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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.
We made a few of your cookie recipes this year and loved them all! My little girls love to help with the batter. This was their favorite so far. We love the added touch of holiday M & Ms. Merry Christmas!
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! Have a wonderful holiday season! xT
I made these last night they were delicious!
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! Have a wonderful holiday season! xT
These are my perfect Xmas cookie! All the salty and sweet is perfection. Mine were pretty gooey (fell apart when I went to transfer them after cooking) so just had to bake them an extra 3ish min!
Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! Have a wonderful holiday season! xT
These cookies are amazing! They have been added to my annual Christmas cookie list! Thank you for this amazing recipe!
Hey Susan! Thanks so much for trying out the recipe! Have a wonderful holiday season! xT
Hi! I only have unsalted butter. How much salt would you recommend adding in addition to what’s in the recipe already? Thanks!
Hi Sarah! I would add about a 1/4 teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter! xT
Are quick oats okay to use? Or are old fashioned oats better? Thanks!
Hey Alyson! I would definitely recommend using old fashioned oats in this recipe! xT
I love this recipe! Could the dough be frozen before baking or will this make pretzels mushy?
Hey Haley! Yes, that should work just fine! xT
I tried these out and although the taste was great, the look was awful. I followed the instructions but they looked more like lattice cookies. Is the baking powder and baking soda measurements correct? Seems like alot for one batch. Not a negative review (still very tasty) but just curious!
Hi Brennen! Yes, the measurements are correct! Thanks for the feedback! xT
I’ve made lots of HBH recipes – usually fantastic & my go-to! These were just ok… definitely better warm. By the 2nd day, almost too hard & crunchy to eat. They definitely won’t make it to day 3 when I’m passing out cookie boxes.
Hey there! I am so sorry this recipe didn’t turn out the way you hoped! Thank you for letting me know! xT
Could you make these smaller? Would they hold their shape? How much less time would you bake them for?
Could you premake the dough and then bake as you want some?
Hi Michelle! Yes, that should work just fine! I would premake the dough and then freeze it if you want to keep it on hand! xT
I wish we had the option to post pictures. First time trying this recipe and I think the cookies turned out really well. I did use holiday peanut butter, M&Ms, though. I thought the peanut butter would go well with the pretzels and the other chocolate pieces. However, the holiday peanut butter M&Ms are larger than the plain M&Ms (I didn’t realize this) so they took up a bit more room in the dough which I think maybe caused the dough to not hold its shape as well. I could be wrong here. Or maybe I should have used less than one cup in the dough. They weren’t perfectly round but more rustic looking. And same for sticking them on top of the partially baked cookie. The larger size M&M‘s kind of created craters in the cookie. But as the cookies cooled and set, they were actually beautiful for a first try. I would love to get your input though. Definitely will make again.
Also, why rotate?
Hi there! Thank you so so much for giving this recipe a try! So glad to hear this recipe was enjoyed! xT
These came out fat and dry. I used steel cut oats and maybe I wasn’t supposed to crush the pretzels as much? Not sure but something definitely went wrong :(.
Hi Lisa! Oh no I’m so sorry about that! Hmm yes sometimes the pretzels can get crushed too much and make the cookies dry because it bakes into the flour instead of staying in small pretzel bits! xT
But why did you give it two stars when you didn’t follow the recipe? It calls for Old Fashioned Oats and you used Steel Cut. Two totally different types of oatmeal that cook very differently. And it sounds like you overdid it on crushing the pretzels which also could have contributed to your not so successful outcome of your cookies. I don’t think your rating was very fair or justified.
Never use steel cut oats for baking. Old fashioned are the way to go. That’s where your mistake was.
I made these and used the smaller scoop. The color from the M & Ms bled onto the cookies so next time I will not add the M & M’s until I have scooped and just push them in to the dough from the top and hopefully that will make for a prettier cookie. Flavor was good.
Thank you Darcy! xT
These cookies are amazing! I made them last year and I’ll be making them again this year. Does the dough freeze okay with the pretzels?
Hey Dominique! I think the dough should freeze just fine! 🙂 xT
Very sweet, but tasty.
Next time I might cut back a bit on all the chocolate and add a bit more pretzels.
Salt on top might be great too.
Thank so much Michelle! xT