Delicious, chewy monster cookies, made with chocolate chips, M&Ms, and lots of peanut butter. This recipe has only oats and no flour, which makes them 100% whole grain, and gluten-free if you use gluten-free oats!
With a stand mixer or hand mixer, combine butter, peanut butter, sugars, and corn syrup. Mix at medium speed for 1-2 minutes, until mixture has lightened in color.
Scrape the bottom, and then add vanilla and eggs. Mix again on medium speed for about 1 minute, until everything is combined. Scrape the bottom again to look for unmixed bits.
Add in the oats and the baking soda. (Switch to a rubber spatula if you were using a hand mixer.) Stir on low until everything is mixed in, pausing to scrape the bottom as you go.
Add the chocolate chips and M&Ms. Stir on low just to combine.
Using a medium, 1 ½ tablespoon (or #40) cookie scoop, or two spoons, portion dough onto parchment or silicone-lined baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies.
Bake at 350F for 10-12 minutes. (11 is perfect in my oven, but yours may be different.) The tops will look set and dry, and they will be slightly browned and a little puffy on top, though they will deflate as they cool.
Cool for 5-10 minutes before removing from the baking sheets.
Scoop the cookie dough onto plates or cookie sheets lined with waxed paper or plastic wrap. Crowd them on as closely as possible, without letting them touch.
Freeze dough until solid. Remove the balls of cookie dough and store them in a labeled freezer bag.
To bake, heat your oven to 350F. Place balls of cookie dough 2 inches apart on your parchment-lined sheets. Bake, from frozen, for 12-14 minutes.
Oats are naturally gluten-free, but are often processed on the same machinery as flour. To make these cookies officially gluten-free, choose certified gluten-free oats.
Both old-fashioned oats and quick-cooking oats work fine in this recipe. I often have both and use a mix. Do not use instant oats (too mushy) or steel-cut oats (which are too thick).
I use regular grocery store creamy peanut butter. Do not use "natural" peanut butter that that you have to stir and store in the fridge. It has no sugar or oil added, and the cookies will not turn out right.
Corn syrup is optional, but recommended. Corn syrup helps keep the cookies soft and chewy. The cookies will be delicious without it on day 1, and often still good on day 2. But by day 3, the cookies made without corn syrup will start to seem stale.
These cookies freeze incredibly well. Bake one or two sheets when you make the dough, and follow the freezer instructions to save the rest of the dough for later.
Calorie count is an estimate only.