bakery-style monster cookies

Name: Bakery-Style Monster Cookies
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 9 min
Ingredients: 1 cup salted butter, softened at room temp ((2 sticks, 16 tbsp, or 226 grams)); 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter; 3/4 cup granulated sugar; 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed; 2 large eggs; 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2 and 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (358 grams); 1 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt; 1 cup old fashioned whole rolled oats; 1 and 1/4 cup m&ms; 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (Or a mix of milk and semi-sweet)

Published: Oct 8, 2022 · Updated: May 26, 2023 by Stephanie Simmons

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Bakery-Style Monster Cookies are thick with crisp edges and a perfectly soft center. The easy, no chill cookie dough is loaded with peanut butter, oats, m&ms, and chocolate chips, and comes together in one bowl. These are truly the best monster cookies!

Jumbo monster cookies on a light surface, with glasses of milk and a measuring cup of peanut butter.

This post was originally published April 20, 2022 but I just re-published it with extra tips, along with make-ahead & freezing tips. The recipe has not changed.

Table of Contents

Why you’ll love this recipe:

Giant Cookies – These cookies are so big! They’re just like the big bakery-style cookies we all love.
Tons of Mix-Ins – I did not skimp on the mix-ins. These cookies are loaded up with peanut butter, m&ms, chocolate chips, and oats.
Soft & Crisp – These cookies have soft centers and crisp edges – in other words, they are the best cookies!

A close-up of a monster cookie with a bite taken out.

Ingredient Overview:

Monster Cookies are typically made with a peanut butter cookie base, and loaded up with oats, m&ms, and chocolate chips! Besides those mix-ins, you’ll need a few other simple ingredients, which yield an incredibly delicious cookie!

Butter – I love salted butter, but you can use unsalted if you prefer.
Peanut Butter – I used a regular peanut butter (like Jif) rather than a natural peanut butter.
Oats – Be sure not to skip the oats, as they help provide the stability these cookies need to bake up properly. Use old-fashioned oats, not quick oats.
Vanilla extract – Use real vanilla extract for the best flavor!
Brown & Granulated Sugars – Using a mix of brown and white sugar keeps these cookies super soft and flavorful.

Ingredient Substitutions:

M&Ms – I used regular m&ms, but feel free to use mini m&ms, peanut m&ms, or even peanut butter m&ms to amp things up a bit!
Chocolate Chips – I used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you could use milk chocolate or a mix of semi-sweet and milk.
Dairy-Free – Use non-dairy butter sticks and dairy-free chocolate to keep this recipe dairy-free.
Gluten-Free – Theoretically, this recipe will work with a gluten-free 1:1 flour blend, but I haven’t tested it. If you do decide to try it out, let me know how it works! Be sure to use gluten-free oats, too.

How to Make this recipe Step-by-Step:

Step 1: Cream the salted butter and peanut butter together in a large bowl. Then, mix in the sugars until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla, then add your dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. No need to use a separate bowl for something as simple as these cookies!

Step 2: Add your mix-ins: the oats, m&ms, and chocolate chips.

A mixing bowl filled with cookie dough, with m&ms, chocolate chips, and oats on top.

Step 3: Mix everything into the dough until it’s well incorporated. Now for the reallyy good news! These cookies are NO CHILL! Scoop them into dough balls that are 4 ounces or 4 tablespoons of dough, and bake for 8-9 minutes at 350 F. Enjoy these chewy cookies warm from the oven, or let them cool on a wire rack.

A lined baking sheet with the cookie dough balls.

Expert Success Tips:

Extra Mix-Ins – Be sure to top your cookie dough balls with a few extra m&ms and chocolate chips – this makes all the mix-ins visible so you get a really bakery-worthy looking cookie.
Make-Ahead Tip – You can scoop the dough into balls, and store them in an airtight container for 1-3 days for baking at your leisure.
Baking Time –This may seem like a short bake time given the size of these dough balls, but it really is the perfect amount to keep these nice and soft on the inside, while still being fully baked. And, they will set up more as they cool. Follow the recipe for the best result.
Kitchen Scale – A food scale is the best way to make sure your flour is at the proper weight, since amounts will vary SO widely based on how you measure it, as well as the measuring cup you use, as they are not standardized.
Oven Thermometer – An oven thermometer will tell you if your oven is actually running at the temperature you set it to. Your oven may not be accurate. Accurate oven temperature is crucial for most bakes, so I leave an oven thermometer in at all times to keep an eye on my oven’s calibration.

Monster cookies on a light surface with m&ms, chocolate chips, and oats sprinkled around.

FAQs:

What makes these Bakery-Style Cookies?

These cookies are thick & large – just like a cookie you’d get at a bakery. They’re a bit larger than you may typically make cookies, and are closer in size to what you might purchase from a bakery. Besides the size, these are thick, and have a bit of crisp ness to the edges, while the center is perfectly soft.

Do these cookies spread?

Because of the oats and peanut butter, these cookies don’t spread much in the oven. You can smush the cookies down a bit with the bottom of a glass or measuring cup once they’re baked to spread them out a bit (that’s what I’ve done in the cookies pictured).

Is this cookie dough freezer friendly?

Yes! Even though this is a no chill cookie dough, you can still freeze the dough balls and bake from frozen, as with most cookies. There are details about how to do this in the recipe card below.

A mixing bowl full of the finished cookie dough.

Recipe Variations:

Mix-Ins – Have fun with the mix-ins! Feel free to try a different type of m&m candies, or add peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, or even dried fruit or nuts. You could even try an alternative to nut butters if you have an allergy, like sun butter.
Gluten-Free and Dairy-Free – See the notes above in the ingredients section about making this recipe gluten and dairy free.

Be sure to enjoy these soft, chewy Monster Cookies while they’re warm from the oven, with all their gooey, melty, chocolatey goodness. A tall glass of cold milk is a must! These will be a hit anywhere you take them.

Serving + Storing these Monster Cookies:

Let cookies cool completely, then store in an airtight container at room temperature for 4-5 days. See dough freezing tips above.

Special Tools:

Cookie Scoop – Use this cookie scoop to make your cookies the size I did. It’s technically an ice cream scoop, but it’s the perfect size for large bakery-style cookies.
Baking Sheets – These are my favorite cookie sheets!
Silicone Baking Mat – This is my favorite silicone baking mat. It reduces waste because it’s washable!

More Cookie Recipes to Love:

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