Best Monster Cookie Recipe

Christmas is such a special time of year. We get to celebrate Jesus’s birthday for an entire month, families engage in traditions passed down for decades, and between the sugar, Santa and school break, kids are brimming with excitement. 

While we try to spend intentional time with our kids throughout the year, we take extra measures to do it consistently throughout December. My son’s only desire is for me to play dinosaurs with him…or chase him around the house. My daughter is different. She’s a creative at heart, so it makes sense that she loves cooking. She enjoys helping me make soups, measure ingredients or cut veggies – even though she’s so picky and never intends to eat them! 

So. this season, we decided to try our hand at making monster cookies and had such a good time together. The Food Network recipe we tried is here, but we made a few modifications that I’ll share below. One important note: This recipe is much better eaten as dough than as cookies! 🙂

 Enjoy! 

 Recipe Modifications: 

·      After you add the oats, the mixture gets pretty thick, and it was hard for my daughter to stir. If you own a Kitchen Aid, this is a good recipe to break it out.

·      We only used one cup of mini-M&Ms and it worked out much better than using two cups. We used color M&Ms, but choose red and green (or blue) ones for more a festive look!

·      We only used one and half cups of pretzel rods. Word to the wise: Chopping the pretzel rods is SUPER messy. They roll everywhere and create an incredible amount of crumbs. Try putting them in a Ziplock bag and breaking them with your hands. I wish we would have done it that way!

·      We eliminated the peppermint puffs altogether because my daughter doesn’t like peppermints.

·      We baked the first batch for the full amount of time and the cookies were crunchy. I know everyone’s oven is different, so if you’re a soft cookie gal like me, consider decreasing the cooking time.