Any Midwesterner Would Tell You This Is the Best Dessert

Ever heard of monster cookies? To know them is to love them.

If you are familiar, you likely have connections to the Midwest, where they’re a favorite. Imagine oatmeal peanut butter cookies studded with chocolate chips and M&Ms. Once you try them, you’ll agree that they should be making them in all 50 states!

Scooping, shaping, and baking cookies in batches takes time and effort. If you spread your entire bowl of cookie dough out on a sheet pan instead, you can get the job done in one go. Then, all you have to do is cut them into squares after they’ve baked.

Not only is this recipe a breeze for the baker, but it is a dream for whoever gets to eat them. These cookies are soft, chocolatey, and nutty! The oats add a great chewiness, the chocolate chips add to the melty gooey texture, and the M&Ms maintain their shape and crunch.

Roll with Your Jelly Roll Pan

For sheet pan cookies, we need to use a pan with higher edges that will contain the cookie dough as it rises in the oven and a jelly roll pan is perfect for this. A jelly roll pan is smaller than a half-sheet pan; 15x10 inches in size and has 1-inch higher sides so there won’t be any overflow of dough as it bakes in the oven.

Mix and Match Monster Cookie Bars

There’s more than one way to make a monster cookie and you can take this recipe and make it your own. Just be sure that the mix-ins stay around 2 cups total.

• Try half M&Ms and half Reese’s Pieces.
• Throw in some chopped peanuts!
• If you have a peanut allergy swap peanut butter for almond butter or even sunflower seed butter to avoid nuts all together. (But stick to creamy versus crunchy and avoid any brands that are 100% natural. Natural nut butters will actually lead to a drier cookie.)
• Try crushed pretzels or potato chips.

 Quick or Rolled Oats?

This recipe calls for quick oats, as the finer texture helps to bind the cookie dough together. If you only have old fashioned oats, pulse them a few times in a food processor to break them down. Your cookies will have a crumbly texture if you use old fashioned oats without pulsing them first.

Raising the Bar for Bar Cookies

• Oh Henry Bars
• Peanut Butter Pretzel Magic Bars
• Date Nut Chews
• Cowboy Blondies
• Peach Crumb Bars

Preheat the oven and prepare the baking pan:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line the jelly roll pan with parchment paper leaving a 1-inch overhang on the two long sides. You will use this later to lift the bars out of the pan.

Combine the dry ingredients:

In a medium bowl, whisk together gluten-free flour, gluten-free oats, salt, and baking soda.

Combine the wet ingredients:

In a separate large bowl, whisk together the butter, brown sugar, peanut butter, egg, and vanilla until completely smooth.

Combine the wet and dry ingredients:

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl of wet ingredients and stir to combine. Reserve 2 tablespoons each of the M&Ms and chocolate chips. Add the remainder to the cookie dough and stir to combine

Transfer dough to prepared baking pan:

Turn the dough out onto the prepared baking pan. Place a sheet of parchment paper on top and use your hands to gently press it evenly into the pan. Remove the top piece of parchment. Sprinkle the reserved M&Ms and chocolate chips on top, pressing them just slightly into the dough

Bake cookie bars:

Bake the cookie bars until the dough has risen and the edges have just begun to turn slightly golden, 15 to 17 minutes. The middle may appear under done, but it will set as it cools.

Cool the cookie bars:

Cool in the baking pan on a cooling rack for at least 1 hour.

Cut and serve the cookie bars:

Using the sides of the parchment as a sling, transfer the sheet pan cookie to a board and cut into 24 bars and serve.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature. They will stay chewy for about 5 days. You can also freeze them between layers of parchment and sealed in a zip-top bag for up to 3 months.