day snacking or prepare them ahead of time for a special occasion.
- Time: This dough can be prepped, chilled, and baked in about an hour! 30 minutes in the refrigerator helps the oats soak up some moisture and prevents the cookies from overspreading.
Best Peanut Butter to Use
Though natural-style peanut butter is my #1 choice for eating and snacking, I recommend using creamy processed peanut butter, like Jif or Skippy, for these cookies.
I recommend the same if you’re making peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter snickerdoodles; processed creamy peanut butter means your cookies will hold shape and have the ideal soft-baked texture.
Here is everything you need to make these giant monster cookies:
For today’s monster cookies, the process is similar to many other cookie recipes. Whisk the dry ingredients together (the oats are considered an add-in here!), then use a mixer to cream the butter and sugars together. If you’re interested in learning more, here’s a helpful video and tutorial for how to cream butter and sugar.
- Success Tip: Make sure you start with room-temperature butter. You canโt cream butter and sugar together if the butter is too warm or too cold. (It usually spells disaster for your cookies!) Room-temperature butter is about 65ยฐF (18ยฐC). Itโs cool and slightly firm to touch, not overly soft or greasy. I recommend taking the butter out of the refrigerator about 1 hour prior to beginning the recipe to achieve ideal โroom-temperatureโ butter. If you donโt have an hour, here is my trick to soften butter quickly.
Beat in the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla, then mix in the dry ingredients, followed by the oats. Finally, beat in the chocolate chips and mini M&Ms.
Expect a thick, creamy, sticky dough:
Refrigerate the monster cookie dough for 30 minutes. You can chill it for longer, several days if you need to, but keep in mind that the longer it’s in the refrigerator, the harder the dough will be to scoop.
How to Shape These Big Giant Monster Cookies
After chilling, itโs time to scoop the dough and bake.
I use a food scale to portion out the dough. Each cookie dough ball weighs about 65g (or about 2.3oz), which is a heaping 3 Tablespoons of dough. If you have a large cookie scoop, you can use that, or you could scoop out the dough with a medium cookie scoop (which holds 1.5 Tablespoons) and smush 2 dough balls together.
A cookie scoop is a super handy tool for a sticky dough like this one. If you don’t have one, use a Tablespoon measuring spoon and fill it 3 times per cookie.
As these are XL cookies, you’ll need to bake them in batches. These half-sheet pans are my favorite baking sheets, and I can fit 6 of these monster cookies on each. This gives them enough room to spread out while baking.
While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few extra M&Ms and chocolate chips into the tops; this is just for a colorful “bakery-style” look.
Yes, you can swap in regular-size plain M&Ms instead of the mini M&Ms. Same amount.
Yes, absolutely! Feel free to use just 1.5 or 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie. Decrease the bake time by about 2 minutes.
I haven’t tested each and every nut butter in these cookies, but I know almond butter works nicely. The cookies are a bit more crumbly, but it still works.
Yes. Instead, make my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and sub half of the chocolate chips with M&Ms.
Monster Cookie Variations
- If you love these cookies but don’t have mini M&Ms on hand, try these big fat peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies instead.
- For smaller cookies with fewer oats, try these soft & thick monster cookies.
- If you love these cookies but need a gluten-free dessert recipe, try these flourless monster cookies instead.
- For peanut butter cup lovers, try these peanut butter cup surprise monster cookies.
- Party of just 1โ2 cookie monsters? Try my one giant monster cookie recipe, which makes an XXL monster-sized cookie!
Big Giant Monster Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour, 10 minutes
- Yield: 24-25 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This recipe for big giant monster cookies yields 2 dozen XL cookies that are extra-perfect for cookie monsters who have a hard time choosing between oatmeal cookies, peanut butter cookies, and chocolate chip cookies!
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flourย (spooned & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup (240g) creamy peanut butter*
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (170g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
- 1 and 1/2 cups (345g) mini M&Ms
- 1 and 1/2 cups (270g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping if desired
Instructions
- Whiskย the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. (Hereโs a helpful tutorial if you need guidance onย how to cream butter and sugar.) Add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
- Add the dry ingredients and oats to the wet ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Finally, beat in the mini M&Ms and chocolate chips. The dough will be thick, creamy, and sticky.
