Giant Monster Oatmeal Cookies

My kids had half days at school all week and next week is spring break. Our schedule is packed to the brim with baseball and lacrosse, so we’ll be enjoying a nice little staycation bouncing from field to field all week long.

With the kids roaming the house, claiming boredom and eating up all the snacks or begging to go out to eat, I put them to work making a double batch of these fun monster cookies. Packed with peanut butter and rolled oats and dotted with mini peanut butter m&m candies; these cookies are a crowd pleaser for sure. We made them extra big, mostly for the fun of it and also to double as a hearty snack in between games. I can almost justify these yummy cookies as a granola bar, purely from the two cups of rolled oats mixed into the dough.

This is a great recipe to get the kids involved in and one they will happily gobble up straight from the oven. A very simple and straightforward recipe, even your littlest helpers can get busy in the kitchen helping make these cookies.

I opted for mini peanut butter m&M candies and milk chocolate chips for a big peanut butter flavor but regular m&ms (regular or mini size) work great. If a nut allergy is a concern, the peanut butter could be swapped for sunflower butter or almond butter, if deemed safe for that person.

Hopefully, we’ll find a few minutes in between sports schedules to take a long walk on the Cowiche Canyon Conservancy and pick away at the long list of spring clean up chores my yard requires.

The tulips and daffodils are so close to showing off their pops of color and my beloved ornamental cherry trees just might blossom this week; dazzling the neighborhood with their (oh so temporary) delicate pink petals. The one week a year the trees flower is the highlight of my spring and I look forward to it all year long. Here’s hoping it happens in the next few days.

Whether you’re home wrangling kids over spring break or just find yourself int he mood for a good cookie, give this recipe a try. I promise, it won’t dissapoint!

Giant Monster Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

• 1 cup butter, softened

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 cup creamy peanut butter

• 2 eggs, room temperature

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

• 2 cups rolled oats

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 teaspoon baking powder

• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt

• 1 1/2 cups mini peanut butter m&m candies

• 1 cup milk chocolate chips

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar, beating on high for about two minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the peanut butter, eggs and vanilla, mixing again until well-incorporated.

In a separate medium-size bowl, combine the flour, oats, baking powder and soda and salt. Mix with a spatula until combined then add it to the wet ingredients. Turn the mixer on low, mixing until a dough just barely forms. Turn the mixer off and add in the m&m candies and milk chocolate chips. Turn the mixer on one more time to distribute the chocolate into the dough. Don’t overmix!

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or parchment paper and store in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or up to two days. If you’re planning to chill the dough longer than about an hour, plan to let the dough rest on the counter for 20 minutes before scooping.

Once you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop 1/4 cup dough at a time, shaping into a ball and placing on the tray, leaving space for the cookies to spread. Sprinkle with a pinch of coarse salt and bake for about 15-17 minutes to until the cookies are golden brown on the edges (but the center will still look a little soft).

Remove the tray from the oven and allow cookies to cool for five minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling all the way down. Repeat the process until you’ve baked all the dough into cookies. Store cookies in an air tight container on the counter for up to three days. Recipe makes about 24 cookies.