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Christmas Monster Cookies for your December weekend baking…festive, easy, and sweet. Homemade chocolate chip cookies, made with oats, pretzels pieces, plenty of chocolate chunks, white chocolate, and plenty of holiday M&M’s. There’s nothing not to love about these sweet chocolate (crunch) cookies. Each bite is slightly crisp on the edges but soft and gooey in the center…with just a little salty pretzel crunch and milk chocolate throughout.
Fridays in December are just better! There are holiday parties, searching for the perfect gift for someone you love, and baking the nights away with family and friends. Well, at least that’s the “Hallmark” version I have in my head.
The reality is a little less picture-perfect for sure, but I’m definitely doing the baking! It’s one of the reasons we love this season the most. I mean there are so many cookies! As I said on Tuesday, this year I’m really focusing on all of the holiday cookies I haven’t made before.
My list of cookies is a mile long, but I only have a handful of days to share them. So, I’m trying to pick the very best on my list. It’s tricky, but I always knew these cookies needed to be shared. The combination of ingredients is just too good.
The steps are easy
One: gather your ingredients. You’ll need the basics…butter, sugar, flour, etc. Simple, simple, nothing fancy, but all good.
Two: the stir-ins, they’re are the most important part. You’ll need old fashioned oats, salted pretzel twists, semi-sweet or dark chocolate chunks, and white chocolate chips. And then plenty of red and green holiday M&M’s, which really make these cookies.
Three: beat, mix, stir, bake.
Four: eat these cookies warm, just out of the oven, because these are those kind of gooey delicious cookies.
A couple notes
It’s important to note that these cookies do spread. They’re meant to have slightly crisp edges and perfectly soft gooey centers, just like in the photos. My favorite type of cookie…totally delicious.
If you want a bit of a thicker cookie, simply omit the additional egg yolk and use only two eggs. This will give you a thicker cookie without as much spreading.
To get the M&M’s to really pop, I like to add in a few just before the cookies finish baking completely. This way each cookie has a bit of the festive M&M’s right on top.
What I love about these cookies is that they’re so easy to make. They require no chilling and they really are completely no fuss. Especially when it comes to Christmas cookies.
These cookies have perfectly crisp edges, yet soft and gooey centers. They’ve got a nice crunch plus a little saltiness from the pretzels – the best kind of cookie.
I’m excited to include these in the year’s Christmas cookie box. They’re perfect for packing up and gifting to friends for the holidays!
Looking for other Christmas cookies? Here are my favorites:
Easy Vanilla Bean Christmas Lights Cookies
Easy Hot Chocolate Lace Cookies
Lastly, if you make these Christmas Monster Cookies, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Christmas Monster Cookies
Servings: 20 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 364 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 1/4 cups holiday M&M’s
- 1 cup mini pretzel sticks, crushed
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
- 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla until combined. Beat in the eggs and 1 egg yolk, 1 at a time, until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Beat in the oats. 3. Fold in 1 cup of the M&M's, the pretzels, chocolate chips, and white chocolate. 4. Roll the dough into 1/4 cup size balls. Place 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. 5. Transfer to the oven and bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pan and bake another 2 minutes. Pull the pan out and push the remaining M&M's into the cookies. Bake 2-3 minutes. Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. They will continue to cook slightly as they sit on the baking sheet. 6. Eat warm (highly recommended) or let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
I’ve made these the last 2 years for our extended family Christmas gathering and I never bring home leftovers! Delicious!
Hey Jessica,
Happy Wednesday!!❄️ Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback, I am so glad it was a hit! xx
Followed the recipe exactly and the cookies were amazing!
Hey Chalon,
Happy New Year!!🎆 I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for giving it a try and sharing your review! xT
These were delicious and my entire family loved them! Definitely recommend using a stand mixer if you have one. I struggled to get it mixed well by hand so switched to using the mixer and it was a breeze. Your recipes are always a hit in our house – thank you!