- Cover and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than 1 hour, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before scooping and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
- Preheat oven to 350ยฐF (177ยฐC). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop large mounds of dough, 65g each (a heaping 3 Tablespoons of dough per cookie), and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets (about 6 cookies per baking sheet). Bake for 14โ16 minutes, or until the edges are set and lightly browned. The centers will look very soft but the cookies will continue to set as they cool.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips and M&Ms into the topsโthis is only for looks!
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature, then continue with step 5. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Food Scale | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop or Large Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Peanut Butter: Use a creamy processed peanut butter such as Jif or Skippy. I do not suggest using natural-style peanut butter here, as it yields crumbly, fragile, and sandy-tasting cookies. (Try this recipe for flourless peanut butter oatmeal cookies if you want to use natural!) Crunchy peanut butter is OK, but I find the cookies taste a little dry with it.
- Can I Make These Monster Cookies Nut-Free? Yes. Instead, make my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and sub half of the chocolate chips with M&Ms.
- Can I Use Another Nut Butter Besides Peanut Butter? I haven’t tested each and every nut butter in these cookies, but I know almond butter works nicely. The cookies are a bit more crumbly, but it still works.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Made this and had to substitute one cup of butter for one cup of shortening *i eye balled it*. I thought they would be more cake-ish, except, They surprisingly came out crispy and chewy ๐
Did not care for this particular Monster cookie. I have made a couple of Monster cookie recipes and this one turned out very dry. Not a fan. I prefer to bake them without the flour.
I just made these and the flavor is perfect! I followed the recipe exactly, but my cookies are more round and seem smaller…they didn’t flatten out nicely like the ones in your recipe showed. How do I adjust the recipe so that they are flat and larger? Also, if I want to make them bigger – like 4″ cookies – what adjustments do I need to make regarding baking time, etc.? Thank you!!!
Hi Pam! Usually when cookies donโt spread, thereโs too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups โ or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post. You can certainly make larger cookies, too. Bake time will be longer, same temperature, though. Enjoy!
Love your recipes! Came across a spelling error FYI above…
“Except a thick, creamy, sticky dough:” I assume it is supposed to be ‘expect’.
I hope this helps! Can you tell I am a teacher….?? ๐ Keep up the great recipes. I have used your recipes for many, many years.
Kim
From Toronto, Canada.
Thanks for flagging that, Kim! We’ve made that change. Thank you for making and trusting our recipes!
I work in bakery and I would like to use this recipe but I’m wanting to omit peanut butter and use something else so they won’t be dry. We are concerned about nut allergies . Would molasses work as a substitute
Hi Shawna, leaving the peanut butter out would result in more of a traditional oatmeal cookie, so we’d recommend using our loaded oatmeal cookies instead and choosing your favorite variety of add-ins. Hope they’re a hit!
Hi, I made the cookies and they are delicious! However, they are kind of crumbly. They break apart easily. What did I do? Thanks!
Marsha
Hi Marsha, What type of peanut butter did you use? We find natural-style peanut butter yields crumbly, fragile cookies.
Another great recipe! I thought these would be overly sweet with the candy and chocolate chips but they were just right. They came out perfectly delicious!
I made these recently and they were incredibleโthe mix of M&Ms and nuts in the Monster Cookies gave such a satisfying crunch, and the peanut butter swirl version was perfectly chewy and rich. As someone managing The Baking How cookie blog, I appreciate how you explain texture and flavor so clearly. Thanks for continuing to share recipes that truly WORK!
I love how customizable these monster cookies are. I added pretzel bits and it was a game-changer! Great post.
Can I use quick oats instead of the old fashioned oats? Would it mess them up if I did?
Quick oats can dry out the cookies, Sadie. We recommend sticking with old fashioned oats.
its good
These are the best cookies we’ve ever had, thank you so much for sharing!!
Another excellent recipe! So grateful for your site! Followed the recipe to the letter and they were perfect.
I would love to turn this into a scone! Do you have any suggestions on how to do that? I am doing a st jude fundraiser next week and someone asked me to make monster cookie scones lol and I am not just curious if you have a way for me to adjust your basic scone recipe to make these?
Hi Alisha! We’ve never tested a monster cookie scone, and we’re unsure of the best way to add peanut butter. Perhaps you could add peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, and m&ms to our basic scone recipe. Let us know what you try!