Monster Cookies

The first time I made Monster Cookies I made them as they were meant to be — in a monster-sized kitchen. As a kid growing up at a summer camp I made sure to take advantage of all those fun things around me. Kayaking? Check. Horseback riding? Check. High ropes course adventures? Check. Using the industrial-sized kitchen for baking parties with my friends? Check. My obsession with baking started at age ten. I thank my parents for encouraging it.

This kitchen, with its shiny steel appliances and mixing bowls large enough to fit a grown man, drew me in. My friends and I would pile into that kitchen, ride the food carts around the spacious room, and make a horrible mess. Then we would eat baked goods until we got sick… or at least until I got sick. As a kid who had a fairly healthy diet, full of veggies and whole grains, I was always the one at parties to wake at 3 am with a horrible stomach ache and have to go home. Many a night my mom or dad had to come rescue me from a night of indulging in malted milkshakes, pixie sticks and potato chips. At least with these baking parties no one had to come pick me up when I ate one too many cookies.

We made all kinds of cookies and treats in this kitchen, but what will remain one of my favorite cookies of all time is the Monster Cookie. It’s got the perfect mix of peanut butter and chocolate, as well as just the right crispness to the outer edges, complemented by the chewy center. Plus, there’s nothing quite as fun to eat as a giant cookie accompanied by a huge glass of milk.

Monster Cookies
Adapted from this Cooks.com recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup butter at room temperature
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 4 1/2 cups of quick cook oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 small bag plain M&Ms (a little more than 3 ounces)
• 1 small bag peanut M&Ms (a little more than 3 ounces)

Process

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit.
2. Stir together butter, white and brown sugar, peanut butter, eggs, vanilla, baking soda and 1 and 1/2 cups of the quick oats until well incorporated.
3. Gradually add three additional cups of quick oats, stirring until all well incorporated.
4. Stir in chocolate chips and both types of M&Ms.
5. Drop in heaping tablespoon full clumps onto an ungreased baking sheet, leaving plenty of space between each spoonful. These monsters get big!
6. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until lightly browned around edges and the tops are slightly golden. Let cool a few minutes on baking sheet before transferring to a cooling rack.

Makes approximately two dozen large cookies.

Comments

6 responses to “Monster Cookies”

  1. maryannk Avatar
    maryannk

    Reminds me of our school field trip when I was a kid to the Montana Monster Cookie factory. Mmmm. Sad, I don’t think they’re around anymore! But maybe I’ll make up some of these to bring back the memory. I should bring some raw milk home from work to dunk ’em in!

    1. Claire Avatar
      Claire

      How much would I have loved to go on a field trip to a cookie factory!? That’s awesome. I got to go on a fieldtrip to a sewage plant once. Not so much the same thing…

  2. Megan Walsh Avatar
    Megan Walsh

    Great recipe… so easy and the cookies taste delicious! (made the mistake of giving some to Nolan before realizing he can’t have them because he’s allergic to peanut butter… oops!)

    1. Claire Avatar
      Claire

      So glad they turned out, Megan. Poor Nolan. To be allergic to peanut butter would be so sad! It’s my fave treat.

  3. Nikki Avatar
    Nikki

    Oh the cookies…while reading your post it brought me back to the kitchen. How about sneaking frozen ones from the freezer after a hard day of washing thousands of dishes???? Oh how I wish we could turn back time and enjoy Camp Miller again! 13 going on 30 I could do it for a day or two 😉

    1. Claire Avatar
      Claire

      The kitchen at Miller holds some of my fondest childhood memories. Probably because I spent nearly every moment there with you… and in the walk in freezer consuming cookie dough 🙂 ! Love it.

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