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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
Mine turn out like a ball and quite puffy – no spread or gooey-ness even though I reduced cooking time. Could it be bc I used quick cook oats? Yummy all the same 🙂
Hi Karen,
Thanks for giving the recipe a try! Yes, you need to use old fashioned oats for this recipe:) xTieghan
Thank you for responding! I will try again! They were delish anyway but super dense. Silly me, getting the wrong oats! ? I knew it was me bc all your recipes are awesome ?
Hi there!
I love all your recipes and have been inspired by the brown butter chocolate chip cookies in particular. Do you think I could use brown butter in this one as well? Or will it mess up the baking process?
Thank you!
Hi Megan,
That should work well for you. I hope this recipe turns out amazing, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
So easy. So delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Hi Kathy,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
These turned out pretty good. I’m going to subsitute one ingredient the next time I make them and thats the mini pretzel sticks crushed for Candy Canes broken.
Hey Danny,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Very good. Next time I will put a little less of the oats and not crush the pretzels as finely. But a very good cookie.
Hey Connie,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
I loved this recipe! I made these for a holiday party and they were a hit. I made them slightly smaller. I got 31 cookies from this recipe. I reduced the bake time a bit since I made them smaller.
I was a little skeptical because of the baking powder but they are seriously perfect. I’ll be making these again! Thanks for a great recipe.
Hey Karla,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Took these to a Christmas party and they were a hit! I refrigerated the dough overnight and the M&Ms didn’t melt while baking like some others mentioned – maybe refrigerating the dough helps? I don’t like white chocolate so I left that out and they were still really good!
Hey Mandy,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Made these cookies as part of our Christmas bakefest, and they were a huge hit! Chewy and crispy, sweet and salty, chef’s kiss!
Hi Ellis,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Made these with my kiddos we had so much fun adding in the all the mix-ins. Look forward to handing them out to our neighbors. Also super easy to throw all together, my type of cookie.
Hi Kathryn,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
These were soooo good! I ended up subbing out the chocolate chips for peanut butter chips. We could not stop eating them!
Hi Courteney,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
These are so yummy! A bit hard to mix towards the end when you put in the oats, chips, pretzels, and m&ms, but you just have to use a little elbow grease ;). They definitely will expand a LOT while baking so be sure to give them plenty of space on the baking sheet. A couple of mine came out pancake like but for the most part they all came out great! And the pancake ones still taste good, lol! Thanks for a yummy and fun holiday cookie recipe.
Hi Danielle,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
These were great! Loved them even more the days after baking them. Hey, do you think I could brown the butter in step one? Would it add to it?
Hey Caitlin,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Sure, you could do that. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
I made these for my version of a Cookie Box. They were a hit! Each batch came out perfectly. This will be a cookie I make every year.
Hey Crystal,
Thanks so much for trying this recipe out, I am thrilled to hear that it was enjoyed. Happy Holidays! xTieghan
I just baked them for the first time and they are HUGE, “monster” cookies. I baked 6 on a cookie sheet and popped 2 sheets in the oven following your directions. After letting them cool on the sheet so the set, I moved them to the rack and added 6 more to cookies to the 2 sheets. They came out perfect. Crisp edges and gooey centers. They look so festive. Will make again for sure. Thanks Tieghan, they will impress my kids. xoxo Happy Holidays.
Hi Jill,
Happy Sunday! So glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it! xTieghan
I am gluten free and used an all purpose GF flour to make these!! They are wonderful!!! Next time I think I will skip on the GF pretzels. These cookies are absolutely decadent and I cannot wait to make again!!!
Hi Krista,
Happy Sunday! So glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it! xTieghan