MONSTER COOKIES

My cookie crusade continued last week as I set my sights onto another baking project: the monster cookie. I was first introduced to monster cookies when I went to college, and the dining courts would periodically rotate them into the desserts section. With chocolate chips, M&Ms, peanut butter, and oats all mixing together to provide such an exciting melding of flavors, it quickly became something I would keep an eye out for. The idea to attempt these cookies came up when talking to my friends at work, and I happily accepted the suggestion.

Chocolate chips, M&Ms, peanut butter, and butterscotch chips all combine to pack a flavor punch.

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Monster Cookies
Makes 14 – 16 cookies

~ 1-1/2 eggs
~ 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
~ 1/4 cup white sugar
~ 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
~ 1/4 cup butter
~ 3/8 cup flour
~ 1 tsp baking soda
~ 1/2 tsp salt
~ 3/4 cup peanut butter
~ 1-7/8 cups oats
~ 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
~ 1/4 cup butterscotch chips
~ 1/2 cup mini M&Ms

Mixing:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat the eggs before adding in the sugars and vanilla extract, combining well. Soften your butter inside the microwave before adding it into the mixture as well.
• In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt with a whisk to ensure everything is well combined. Gradually add this into the sugar mixture. At this point, things should start to be looking more like cookie dough.
• Drop in your peanut butter and mix that up with the dough before also combining the oats. Finish things off by throwing in the chocolate chips, mini M&Ms, and butterscotch chips.

Probably one of the more colorful cookie dough you’ll see.

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Baking:

• Using an ice cream scoop, drop the rounded cookie dough onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Since I wasn’t sure how much the cookies were going to spread, I kept it to six cookies per sheet, but there’s probably enough room to stretch it to eight on the sheet.
• Bake the cookies for 13 – 15 minutes, leaning probably more towards the high side. Now when you take the cookies out, do not be alarmed if the cookies still look semi-raw on the inside. I certainly was and had to resist every urge in my body to throw them back into the oven to cook longer.

Cooling:

• Let the cookies cool for two minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring them over to a cooling rack to finish the process. Handle them carefully during the transfer, since they are still soft in the middle.
• I think I let my cookies sit for about 30 minutes before I was satisfied that they were fully cooled down. You could, however, start to pick them up after 15 minutes or so without the fear of them breaking apart on you.

Pictured: one healthy serving.

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I applied that same technique of doing one batch in the oven at a time to keep the cooking temperature consistent. This actually allowed me to experiment around with the cooking time to see what would yield a fully-cooked cookie, but also meant that I was trying one from each batch. By the time all the cookies had cooled down, I think I had already tucked away four of the cookies and, in the process, ruined my appetite for dinner.

Overall, the peanut butter, chocolate, and oat flavors were very prevalent throughout the cookie. The butterscotch flavor would occasionally pop in, but never be too overwhelming. I think the salt also helped to balance out the cookie to make sure it wasn’t overly sweet. To help me avoid temptation, I brought the rest of the cookies into work with me, and they were gone in no time. One bite, and it’s easy to see why.

Categories: Recipes

Tagged as: butterscotch, chocolate chips, cookies, M&Ms, peanut butter, recipes