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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, so be careful when cooking the cookie dough! 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, my trick is 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.
Watch the How-To Reel
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.
This post was originally published on December 3, 2021
I have made these cookies three—yes, three—times now. For the family twice and again for a cookie share. They are so easy, festive, and delicious! A new Christmas staple in our household! Thank you!
Hi Janet,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try! Happy Holidays!?? xTieghan
More like candy than a cookie ? A fun holiday recipe.
I made these with my 3 year old mini baker, and we had so much fun! Helped that I gave her a little bowl of M&Ms on the side. So yummy, we are bringing to Christmas to share with all the cousins!
Hi Corrie,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try! Happy Holidays!?? xTieghan
Hey Kristi,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try! Happy Holidays!?? xTieghan
Mini pretzel sticks…is it 1 cup before or after crushed? Crushed to a powder or roughly crushed? Also, if you’re crushing them, why do they have to be mini?
Hope that doesn’t come off rude, I’m actually seriously asking. ?
Hi Christa,
You will want to use 1 cup of pretzels and then crush them, just roughly crushed, you still want pieces of the pretzels. I hope you love the recipe! xTieghan
Forgot to leave a rating!
Thanks again Margaret!
These cookies are going to be my new favorite cookie. The variety of textures and delicious flavors are pure perfection.
I can’t wait to share them with others in my boxes of cookies. Another win, Tieghan!
Merry Christmas!
Suzan
Hey Suzan,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try! Happy Holidays!?? xTieghan
Loved these and have shared your recipe several times to others who loved receiving them! Wondered if I tried adding peanut butter. Have you tried? Would I need to adjust recipe do you think? Thanks!
Hey Nancy,
I haven’t tried it, but you could definitely give it a try! I hope you love the recipe! xTieghan
So, so delicious! It pushes all the right buttons ☺️.
Hi Erin,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try! Happy Holidays!?? xTieghan
Hi! Merry Christmas! I just made a half-batch of these using GF flour (King Arthur’s 1:1). They are fantastic, would give you 10 stars if I could. I didn’t have GF pretzels on hand and decided to bake these at 6am so I substituted crushed salty potato chips – amazing!
Hey Marina,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try! Happy Holidays!?? xTieghan
Sorry for the misspelling of your name, Tieghan!
Your recipes are amazing!
No worries, thanks for your kind message:)
Hi Teagan,
My daughter is a big fan of yours and has become quite the impressive cook with your recipes! She shared this recipe with me and I had to try it for Christmas this year.
These cookies are amazing! The pretzels add a lot of texture!
I made them 1/2 the size (about 1/8 th of a cup) and followed your instructions fo make them thicker cookies by omitting the egg yolk and I used dark chocolate chunks!
So delicious and they look scrumptious too!
Hey Joey,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for giving it a try! Happy Holidays!?? xTieghan
I tried these cookies and my entire family absolutely loved them (even my husband who does not like white chocolate!). They will definitely be a family favorite for the holidays. The only problem I had was mixing in the chips and M&Ms; the batter was so heavy and stiff so I ended up using my KitchenAid mixer on the lowest speed and that was fine! I also found that I needed to bake them about 2 minutes longer at the end. (This was the first thing I ever baked in my new oven so I’m not yet tuned into the nuances of how it bakes). Thank you and happy holidays!
Hi Judy,
Thank you so very much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays!??
Do you chill the dough before? I never do when I make cookies (I don’t have patience!) And since I don’t, I suspect that is why every single time, they turn out like huge thin flat ugly blobs that run into eachother. I used less than 1/4 cup per cookie and that still happened.
Are you chilling your dough?
How many cookies per sheet tray did you bake at a time? What am I doing wrong?
Thank you so much!
Hi Sara,
I did not chill the dough, but if you have issues with dough spreading then chilling the dough would help with this. xTieghan
Made these today! They are delicious!!! ❤️❤️❤️
Hi Betty,
Thank you so very much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays!??
my cookies went flat! not sure what i did wrong but they are totally flat and way too crispy on the ends. next time i make it i’m gonna leave out the egg yolk and chilling the dough- i did that for about half the batch and it helped a little but overall still flat. i want to make them better next time, i was so excited about this recipe!
Hey Shannon,
Thank you so very much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Sorry to hear that they were flat. Was there anything you adjusted? Happy Holidays!??
Could you use a cookie cutter with this recipe? If so how thick should you roll the dough out before cutting?
Hi Kiren,
I would not recommend that for this recipe:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
These are our new favorite!! I love that they are huge and chewy!!
Hi Mary,
Thank you so very much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays!??
I only have “quick oats” think that’ll do the trick ? I’m too excited to try them and can’t bring myself to make a special trip to the store.
Hi Carleigh,
So sorry, the quick oats will not give you the same results, you really want to use old fashioned oats. Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
LOVE these! Perfect Christmas cookie 🙂
Hi Caroline,
Thank you so very much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays!??