When my son was a senior in high school, he and his teammates headed to football camp for a week each fall. 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.

My son and the other seniors on his football team ready to board the bus for football camp. — My son (in the red bucket hat) with some of his football teammates ready to board the bus for camp.

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 that fall. Loaded with creamy peanut butter, chocolate chunks, oatmeal and M&Ms, these cookies are a real crowd-pleaser.

Peanut-Butter Oatmeal Monster Cookies

Packed with hearty oats, creamy peanut butter, and a mix of chocolate chunks and colorful candy-coated chocolates, these are the ultimate sweet treat with a little something for everyone.

Print Recipe

Prep Time:15

Cook Time:12

Chill:30

Ingredients

½ cup salted butter, room temperature
¼ cup sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
¾ cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 ¼ cups unbleached all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup quick-cooking oats (not old-fashioned oats)
½ cup regular M & M’s
½ cup peanut butter M & M’s
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks

Instructions

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 egg.
Add the flour. Sprinkle the baking soda over the top of the flour and mix in just until combined. Be 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. Then, fold in the M&Ms, and chocolate chunks.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes.
While the dough is chilling, 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.)
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.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, watching very closely. Do not overcook them. They will appear to be underdone, but will firm up while they are cooling down.
Remove the pans from the oven and let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets 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!
You may store these cookies at room temperature in a covered container for up to five days. If they last that long!

Notes

When Measuring Flour
For best results when measuring flour, 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.

To Make Ahead and Freeze
You can make the dough ahead of time and freeze. After rolling the dough into balls flash-freeze them on cookie sheets. When the dough is firm, place them 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, simply pop the frozen dough balls onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet and bake as instructed, adding a minute or two to the baking time.

Course: Dessert

A few of my favorite things

Before you go, you know I love baking for family and friends, so I wanted to share a couple of my favorite kitchen gadgets that make my time in the kitchen just a little bit easier.

OXO Good Grips 2 Cup Adjustable Measuring Cup
I LOVE this measuring cup for peanut butter, shortening, and other thick ingredients. Mine is older, but you can get a similar one on Amazon.

Self-scraping Beater Blade
This is another baking tool I love. It fits on my Kitchen Aide mixer and scrapes the bowl for you! You can find a similar one on Amazon. Make sure to check that it fits your model of mixer. If not, there are others. Just search by model number.