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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 just made these Monster cookies! I’m adding them to my cookie platters this Christmas. They were so easy to make and delicious. I left out the pretzels and white chocolate chips because I didn’t have them. They were still so yummy. I love all of your recipes!
Merry Christmas!
I was searching for an easy and yummy Christmas cookie recipe to make with my 5 year old son and these turned out great! My son doesn’t like a lot of milk chocolate so I switched the ratios of white and milk chocolate chips so there was less chocolate. Definitely a keeper!
Hey Fai,
Fantastic! Thank you so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays!? xx
Hi Ann,
Fantastic! Thank you so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays!? xx
Hi Tieghan , I’m making these cookies today , so excited! Was wondering if you’d think they’d be okay to freeze ? Want to have them for my Christmas Eve cookie board .
Hi Polly,
Yes, you could freeze them! I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
Omg! I couldn’t stop eating the dough as I was baking them up….I skipped over the recipe at first as we have a peanut allergy in our house but I’m so glad I re-read it! Subbed in butterscotch chips for white chocolate and wow!! Happy happy holidays
Hey Heidi,
Fantastic! Thank you so much for making this recipe, I am so glad to hear it was enjoyed! Happy Holidays!? xx
I made these with my 5 year old daughter tonight and they turned out great! We frozen half the dough so we can make more on Christmas Eve! Thank you for the awesome recipe!!
Hey Brittani,
Happy Friday! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was enjoyed. Thanks so much for making it and happy holidays!❄️ xTieghan
I followed the recipe completely and mine spread out so thin like pancakes and basically melted into eachother 🙁 Im so sad! I love your recipes and thought this would be super easy. I have no idea where I went wrong…I doubt it’s the recipes fault….surely a user problem somewhere. Im still sad – I was counting on using these in giveaway boxes. Please come to my house and make a batch for me!! LOL They seemed to work for others…I feel like I just wasted a bunch of yummy ingredients…the dough tastes delicious though 😉
Hi there,
Sorry to hear this. Was there anything you adjusted? Let me know how I can help! xTieghan
Mine were thin as pancakes too! I have new baking soda and baking powder. I thought maybe my butter was too warm?? So I put the second batch in the fridge to cook for about 30 minutes and they still spread. I’ve never had a cookie do this before.
Hey Heather,
So sorry to hear this. Was there anything you adjusted in the recipe? What kind of oats did you use? xTieghan
I made these today and we all love them. I didn’t have most of the add ins listed here but used some semi sweet chocolate chips and a bag of festive vanilla flavored chipits. These cookies are delicious. Maybe the most delicious cookies I’ve ever made. Very easy to throw together too. Thank you 🙂
Hi Jen,
Happy Friday! I am thrilled to hear that this recipe was enjoyed. Thanks so much for making it and happy holidays!❄️ xTieghan
Oh no, mine are coming out like pancakes too! 🙁
Hi Judy,
Was there anything you adjusted in the recipe? Did you use old fashioned oats? Let me know how I can help! xTieghan
Made a batch this morning for my daughter to bring to work tomorrow for her and her co-workers; she works in a hospital. They were super easy to bring together. Thought the 1/4 cup amount of batter would be too big but definitely not! They look so festive and they sure are ‘monster’! They are delicious and I will be definitely making them again! Happy Holidays! ?
Hey Betsy,
Awesome! Love to hear that you liked the recipe, thanks a bunch for trying it out! Happy Holidays! xx
Amazing!!!
Hey Jenna,
Awesome! Love to hear that you liked the recipe, thanks a bunch for trying it out! Happy Holidays! xx
These turned out amazing!! I took your tip on only doing two eggs instead of the extra yolk. My family is into thicker cookies 🙂 Amazing, fun, and festive recipe! Thanks, Tieghan!
Hey Ali,
Awesome! Love to hear that you liked the recipe, thanks a bunch for trying it out! Happy Holidays! xx
Had so much fun making these with my 4 year old! I used peanut butter chips instead of white chocolate. Turned out amazing! Love all your recipes.
Hey Celia,
Awesome! Love to hear that you liked the recipe, thanks a bunch for trying it out! Happy Holidays! xx
These were easy and delicious! Since it was my first time making them I did follow the recipe exactly except that 1/4 a cup of dough per cookie seemed like a huge cookie, so I just used my medium cookie scoop, which gave me four dozen total. I thought I might need to reduce the cooking time with the smaller sized cookies, but the original cooking time ended up working perfectly for them. The “allowing them to cool completely on the cookie sheet” step is important, if you try to take them off earlier they basically fall apart, so let them cool and they will set up perfectly. Next time I do this I might replace the semi-sweet chocolate chips with dark chocolate and I might switch out the white chocolate with butterscotch chips. I’m considering maybe adding pecans or walnuts, but that might be too much going on in one cookie! Thanks for the great recipe!
Hey Mia,
Awesome! Love to hear that you liked the recipe, thanks a bunch for trying it out! Happy Holidays! xx
These are very tasty! I put my oats in a food processor first so the cookies maintained the oat flavor but turned out not quite as chewy.
Hey Jordan,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for giving it a try! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
So NO peanut butter??
Hi Ann,
Correct, there is no peanut butter in this recipe:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xTieghan
Do you think the dough would freeze well or could be made ahead and refrigerated?
Hi Katherine,
You could make ahead and keep in the fridge, I would say no more than 24 hours. I hope you love the recipe, please let me know if you give it a try! xTieghan
This is THE best MonsterCookie recipe and I’ve tried others. Perfect texture. I had to use mini Christmas M&M’s because that’s all I could find( Thank you Supply Chain Issues:-( )
But they turned out great and still very pretty and festive.
Hey Eileen,
Wonderful! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for giving it a try! Happy Holidays! xTieghan
Can I add some chopped caramel pieces to the batter, perhaps in place of the white choco chips? If so, how much should I add?
Can’t wait to bake these:)
Thank you!
Hi Kelly,
Sure! I would do 1/4 cup. Please let me know if you give the recipe a try, I hope you love it! xTieghan