Flourless Monster Cookies
Published 4/7/2021 • Updated 6/4/2022
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These flourless Monster Cookies are your new favorite dessert! Made with oatmeal, peanut butter, chocolate chips and M&M’s, these cookies are jam-packed with all the good stuff.
These are seriously the BEST monster cookies on the internet. They’re made with the base of our famous Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies and are packed with chocolate.
What are monster cookies?
Monster cookies are an oatmeal and peanut butter-based cookie that are made with chocolate chips and m&m’s. Monster cookies are typically big monstrous cookies that are soft and chewy.
Why you need to make these
Turns out that monster cookies are a midwest cookie and it’s no surprise that they are super popular in Minnesota!
Monster cookies are my all-time favorite cookie because of the peanut butter + oatmeal + chocolate combo. Here’s why you have to make this monster cookie recipe:
- Flourless: there is no flour involved in our monster cookies. The base of these cookies is oats.
- Jam-Packed: when I say jam-packed, I mean that you’re going to get chocolate chips AND M&M’s in every bite.
- Easy to Freeze: make a batch (or two) and easily freeze these for up to 3 months.
- BIG Cookies: most cookies are made with 1 to 1.5 tablespoons of cookie dough. These monster cookies are made with 2 heaping tablespoons. Sorry, not sorry.
Are these monster cookies healthy?
While this monster cookie recipe is made with butter, brown sugar, and chocolate, we did take steps to make these better for you!
Sugar – Lots of monster cookies are made with both brown sugar and white sugar. We dropped the white sugar and added maple syrup, which is an all-natural sugar. This also helps make them chewy.
Fat – every cookie deserves a little butter. But, we were actually able to decrease the butter because of the peanut butter. Score!
Grains – This monster cookie recipe is made sans flour. There is no need when you can use oatmeal! PS: this also makes them naturally gluten-free!
Main Ingredients for Monster Cookies
Oats: since these are flourless monster cookies, there is no flour involved. That’s where oats come in! You need 2.5 cups of oatmeal.
Tip
we tested this recipe with both rolled oats (old fashioned oats) and quick cooking oats. Both work, it’s just all about preference. Quick cooking oats are more flour-like and rolled oats have more of a bite.
Peanut Butter: we hope you love peanut butter because these monster cookies are loaded with it!
We tested this recipe with both normal creamy peanut butter (such as Jif) and all-natural peanut butter (that is drippy with lots of oil) and there was no difference. So, choose your favorite creamy peanut butter!
Chocolate Chips: we used semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can also use milk chocolate or dark chocolate.
M&M’s: an excuse to eat M&M’s? I think yes! Feel free to use your favorite kind of M&M’s.
Other Ingredients
Oats, peanut butter, chocolate chips, and M&M’s are the most notable ingredients in monster cookies. Here’s what else you need:
- unsalted butter
- brown sugar
- maple syrup
- egg
- creamy peanut butter
- vanilla
- baking soda
Top Tips for Monster Cookies
I took it upon myself to test these monster cookies many-a times. I’m not going to lie, I did it more for me than for you because I love these cookies that much! Here are some tips for you to use while baking these.
Refrigerate Cookie Dough: we found that these monster cookies come out best when the dough is refrigerated for at least 20 minutes. This will allow the dough to set and make it easier for you to roll them into balls.
Wet Hands Before Rolling: if you find that the dough is sticking to your hands while you’re rolling it into balls, simply wet your hands a little bit and you should be good to go.
Slightly Pat Down Dough: These monster cookies don’t expand a ton in the oven, so pat them down just a bit into a cookie shape.
Bake Until Golden Brown: since all ovens are different, we suggest keeping an eye on your cookies. They can go from golden brown to burned really quickly. Bake until they begin to turn golden brown around the edges.
Let Cool Completely: right when you take the cookies out of the oven they will seem super soft and delicate. This is because they are flourless. So, let them cool for at least 10 minutes on a wire rack. They will become more firm as they cool.
Try it!
Vegan Monster Cookies
These healthy monster cookies are made with 100% whole grains, all-natural peanut butter, and your favorite monster cookie add-ins. Best part? These are vegan cookies made with a flax egg to make them egg and dairy-free!
Recipe Variations
- Nut butter: try to swap out your peanut butter for almond butter or cashew butter.
- Other Add-Ins: make your monster cookies even chunkier and add other add-ins! Here are some ideas:
- shredded coconut
- peanuts
- butterscotch chips
- peanut butter chips
Storage
Let cookies cool completely and then transfer them into an airtight container. Store on the counter in a cool, dark place for up to 5 days.
Freezer Instructions
Monster cookies are such a great cookie to freeze because they’ll last up to 3 months! Let cookies cool completely and then transfer into a freezer-safe gallon-size bag. Freeze for up to 3 months.
Best Monster Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- pinch salt
- 2.5 cups quick-cooking oats, gluten-free if desired
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup m&m’s
Instructions
- First, preheat the oven to 350ºF and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.
- Next, combine melted butter and brown sugar until there are no lumps. Then, add maple syrup, egg, peanut butter, and vanilla and mix again.
- Add salt, quick-cooking oats, and baking soda and mix until everything is combined. Add in chocolate chips and m&m’s and mix one more time.
- Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes to set.
- Scoop 2 tablespoons of batter into your hands and form it into a ball. Place it onto the cookie sheet and slightly press down to form a cookie shape. The batter will feel a bit wet, but they will be so soft and chewy when done baking!*
- Repeat the process above until you’ve fit 6 cookies on your baking sheet.
- Bake cookies at 350ºF for 11-14 minutes or until they begin to turn golden brown.
- Remove cookies and let cool for a couple of minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to continue cooling for at least 20 minutes to firm up.
Tips & Notes
- Cookie dough – the cookies will spread just a little bit when baking. If you don’t press them down, you will get dome-shaped cookies.
- It might help to slightly moisten your hands before rolling the cookie dough and washing your hands in-between balls because the dough is pretty sticky.
Watch It
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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The look is rustic but they promise really well!
Seriously so delicious…..satisfies the salty, peanut buttery, choc cravings <3
Love it, Katy!
When I used brown sugar instead of the brown sugar called for, these turned out great. I completed the rest of the recipe’s instructions.
These came out fantastic when I substituted coconut sugar with brown sugar. I carried out the remaining steps in the recipe.
Really great recipe – cookies turned out well and super tasty. They were a bit crumbly with some of the choc chips and M&Ms not staying in the dough – maybe because I subbed regular butter for vegan butter? But would definitely make again!
THESE ARE AMAZING!!
YAY!
I’m still in my teens, so I don’t have a lot of experience in the kitchen
However, even with my mediocre skills. these cookies turned out absolutely amazing!
I added 1 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa powder and chocolate chips to make them even tastier
So glad I found this!
Unfortunately these didn’t do it for me. They were quite crumbly and a lot fell apart. Also, didn’t get enough PB taste through.
Oh no! I am sorry these didn’t work out for you. Did you make any swaps?
I subbed coconut sugar for the brown sugar and they turned out great. Followed everything else per the recipe.