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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
Loved this recipe! I accidentally used 2 eggs + 1 egg white (instead of 1 yolk) and the cookies turned out flat and crunchy (similar to Tates) after just 8 or 9 minutes. I actually LOVE them like this but they do not look the cutest so I’ll keep this batch for us and try again for the ones I give to the neighbors 🙂
Hey Kelly,
Happy Friday! I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for giving it a try! xTieghan
Hi there! Quick question…in the write up before the recipe, you mention pretzel twists and in the recipe it says pretzel sticks. Does it matter which ones we use? Can’t wait to try this recipe out!
Thanks a mil!
It won’t matter but i think twists work better! 🙂
Hey Mandi,
Either one will work just fine! Please let me know if you give the cookies a try, I hope you love them! xTieghan
These are so delicious. Made them exactly like the recipe and I am even at high altitude and I am obsessed.
Hey Sarah,
Happy Friday! I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for giving it a try! xTieghan
I made this recipe this morning to ship to my daughter at college for her finals week. Oh my, they are so delicious! I had to bake them a little longer to get the browned edges, but other than that this recipe is terrific!
Hey Kathleen,
Awesome!! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear that it was enjoyed! xTieghan
Just took my first batch out, I had to put them in for a bit longer, as they are not browning like the picture, and the M&M’s are melting ?
I made them because they not only sounded yummy, but because of the photo looking so nice.
If anyone has any tips on how to brown the cookie, or why my M&M’s are melting, a reply would be so appreciated.
Kimberly
Hi Kimberly,
I would follow the recipe as is:) The cookies will continue to bake on the baking sheet when you pull from the oven. Your M&Ms will melt, that’s why I add a couple on top in step 5. I hope this helps! xTieghan
I want to make these but can I freeze them after I bake them?
Hi Jodi,
Yes, that would work for you. Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you enjoy them! xTieghan
I did not have pretezels, but tossed in some coconut they were great
I have a question for anyone who froze dough into pre shaped balls (which I am doing now) – did the bake time change at all when bakingfrom frozen? Teighan, help me out! 🙂 Thanks for always replying to my questions!
Hey Angie,
Awesome!! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear that it was enjoyed! I’ve never baked from frozen, I would thaw first:) xTieghan
Hi there, can we scoop and freeze this dough?
Hey Alexandra,
Sure, that should work well for you! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Hi Tieghan,
I just took the last of this cookie out of the oven. I tasted one and they are delicious. I left out the extra yolk since I didn’t want them to spread out more. I also wanted smaller cookies and more of them. My batch made 40. I think they would be awesome with a drizzle of melted chocolate chips after cooling. Nothing is too sweet or chocolatey to me. I used a cool cookie sheet with parchment for each batch in the oven. I used my kitchenAid mixer for these but I was unclear if that was right since the recipe just said mix together. Thank you.
Hey Sandy,
Awesome!! Thanks a bunch for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear that it was enjoyed! xTieghan
Hello, I was going to double the recipe and I changed the number before I printed, but the egg yolk did change. Do I need to add another? Thanks
Hi there,
Yes, I would add another egg yolk. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know how they turn out! xTieghan
I made these and used browned butter (which might have been a mistake because I didn’t realize that browned butter brought back to room temp was different than just room temp butter) but they still turned out delicious. I also used peanut butter m&ms instead of regular m&ms because I felt like the chocolate chunks added enough chocolate and the peanut butter was a really tasty addition to the flavor profile
Hey Olivia,
I love to hear that this recipe worked out for you, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! xTieghan
The bomb! Followed the recipe but only baked 4. The rest of the scoops of dough are in the freezer so I can pop them in the oven whenever and we can have them warm.
Hey Toni,
I love to hear that this recipe worked out for you, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! xTieghan
Can you freeze the dough for later?
Hi Susy,
Sure, that will work well for you! Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan
Can’t wait to make these: question: how “crushed” should the pretzels be? Pieces still apparent to give some crunch, or dust? Thanks!
Hey Martha,
You’ll want to crush just slightly so you still have pieces of the pretzel for taste and crunch. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Caution!! These are so addicting! I think I found my new favorite cookie.. I omitted the white chocolate chips ( they are just too sweet for me) and cut the oats in half- but so so good!!
Hey Amanda,
I love to hear that this recipe worked out for you, thanks a bunch for giving it a try! xTieghan