These might be the best Soft Monster Cookies ever in my books - rich peanut butter oatmeal cookies loaded with M&M's and chocolate chips!
The concept of monster cookies is incredible - they are essentially a chocolate chip cookie, a peanut butter cookie, and an oatmeal cookie all in one glorious cookie! I think it's the combination of flavors and textures, salty and sweet that makes them so tasty!
A fun variation of monster cookies would be to use either peanut butter M&M's or Reeses Pieces (like in my Reeses Pieces Peanut Butter Cookies!) in the cookie dough instead of regular M&M's!
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⭐️ Why You Need to Make This Recipe
- Flavor - Buttery oatmeal cookies get an upgrade with peanut butter in the dough and both semisweet chocolate and classic M&M's.
- Texture - Like in my Butterscotch Oatmeal Cookies, this recipe calls for a combination of smaller quick oats and large flake rolled oats for great texture alongside the creamy chocolate chips and crunchy M&M's.
- Method - These easy monster cookies are simple enough for anyone to make, can be made in one bowl, and do not require chilling time.
🧈 Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make these easy monster cookies.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter - I use salted butter but you could use unsalted butter with an additional ¼ teaspoon of salt added to the recipe instead.
- Peanut Butter - This recipe requires conventional creamy peanut butter for the texture and flavor. Natural peanut butter is very oily and separates making it not great for cookie recipes like this.
- Oats - A combination of rolled oats and quick oats provides great texture and makes the cookies spread just enough when baking. In a pinch, you may use all of either kind of oat. However, all rolled oats will cause the cookies to spread more and all quick oats will cause them to spread less. My Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies also call for a combination of both kinds of oats.
- Chocolate Chips - The recipe was tested and written with semisweet chocolate chips but you could use dark chocolate or milk chocolate chips if you would rather.
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients with measurements.
📃 Instructions
Step 1: Cream together the softened butter, peanut butter, white sugar, and brown sugar for 1 minute. Add the egg, honey, and vanilla.
Step 2: Cream together on high speed until fluffy and smooth.
Step 3: Add the flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Step 4: Mix on low speed just until incorporated.
Step 5: Fold in the chocolate chips and M&M's candies.
Step 6: Scoop the dough or roll into balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie for spreading room.
Bake in a preheated oven for 8-12 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Top with additional M&M's and chocolate chips once the cookies come out of the oven to garnish, if desired.
💡 Top Tip
If you like soft-baked cookies, stick to 6-10 minutes of baking time for a gooey interior. If you prefer golden brown, well-done cookies, the baking time will likely be around 10-14 minutes. Of course, every oven bakes differently, so watch the first pan closely and determine your perfect bake time somewhere within the 6-14 minute window.
❓ Recipe FAQs
Monster cookies are oatmeal cookies with peanut butter in the cookie dough and add-ins of chocolate chips and M&M's.
I have not tested this recipe with gluten-free ingredients but I think it could be possible with a good gluten-free all-purpose flour blend and gluten-free oats.
You could make these cookies with Smarties (Canadian version of M&M's) or Reese's Pieces instead.
You could add corn syrup or cane syrup instead of honey.
🥜 More Peanut Butter Recipes
Looking for other recipes with peanut butter? Try these:
If you tried these Oatmeal Monster Cookies or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and write a little note telling me how it went in the comments below. Thank you!!
📖 Recipe
Soft Monster Cookies
Equipment
- baking sheet(s)
- parchment paper
- measuring cups & spoons
- mixing bowls
- electric handheld mixer
Ingredients
- ½ cup salted butter * softened
- ½ cup peanut butter *
- ½ cup brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup rolled oats (large flake oats)
- ¾ cup quick-cooking oats (quick oats)
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup M&M's candies
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, beat together the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar, and white sugar on high speed for about 30 seconds. Add the egg, honey, and vanilla extract and beat on high until fluffy.
- Add the oats, flour, baking soda, and baking powder to the bowl. Beat on low speed just until all the flour is incorporated. Lastly, fold in the M&M's and chocolate chips.
- Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough per cookie (or use a medium cookie scoop) onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between cookies for spreading room.
- Bake the pans of cookies one at a time in the preheated oven for 8-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to finish cooling. Enjoy!
Notes
- Or use unsalted butter with an additional ¼ teaspoon of salt added to the recipe instead.
- This recipe requires conventional creamy peanut butter for texture and flavor - it has not been tested with natural peanut butter.
Elizabeth C.
These truly are the best ever monster cookies. Delicious!
Naomi Andres
Thank you so much! I'm happy to hear that they live up to their name!
Naomi
Sarah
I made a double batch of these, and they have a perfect texture and are so delicious! Will definitely be saving this recipe.
Naomi Andres
That is so wonderful to hear!! Thank you for reviewing this recipe, Sarah!
Naomi
Sarah Andres
I made these for my mom all the time!!! She loves them with a mug of hot chocolate. Definitely recommend these, they are fast to make and the batter is still good even after a long refrigeration.
Naomi
Thanks, Sarah!! I'm glad your mom enjoyed these cookies!
Naomi
Taryn Johnson
Ohhh man, I feel the calories coming on just looking at your pictures! 😂 Totally could eat an entire batch of monster cookies right now, so it’s probably a good thing we don’t have M&M’s in the cupboard. 😂 Definitely putting them on the grocery list though so I can make these soon.
(Oh, and your photography game is seriously on point. 👌👌👌 )
Naomi
Thank you so much, Taryn!! ♡ These cookies are seriously addicting!! Be careful! 😜