Hey Brooke,
Wonderful!! Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Thanks for your comment! xx
I have made a lot of monster cookies and was shocked that there was no peanut butter in this recipe. I went back and forth and decided to add 1/2 cup of peanut butter because I love the combination of peanut butter and chocolate. I also omitted the white chocolate chips because they aren’t my favorite. The hubs and I agree, these are some of the best cookies we’ve ever made! Thanks Tieghan!
Hey Sadie,
Happy Wednesday!!🎇 I am delighted to hear that this recipe was enjoyed and appreciate you making it! Thanks for sharing what worked well for you! xx
These were a fail. I followed the recipe exactly. I even chilled the dough before baking. Not enough cookie to hold these together. Tasted like oatmeal nothingness. I threw the cookies and all of the dough away. Disappointing.
Hi there,
Sorry to hear this recipe was not enjoyed. Sorry, what do you mean not even cookie to hold these together? Was there anything you adjusted? Let me know how I can help! xx
I made this Christmas Monster Cookies for Christmas today and they did not disappoint! Crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, and the perfect balance of sweet and salty!
Hey Elizabeth,
Happy Holidays!!☃️ I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your feedback, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! xT
Love your recipes so much! Need some advice with these cookies. I made exactly according to recipe but mine did not come out flat and gooey like yours. But Much thicker and denser , definitely dont think I overcooked, but they didn’t spread or have right consistency. What do u think I did wrong?
Hey Laura,
Thanks for trying this recipe, sorry to hear you had some issues! What kind of flour and oats did you use? Did you do the tapping trick while baking? Let me know how I can help! xT
Just finished making these cookies with the kids tonight. We are leaving them for Santa and everytime time we put another add-in they said, “Whoa! Santa is going to give us extra presents because we put so much extra stuff Santa likes in them!” We will see about that;) but definitely a major sucess in our house! Thank you!
Hey Christina,
Happy Monday!❄️ I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for making it! xx
I’m gluten free so I substituted the flour, pretzels, and oats for GF versions, but these cookies still turned out great! I also swapped the white chocolate chips for peanut butter chips. The cookies didn’t spread out like the recipe noted, they were pretty fluffy despite using the extra egg yolk, but that could very well be because of the ingredient substitutions.
Hey Emily,
Thanks for giving these cookies a try and sharing what worked well for you, so glad to hear they were enjoyed! xT
I maybe didn’t read as carefully and used unsalted butter so mine were not the jdeal salt level (and probably didn’t rise as much as I expected), but added flaky sea salt to the top after my first batch out of the oven tasted not as salty as I wanted them to 🙂 excellent cookie!
Hey Jane,
I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Merry Christmas! 🎁🎄
Can you use light brown sugar and not dark brown sugar?
Hi Shelby,
Yes, that will work well for you! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
Hi There!
What should I do if I don’t have enough rolled oats? I have about half a cup.
Thanks!
Hey there,
You’re going to have to add more flour, but I’m not exactly sure how much, maybe 1/4 cup. Let me know how this recipe turns out! xT
I made the monster cookies yesterday. Loved them. Definitely will be in my Christmas Cookie box in the coming years. I just printed out several more Half Baked Harvest Cookie recipe’s to try–Salted Milk Chocolate/PB Blondie; Santa Claus Cookie; Chewy Frosted Cinnamon Snickerdoodle. I love the Christmas cookie box idea-I will be doing that from now on too. Thank you for all the great recipes.
Hey Sandra,
I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Merry Christmas! 🎁🎄
Just made these. Probably best cookies I’ve ever eaten. I didn’t do the extra yolk so they were not as spread out. I also added some baked lays chip i for some reason had in the house to make it more interesting. The crunchy edges are delish too. I told my husband next Christmas I want this cookbook! Hit every time.
Hey Molly,
I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Merry Christmas! 🎁🎄
Making our 3rd batch in less than a week! Needless to say my family and neighbors LOVE these!!
Lol love to hear this Laura! Thanks so much for making these cookies, I love to hear that they are always enjoyed! xT
Cookies were delicious!
Can I make the dough a day ahead and take to the party and bake it there…. So we can have warm cookies out of the oven
Hey there,
Totally, that will work well for you! Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT