Why You’ll Love This Monster Cookie Recipe
- Tons of texture! Chewy oats, melty chocolate, crisp candy…these monster cookies have it all.
- Soft and chewy. The key is to chill the dough (just 30 minutes!) and slightly underbake your cookies.
- Customizable: Feel free to switch things up and use whatever add-ins you like! Toffee bits, chopped candy bars, and caramel chips are just a few options outside the norm.
- Makes BIG cookies–these are monster cookies, after all! Feel free to double the recipe if 15 cookies isn’t enough for you.
I’m not sure who named monster cookies or what they were thinking when they did so, but in so many ways this name is fitting.
Monster cookies, because they are something of a monstrosity to the cookie world. A jumble of peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate chip cookies rolled into one Frankenstein’s creation of a cookie.
Monster cookies, because they are quite literally monstrous in size–we’re talking nearly ¼ cup of dough per cookie!
Monster cookies, because they turn you into a legit cookie monster (I ate half the tray of cookies before they could even finish cooling 🙈).
Whatever the true reasoning behind the name, these beloved cookies tend to be a crowd favorite wherever I bring them. They’re like a cross between my peanut butter cookies, oatmeal cookies, and M&M cookies–what’s not to like? These are simple to make and so much fun to eat!
Ingredients
Don’t be overwhelmed by the amount of ingredients here; the cookie base is simple, and most of what you’re seeing below are our flavorful/textural add-ins!
- Butter. I use unsalted butter and add salt separately; this helps me better control the salt in this monster cookie recipe. If you only have salted butter, then you can use that and reduce the salt to ½ teaspoon.
- Brown sugar. Either light brown or dark brown sugar works well here (dark brown sugar will yield a cookie that’s darker in appearance and richer/sweeter). My personal preference is to use a blend of both.
- Cornstarch. Like in many of my cookie recipes, cornstarch will keep the monster cookies nice and soft (chewy, rather than cakey) and prevents them from spreading to much in the oven.
- Peanut butter. I use creamy, but crunchy will work too if you want even more texture.
- Add-ins. M&M candies (I actually use Unreal brand candies), butterscotch chips, and semisweet chocolate chips, are just a few of my favorite additions to this monster cookie recipe You can swap out the candy pieces for a different chopped up candy (I’ve used chopped up Rolos before, just keep the caramel inside the cookie dough as much as possible when you scoop it!), or substitute different chocolate chips. I liked the blend of half semisweet and half butterscotch chips, but peanut butter chips or caramel chips would also be great additions.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Monster Cookies
- Cream the butter, sugar, and peanut butter together in a large bowl.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla extract.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Fold in your add-ins until incorporated, then cover and chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. If you’d like, you can chill the dough for up to 3 days after this step, but note that the dough becomes more difficult to scoop (you’ll likely need to let it sit at room temperature to soften a bit before scooping) and the cookies tend to spread less.
- Scoop and roll your cookie dough into 3 tablespoon-sized balls and place on your baking sheet.
- Bake, then let the cookies cool completely on their baking sheets before enjoying.
