- From Mel's Kitchen Cafe
- 3 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups (9.25 ounces) packed light brown sugar
- 1 cup (7.5 ounces) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) creamy peanut butter
- 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons, 4 ounces), softened
- 4 1/2 cups (18 ounces) quick cooking oats (double check oats are gluten-free if making gluten-free cookies)
- 1 cup (8 ounces) M&Ms
- 1 cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate, semisweet, or bittersweet chocolate chips
DIRECTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper, silpat liners or lightly grease with cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl with a handheld electric mixer (or in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment), add the eggs, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Mix well.
- Add the salt, baking soda, vanilla, peanut butter and butter. Mix until creamy and well combined, 1-2 minutes.
- Stir in the oatmeal, M&Ms, and chocolate chips until combined. The dough will be sticky.
- Scoop the dough into heaping tablespoon-sized balls (see note above) and place about 2 inches apart on the cookie sheets. If you want the cookies thinner, flatten them slightly with the palm of your hand.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes. Don’t overbake – the cookies should just be set and very lightly golden around the edges.
- Let the cookies sit for 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet before transferring to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store in a airtight container for 2 days (the baked cookies freeze well, also).
NOTES:
Keep in mind that if you want the cookies to be safely gluten-free, make sure your oats are certified gluten-free (it will say on the package if they are). Speaking of oats, several commenters have successfully used old-fashioned oats (the cookies may spread a bit more). Or you could take your old-fashioned oats and process them lightly in a blender before using (measure after they have been blended a bit).
Also, lots of times when I make these, I sub in different kinds of chips. Peanut butter chips are dreamy (in addition to or in place of M&Ms or part of the chocolate chips). Finally, many of you commented you’ve gotten a lot more than 2-3 dozen cookies out of this batch and that’s because you make your cookies small and I make mine not-small. Sometimes, I use my #40 medium cookie scoop which is about 1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons but a lot of time, I grab the #20 scoop which is 3 tablespoons or more. I mean, we’re going for monster cookie here, right?
