So, my son is a senior and he and his teammates headed this past week to football camp. Because I knew they’d be facing grueling practices, climbs, runs, drills, and more, I sent them off with a quadruple batch of my peanut butter oatmeal monster cookies.

Now, I certainly don’t mean to brag, but I will say that when the boys stepped off the school buses at the high school upon returning, more than a few begged me to make these cookies for them to eat before every single Friday night game this fall. That is nine games! {Well, potentially fourteen games if they make it all the way to the state finals—which they have for the past five years, winning the state championship four of those five times. Again…totally not bragging. Allright. I am.}

I put a pic of these colorful confections up on Instagram the other day and was asked by many to share the recipe. So, here it is. May it also delight the taste buds of your people too.

Peanut-Butter Oatmeal MONSTER Cookies

1/2 cup salted butter, room temperature (do not use unsalted butter or margarine!)

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (not imitation)

2 medium or 1 large egg

1 and 1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup quick-cooking oats (not old-fashioned oats)

1/2 cup regular M & M’s

1/2 cup peanut butter M & M’s

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Preheat the oven to 350°. Use parchment paper to line cookie sheets. (You may also bake them on an ungreased cookie sheet, but they turn out better on the parchment paper and you will have no clean up of the pans as a bonus.)

In a stand mixer, or very large bowl using a handheld mixer, cream the butter and both sugars together until well blended.

Add in the peanut butter and blend completely. Then, mix in the vanilla and add eggs one at a time.

Measure the flour into the cups. For best results, do not scoop out the flour with the measuring cup as it packs too much flour in the cup. Instead, lightly spoon the flour into the measuring cups and then level off with a butter knife. Sprinkle the baking soda over the top of the flour and mix in just until combined. It is very careful not to over mix, or the cookies will be tough.

By hand, with a large wooden spoon or spatula, fold in the quick oats.

Next, fold in the M&Ms, and chocolate chunks. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes while you make yourself a cup of coffee or tea.

Using a tablespoon, scoop out dough and make balls about the size of a ping-pong ball. Place onto the parchment paper lined baking sheets and press down slightly. Place a few extra M & M’s on top if you like. I picked out the colors of our school’s football team for fun.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, watching very closely. It is super important not to overcook them. They will actually appear to be under done.

Remove the pans from the oven to cool and let them cool for 10 to 15 minutes before placing cookies on a wire cooling rack. They will be very soft and hard to work with so be careful. They will firm up while they are cooling down.

You may store these cookies at room temperature in a covered container for up to five days. That is if they last that long! They also freeze very well. You can also get them to the ball stage while they are still unbaked and flash-freeze them on cookie sheets. Then remove them them and place in gallon-sized freezer bags with a zip closure. Don’t skip flash freezing. If you just put the balls straight into freezer bags without flash freezing, they will clump together. When you want to bake some fresh cookies from the frozen balls, you may remove them from the freezer and bake as instructed, adding a minute or two to the baking time.

ENJOY!!!!