These soft-baked Peanut Butter Monster Cookies are stuffed with delicious, natural peanut butter, old-fashioned oats, chocolate chips, and your favorite candy-coated chocolate pieces! What’s not to like?! Both kids and adults will love these easy cookies!
Peanut Butter Monster Cookies
Months ago, after seeing Monster Cookies all over Instagram, I took one of my favorite peanut butter cookies and turned them into the Frankenstein mash-up that are MONSTER cookies! If you’re unfamiliar, these fun cookies have oatmeal, chocolate chips, and candy pieces all mixed in. And they’re delicious. My version is super sweet, soft-baked, and has lots of chocolate. They’re also quick and easy to make and the dough requires zero chill time!
To get your monster cookies just right, you’ll want to roll the dough balls and then flatten/shape them into discs about 1/2″ thick. These cookies don’t spread much, so flattening the dough balls is important! I like to press extra chocolate chips and candy pieces into the dough discs right before baking. If you find that your dough balls are crumbling apart because of the chocolate chips and candy pieces, you can take a few of those chocolate pieces out, roll and flatten the dough ball, and then press those some pieces back into the top!
What You’ll Need + Substitutions:
- Natural peanut butter is the kind made with just peanuts (and maybe some salt). I use mine in its room temperature, runny form for this recipe. I haven’t tested these cookies with any other kind of nut butter.
- Brown sugar adds sweetness, moisture, and flavor! Feel free to use light or dark.
- Granulated sugar – raw sugar, coconut sugar, white sugar – adds even more sweetness. I’ve made these cookies with both cane and coconut sugar and loved them both! The coconut sugar makes these a little better for you while also making the cookies taste less sweet.
- Eggs bind the cookies together and keep them moist. I haven’t tested these with any egg replacements.
- Vegetable oil keeps these cookies soft and helps bind the dough. I like to use olive oil, but avocado oil, light olive oil, or vegetable oil will work.
- All-purpose flour
- Quick oats are more processed and smaller than old-fashioned oats. I find that quick oats are easier to mix in and hold the dough balls together better.
- Corn starch adds a bit of chewiness to these cookies. It’s optional, but I recommend it!
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Chocolate chips + candy pieces turn these into classic monster cookies. Feel free to play with the measurements of both, though if you add more than the recipe states, you’ll have a hard time getting your dough balls to bind together. More mix-ins = “crumbly” dough balls.
Peanut Butter Monster Cookies
Soft-baked Peanut Butter Cookies stuffed with oatmeal, chocolate chips, and candy pieces! These quick cookies will delight kids and adults alike.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (see Note 1)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1/2 cup raw cane sugar or coconut sugar (white granulated sugar is fine)
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, room temp
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil (I used olive oil)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup quick oats
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/4 cup dairy-free chocolate chips + more for topping
- 1/4 cup dairy-free chocolate candy pieces + more for topping
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 325°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix the peanut butter, sugars, egg + egg yolk, oil, and vanilla extract until all ingredients are well combined; set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, oats, corn starch, baking soda, and salt. Add these dry ingredients to the wet and gently mix with a large spoon or spatula.
- Stir in 1/4 cup of chocolate chips and 1/4 cup of chocolate candy pieces, being careful not to crush the candy pieces.
- Scoop and roll dough balls 3 Tbsp in size. Flatten each dough ball into a disc shape (about 1/2" thick) and press extra chocolate chips and candies into the top of each one.
- Bake cookies, 6 at a time, at 325°F for 7-8 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, prepare and bake the rest of the dough on your second, parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Natural peanut butter = peanuts only (and maybe a bit of salt). You'll want to use your peanut butter at room temperature, so it's nice and runny.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
11Serving Size:
10Amount Per Serving: Calories: 275Total Fat: 14gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 51mgSodium: 340mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 2gSugar: 22gProtein: 6g
calculated nutrition information may not always be accurate
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