Everyone's favorite Monster Cookies get decked out in red and green for Christmas! Chock full of peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and red and green M&Ms, Christmas Monster Cookies are one festively delicious holiday treat.
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Making Christmas cookies is one of the best traditions of the holiday season. They're so fun to make, -- and even more fun to eat.
And while it's great to whip up batches of Christmastime-specific cookies like candy cane cookies and peppermint snowball cookies, I just love when you can take a classic cookie favorite and dress it up for the holidays, too. Which is exactly the case with these super tasty Christmas Monster Cookies.
Whip up a batch of everyone's favorite Monster Cookies, swap out the usual multi-colored M&Ms for red and green, and you've got a Christmas-adorned version of the classic. And with a classic? -- You'll know for sure everyone will love them!
I just love when you can take a classic cookie favorite and dress it up for the holidays.
Back this past summer, my 10-year-old daughter and I went on a quest to figure out how to make the absolute best Monster Cookies around. We tested 5 different variables to figure out the optimal recipe for making these iconic cookies.
This Christmas Monster Cookies recipe uses that same "best" recipe we created from our findings as the base, switching out the M&M colors to be decorated for the holidays. The recipe produces big, thick, soft, delicious cookies -- Just the way we love them.
Check out our "How to Make the BEST Monster Cookies" post if you'd like to see the 5 variables we tested, our findings, and some common questions about Monster Cookies.
How to Make Christmas Monster Cookies
To whip up a batch of these fun and festive treats, start by whipping up a basic cookie dough loaded with creamy peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar, quick oats, and a little bit of flour.
Then by hand stir in a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips and 3/4 cup red and green M&M candies. (Note that you'll need more chocolate chips and M&Ms later on for adorning the tops of the cookies.)
Then drop the dough by 3 tablespoon scoops onto a baking sheet.
Scooping these cookies large is one of the things that makes them so good. A full 3 tablespoons of dough per cookie creates a nice-sized, nice-thickness, soft and tender cookie.
Scoop only 8 cookies to a cookie sheet, spacing the dough balls out on the pan. While Monster Cookies don't spread much while baking, they're large cookies that still need their space.
Use your hand or the bottom of a drinking glass to flatten each dough ball into a thick patty.
The cookie "patty" should look about like this:
Then to get that nice extra-loaded Monster Cookie top, place additional chocolate chips and M&Ms on the top of each dough patty. Press them just slightly into the dough to embed them on the top of the cookie.
I usually put about 4 or 5 chocolate chips and 4 or 5 M&Ms on the top of each patty, depending on how many are already showing through on the surface of the scooped dough ball. You want to have nice "coverage" of add-ins across the whole top surface of the cookies.
This step is key in baking up Christmas Monster Cookies that are festively adorned with red and green.
Pop the cookies in the oven and bake them for 10-11 minutes until set and just barely a light golden brown.
Do not over bake Monster Cookies -- they'll turn hard as a rock if you do. Just 10-11 minutes only, no more. And I always do mine on the 10 minute end because we love ultra-soft cookies.
Once baked, allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 3 minutes before removing them to a rack to cool completely. If you try to move these off the baking pan too soon, they're prone to cracking and crumbling.
Let the cookies cool, and then dive on in to enjoy! And oh, enjoy you will.
Because chock full of peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and holiday M&Ms, Christmas Monster Cookies are sure one festively delicious treat.
Check out these other totally fun & festive Christmas cookies:
- Old-Fashioned Fruitcake Cookies
- Classic Candy Cane Cookies
- Peppermint Snowball Cookies
- Peppermint Chocolate Chip Snowball Cookies
- Red Velvet Snowball Cookies
- Christmas Homemade Thin Mints
- Chocolate Covered Peppermint Ritz Cookies
- Christmas Chocolate Layer Bars
- Christmas White Chocolate-Dipped Sugar Wafers
- Grinch White Chocolate Sugar Wafers
- Christmas Sprinkle-Coated Sugar Cookies
- More cookie recipes
Yield: about 32 - 34 cookies
Christmas Monster Cookies
Everyone's favorite Monster Cookies get decked out in red and green for Christmas! Chock full of peanut butter, oats, chocolate chips, and red and green M&Ms, Christmas Monster Cookies are one festively delicious holiday treat.
Prep time: 30 MinCook time: 10 MinTotal time: 40 Min
Ingredients
- 1 c. light brown sugar
- 1 c. granulated sugar
- 1/2 c. unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
- 3 eggs
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1/2 c. all-purpose flour
- 4 1/2 c. quick oats
- 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 3/4 c. red and green M&Ms
- additional chocolate chips and red/green M&Ms for cookie tops
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and peanut butter with an electric mixer at medium speed until well mixed and fluffy.
- Add eggs and vanilla; continue to beat until well combined.
- In a smaller bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to peanut butter mixture and mix until just combined.
- Add quick oats and mix until just combined. By hand, stir in chocolate chips and M&Ms.
- Drop dough by 3 tablespoon scoops onto a baking sheet, scooping only 8 cookies to a sheet (because these cookies are big) and spacing the cookies apart. Use your hand or the bottom of a drinking glass to flatten each dough ball into a patty.
- Place additional chocolate chips and M&Ms on the top of each dough patty.
- Bake at 350℉ for 10-11 minutes until set and light golden brown. Allow to cool on pan for 3 minutes, then remove to a rack to cool completely.
TRACEY'S NOTES:
- Use regular creamy peanut butter, not crunchy or natural peanut butter. Crunchy and natural peanut butter are drier than creamy, and will therefore make dry cookies. (I use JIF creamy peanut butter.)
- Be sure to scoop these cookies large -- a full 3 tablespoons of dough per cookie (a cookie scoop makes this step extra easy). Scooping Monster Cookies large creates a nice-sized, nice-thickness, soft and tender cookie.
- Placing additional chocolate chips and M&Ms on the top of each dough patty before baking is key to get that characteristic colorful and extra-loaded Monster Cookie top. Press the chocolate chips and M&Ms just slightly into the dough to embed them on the top of the cookie.
- Do not over bake, as the Monster Cookies will turn rock hard. Bake for just 10-11 minutes only, no more. I always bake mine on the 10 minute end.
- Once baked, allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 3 minutes before removing them to a rack to cool completely. They are prone to cracking and crumbling if you try to move them off the baking pan too soon.
What a fun and festive cookie recipe!
ReplyDeleteThose look absolutely delicious! Pinned.
ReplyDeleteThese are so fun!! Thanks so much for sharing with us over at the You're the Star Blog Hop. We hope to see you again soon!
ReplyDelete