Recipe: Gluten-Free, Less-Sugar Monster Cookies
Monster cookies are a delicious, peanut-butter, oatmeal cookie with an intriguing name–these cookies originally started out as peanut butter cookies but the baker was out of flour. Instead, they used oats; thus, the monster cookie was born. Apparently, the dough broke two mixers during this cookie conception and had to be mixed by a drill–“monster” seems like an adequate name for such a destructive (but oh-so-tasty!) cookie! These days, the cookie often includes a variety of mix-ins, like nuts, chocolate chips, and m & m’s. My recipe is a more simple, elegant spin, but feel free to treat it as a base if you want to be wild and add in your own creative mix-ins.
I originally made this monster cookie recipe upon the request of some family friends who loved the monster cookies at Whole Foods, and lamented that they couldn’t always find them there. They also found the regular monster cookie overly sweet and lacking in any other flavor; this led to them asking me to make some special monster cookies for them that were less sweet, but still full of tasty bliss 🙂
I still make these cookies for them every few months (they like to get a large batch then store them in their freezer–it’s monster cookies for dayzzzzz over there!). They love them so much that they now can’t have any other cookies–I suppose it’s as much of a blessing as it is a sinfully delicious curse:)
These cookies are great for more than just their flavor–they’re also relatively healthy (compared to your average store-bought cookie). I use less sugar than your typical monster cookie recipe, and my add-ins stray away from sweet chocolate chips and chopped candy towards dark chocolate and chopped walnuts. But definitly feel free to add in whatever you like (I’m no health police over here…case in point: my incredibly detailed guide to lamination aka how to beat in tons of butter to make flaky doughs!) Naturally gluten-free, monster cookies are also a great option (that actually tastes good!) for those who are gluten-sensitive.
Now let’s get baking:
Gluten-Free, Less-Sugar Monster Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 stick butter, softened
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 2/3 cup granulated sugar
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 1 tbsp. honey
- 2 tsp. baking soda
- 1 1/2 cups natural creamy peanut butter try to use unsweetened and unsalted peanut butter
- 4 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate I like to use at least 70% dark chocolate, but you are welcome to use what you prefer.
- 1 cup chopped walnuts I prefer using unsalted walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Cream together the butter and sugars with an electric hand mixer or stand mixer until light and fluffy, around 3-5 minutes.
- Beat in the eggs, one by one. Then add the salt, vanilla extract, honey, and baking soda. Beat until combined.
- Beat in the peanut butter until fluffy and combined.
- With the mixer on low speed, slowly add in the rolled oats (so they don't fly anywhere). You also don't want to break apart the oats too much, so avoid setting the mixer to a high speed.
- Mix in the chocolate and walnuts with a wooden spoon or on low speed with the mixer.
- With a cookie scoop or large spoon, make large balls of cookie dough (around 2 inches in diameter) and place them on the cookie sheet, leaving around 2-3 inches between each cookie. Using the palm of your hand or a glass (oiled on the bottom), press down the cookie balls. You want to make sure they're pretty flat if you desire a classic, large monster cookie. If you want a very thick cookie, feel free to press them down less. This recipe will yield around 20 cookies of 3-4 inches in diameter; however, you can make them as big (or small) as you like. Just make sure to change baking times accordingly!TIP: This dough can get quite sticky, so I recommend wetting your hands slightly with water or oiling them with some vegetable oil while forming the cookies, so they don't stick all over your hands.
- Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, until set around the edges and lightly golden. It's okay if the middles still feel a bit soft–they will set more as they cool.
- Let the cookies cool for 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet before moving them to a wire rack to cool completely. You can, of course, eat them warm as well (who doesn't love a nice, warm, chocolate-filled cookie!?).
Notes
Happy Baking, everyone!
