These monster cookies are the classic oatmeal peanut butter cookies all dressed up for Christmas with red and green M&M’s, white chocolate chips and holiday sprinkles. A fun and festive treat for cookie exchanges and gift giving!
It’s Christmas cookie time again, and along cookies recipes such as stained glass cookies and cream cheese spritz cookies, these Christmas monster cookies are on my must-make list every year.
You’ve heard of monster cookies, right? Those oatmeal-peanut butter-M&M-chocolate chip delights? This is a holiday version of the popular classic and I have to say, I like it even better than the original version. It’s a must make Christmas recipe! These cookies have the perfect texture with just a touch of chewiness from the oats.
Table of Contents
Christmas Monster Cookies Ingredients
To make this recipe, you will need butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, creamy peanut butter, vanilla extract, all purpose flour, baking soda, salt oats, M&M’s, white chocolate chips and holiday sprinkles.
How Do You Make Monster Cookies?
Preheat the oven, and line a baking sheet with parchment or a nonstick baking mat. Cream the butter and two types of sugar in a large bowl with a mixer until fluffy. Add the egg, peanut butter and vanilla to the bowl, then mix to combine. Next add the flour, salt and baking soda, and mix until just combined. Stir in the oats, M&M’s and chocolate chips. Make cookie dough balls, and dip each ball into the sprinkles. Press a few more M&M candies and chocolate chips into the top of each ball of dough. Place the dough on a cookie sheet. Bake until the cookies are set and golden brown, then cool on a wire rack. Store the baked cookies in an airtight container, or enjoy right away.
Tips For The Perfect Cookies
- For the prettiest cookies, press some extra M&M’s and white chocolate chips into the tops of the balls of dough before baking. It’s a bit of a tight fit with the sprinkles in the mix too, but it’s totally worth it for a beautiful end result.
- The cookie dough can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking. If you’re planning to make your dough ahead of time, you may want to omit the M&M’s and add them just before baking so that the color from the candies doesn’t stain the dough if it’s in the fridge for a while.
- Look for white chocolate chips that contain cocoa butter rather than palm oil for the best flavor.
- These cookies will stay fresh in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days.
- I recommend using a creamy peanut butter such as Skippy or Jif. Natural peanut butter does not work well in this recipe.
Quick Tip
Use a cookie scoop or a tablespoon measure to make sure all of your cookies are the same size
Recipe FAQs
These monster cookies are a great candidate for the freezer. Simply place the cookies in a single layer in a resealable bag, then freeze until solid. When you’re ready to eat your cookies, take the from the freezer and let them sit at room temperature until they’re soft.
Monster cookies are oatmeal peanut butter cookies that contain add-ins such as M&M candy, chocolate chips or nuts. They typically contain ingredients such as oats, flour, butter, sugar and eggs.
FOLLOW ME
Flavor Variations
These cookies are delicious as-is, but you can customize some of the ingredients to suit your tastes.
- Chocolate: Not a fan of white chocolate? Try semisweet chocolate chips or milk chocolate chips instead.
- Add-Ins: Feel free to swap out some or all of the M&M’s and chocolate chips with ingredients such as toffee bits, almonds, walnuts, peanuts, pecans or raisins.
These Christmas monster cookies are the perfect thing to take to a cookie exchange because they’re so unique. I also like to package them up in gift tins or cellophane bags to give to teachers, friends and family. Everyone who tries these cookies asks me for the recipe!
More Holiday Treats
Peppermint Brownies
1 hr 10 mins
Red Velvet Cookies
35 mins
Reindeer Chow
11 mins
Peppermint Patties Recipe
11 mins
Crock Pot Candy
1 hr 35 mins
Monster Cookies Video
Love This Recipe?
Please leave a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating in the recipe card below & a review in the comments section further down the page.
Monster Cookies (Christmas Version)
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/4 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup holiday M&M’s plus more for tops of cookies
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips plus more for tops of cookies
- 1/3 cup holiday sprinkles
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Line a sheet pan with a piece of parchment paper or silicon baking mat
- Place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Beat until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.
- Add the egg, peanut butter and vanilla to the bowl and mix until combined
- Add the flour, salt and baking soda to the bowl and mix until just combined. Stir in the oats.
- Add the M&M’s and white chocolate chips to the bowl and gently fold them into the dough.
- Make 2 tablespoon sized balls of cookie dough and place them 2 inches apart on the prepared sheet pan. You will need to bake the cookies in batches.
- Press the top of each cookie dough ball into the sprinkles.
- Press a few M&M’s and white chocolate chips onto the top of each cookie dough ball.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.
- Cool the cookies on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack
- Repeat the process with the remaining cookie dough. Cool all cookies completely then serve.
- Store any leftover cookies in a sealed container for up to 5 days, or you can freeze the cookies for up to 2 months.
Notes
- The cookie dough can be stored in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking. If you’re planning to make your dough ahead of time, you may want to omit the M&M’s and add them just before baking so that the color from the candies doesn’t stain the dough if it’s in the fridge for a while.
- Look for white chocolate chips that contain cocoa butter rather than palm oil for the best flavor.
In the video it shows you added sprinkles to the cookie dough. The recipe says to press them into the ball of dough. Which is it? I plan on making them for Christmas gifts. They look awesome and super easy to make!
Thanks for catching that! They come out prettier if you press the tops in sprinkles but either way produces delicious cookies.
can you do the receipe without peanut butter
You’d have to substitute almond butter or sunflower butter which is nut free.
Wanted something festive for table and WOW – they are. Thank you.
So glad you like them, happy holidays!
Omg can we say yum?!?! I just love Christmas cookies! Must give this recipe a tty!
How many cookies does this make
24!
Thank you for your timely reply. I actually found the answer when I printed the recipe. Looking forward to making these. Happy Holidays and Happy baking.
Does this recipe use salted or unsalted butter? Light or dark brown sugar??
I used salted butter and light brown sugar!
Anything oatmeal peanut butter will be so worth the drool over ! Yummy!
These cookies are super fun & festive. They are totally perfect for a holiday cookie exchange
My husband and I go back and forth over what the best kind of cookies are. He likes flat and crispy. I am more the fluffy and loaded kind myself. These are right up my alley.
These look so yummy! I like how festive they are. It would be hard to stop at one!
These cookies looks so great! I love tmthe idea of green and red m&m’s making it looks like a Christmas cookies! I love peanut butter and oatmeal individually. But baking them together to form a wonderful cookie is a great idea indeed! Love it!
Um…if licking phone screens were a thing, I’d be doing that right now. These cookies look absolutely delicious. I love that they’re fun and festive, too!
Mmmm I’ve not heard of these before. I like how they look like little festive baubles 😊 perfect for Christmas!
Oh my goodness these are so cute and look absolutely delicious! My kids would go crazy over them 🙂
These are such fun cookies! I love making monster cookies and these holiday ones have me all festive. I cannot wait to share them with our family!
These look yummy and so colorful! I’ve been making a few rounds of holiday treats with the kiddos, they love helping too!
These look so fantastic! I might have to make some just for me….and maybe not share them 😉
Those look so good! Chunky cookies are my jam. They have SO MUCH good stuff inside them. I can’t wait to make these!
I love how loaded these are! They look fantastic and so pretty with the festive colors!
I like this dish and especially to learn from your article thanks to introducing this great dish. I made it my home and enjoy with my family, they also loved it.