The name of these monster peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies doesn’t say it all. They’re also exploding with M&Ms and chocolate chips. Kids and adults love them.
As the authors explain, these are “one part oatmeal cookie, one part peanut butter cookie, and one part chocolate chip cookie.” No complaints here. It’s a mash up of sorts from quite a lot of various ingredients that may, at first blush, remind you of those monster cookies from your childhood. Yet what results is a little less sweet and a lot more soulful with its chewy, substantial textural awesomeness.–David Leite
How do I keep my cookies from crumbling?
We get it—the hardest thing to resist is a big ol’ tray full of warm cookies, straight-from-the-oven warm. But hear us out. Cookies like these, with a lot of textures all in one place, need a little extra time to settle after they’ve finished baking. If you try moving them too soon, you’ll end up with granola—delicious monster granola but that’s a lot harder to dip in milk. We promise those extra 8 minutes will be worth the wait.
☞ Contents
Peanut Butter-Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- Pinch salt
- 5 3/4 cups rolled oats
- 12 tablespoons (6 oz) cold unsalted butter cut into chunks
- 1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 5 large eggs
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups creamy peanut butter
- 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate cut into chunks
- 6 ounces (about 1 cup) M&M’s regular or peanut
Directions
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the oats and stir until the ingredients are evenly combined.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter until smooth and pale in color. Add the sugars and mix on low speed until just incorporated. Do not overmix.
- Scrape down the bowl and add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl and beating until smooth after each addition, about 20 seconds. Add the vanilla and beat until just incorporated.
- Scrape down the bowl and add the peanut butter. Mix on low speed until just combined. Add the oat mixture in 3 additions, mixing on low speed until just incorporated.
- Use a spatula or wooden spoon to fold in the chocolate chunks and M&Ms. Cover the bowl tightly and refrigerate for 5 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Use an ice cream scoop to plop 2-tablespoon blobs of dough on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Gently squash each dough ball. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, switching and reversing the sheets halfway through the baking time, until the cookies just begin to brown.
- Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 8 to 10 minutes before gently moving them to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Originally published June 17, 2008.
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Recipe Testers’ Reviews
I’ve seen a lot of oatmeal cookie recipes, and a lot of peanut butter recipes, but not many that combine the two. The taste of these cookies was good. I’ve always liked the combination of chocolate and peanut butter.
I had initial concerns that these peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies would be too many flavors for me, but I was delightfully surprised with the results. I like that the oats made for a less dense peanut butter cookie, and I can’t think of a situation where adding chocolate chips didn’t improve a dessert.
This recipe does call for a large quantity of several ingredients: peanut butter and oats, most notably. Were the M&M’s essential to the recipe? Probably not. I wouldn’t worry if you don’t have M&M’s on-hand and you’d like to try this recipe.
Prepare to delay your gratification, since the dough needs to chill for 5 hours. These cookies are chewy, and continued to stay soft even a day or two after baking.
If you love oatmeal, peanut butter, and chocolate, these cookies are the bomb. This is the best new recipe for cookies that I’ve come across in a long time—and I try lots of cookie recipes.
I refer to them as “healthy” cookies because of the quantity of oatmeal they contain. I substituted Reese’s Pieces for the M&M’s, which gave the cookies a more pronounced peanut butter taste, and they were great. Everyone at my workplace loved them. Next time, I’d store them in a tin to try to keep them crisp. I had only covered them and they softened overnight.
These peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies were fabulous. Everyone who tried them gobbled them up right away. What I especially liked about them is that they weren’t overly sweet—they weren’t very sweet at all, actually.
I was skeptical to make the dough with cold butter (rather than room-temperature butter), but it worked very well. The small amount of flour also made me skeptical, but the dough was the perfect consistency. I liked that these baked into chewy cookies with soft centers; it’s the perfect texture for the medley of peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate.
I baked some of the cookies after the 5-hour refrigeration, and I baked some after overnight refrigeration. Both batches were perfect. Also, I divided the dough in two. One had the semisweet chips and M&M’s, as called for; the other had semisweet chips and milk chocolate chips. Both types were a hit.
This recipe for peanut butter-oatmeal-chocolate chip cookies surprised us in many ways. First, we were surprised to see how smoothly the butter creamed while cold. The amount of flour called for was minimal, but the dough was very stiff due to the amount of peanut butter and oats.
We didn’t have regular-size chocolate chips so we used mini semisweet chips. The recipe was easy to mix together, but the cookies took a very long time to bake—because of their size, you could only fit 4 on a cookie sheet at a time. It’s an all-day experience to make these cookies due to the 5-hour chill time, then more than 1 1/2 hours of total baking time. Using the regular ice cream scoop gave me the exact yield stated in the recipe. I would recommend a strong, high-quality ice cream scoop, because the dough is so thick, it will break a weaker scoop (don’t ask).
The raw dough had a strong peanut butter flavor, so we were concerned it would overpower the cookies—but the finished product provided a nice balance between peanut butter and chocolate. The end result is a great-tasting cookie. These cookies are hand-size, and we’re not talking about palms—this includes fingers, too. I can only eat half of a cookie at a time, but the grandkids didn’t have any problems finishing them whole. Making these is a great way to get kids in the kitchen and cooking.
HUNGRY FOR MORE?
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #LeitesCulinaria. We'd love to see your creations on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
What happens if you don’t refrigerate?
aninamar12, the refrigeration period allows the dough to firm up so that your cookies don’t spread as much in the oven. It also gives the flour time to fully hydrate so that your cookies bake evenly and have a more developed flavor.
Our cookies turned out really flat 🙁 The dough looked almost melted on the cookie sheets. We followed all the directions and that was even the first batch on cool cookie sheets. We used our KitchenAid mixer on low to combine the ingredients. The only thing I can think of did we over mix the dough? We were really careful not to mix it too long though. We were just disappointed they didn’t turn out like everyone else’s has seemed to and they sounded so good.
Hi Ashley, I’m so sorry these cookies didn’t turn out well for you. I’ve made them many times, and I’ve never had the flat-cookie problem.
A few questions: 1. Did you use straight-from-the-fridge butter? 2. Did you use all-purpose flour? 3. Did you use natural or regular peanut butter, such as Skippy or Jif?
I’ve made this recipe from Baked a few times and adore these cookies! I love the incredible amount of oats in the cookies and the overall chewy, soft texture and peanut butter-chocolate combination. Everyone I’ve shared them with adored these cookies.
Aren’t they great Monica, so many great things packed into one cookie, it’s hard not to like them.