Jumbo Monster Cookies

They may seem like an odd choice for an adult, but Monster Cookies are my favorite kind of cookie!  They're easy to make, bright and cheery to look at, and most importantly, they taste great.  The peanut butter flavor is wonderful and the mix of 3 kinds of chocolate works really well.  There are tons of versions of Monster Cookies out there, and this is just my version.  Many use less peanut butter, have nuts or other things like pretzels or raisins, and I haven't seen any with white chocolate chips, but the white chocolate chips add a lot!  My version is based on Paula Deen's recipe.

For this batch, I used a giant 1/3 C cookie scoop that my mother-in-law gave us recently.  The cookies turned out comically huge, big enough that even cookie lovers like us break them in half to share.  You can make them smaller (slightly larger than a golf ball is good), but come on, they're Monster Cookies- they should be bigger than average!

Monster Cookies

1 stick salted butter, softened

1 C sugar

1 1/4 C packed brown sugar

16 oz jar of peanut butter

3 eggs

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp baking soda

4 1/2 C quick oats (not instant)

3/4 C semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 C white chocolate chips

3/4 C M&Ms, plus more for the top of the cookies

Preheat oven to 350 and line large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, mix together butter, the sugars, peanut butter, eggs, salt, and vanilla until smooth.  Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add baking soda, oats, and chocolate, and stir until everything is well combined, but don't over mix. 

Measure dough into 1/3 C portions and roll each portion into a ball.  Place dough balls about 3 1/2 inches apart on the cookie sheets.  Top each dough ball with 6 more M&Ms, then flatten the cookies with the palm of your hand because they don't spread a ton on their own.

Bake cookies until light golden, about 15-20 minutes depending on your oven.  Let the cookies cool on the pans for 10 minutes, then place them on a cooling rack to finish.

Yield: 14 jumbo cookies or about 3 dozen smaller ones