These Monsters are Softies: Monster Cookies

I was planning to make Shauna Sever's "Monster Cookies" for Halloween, because her recipe uses Reese's Pieces instead of M&Ms, and of course the Reese's color scheme screams Halloween. But two days before Halloween I heard a loud crash outside. After running to the window, I saw power lines down in our neighbors yard. Moments after that, our power went out. It was raining and the wind had taken down a massive oak tree at the end of the block -- thankfully just grazing the closest house, ripping off the gutter but otherwise causing only relatively minor roof damage -- taking the nearby utility pole with it, as well as damaging the pole across the street. We didn't have power for more than 24 hours. Even after the power came back on, it took us a while to sort through the items in the fridge and replenish what wee had to throw out. So I didn't get my act together to make the Monster Cookies until after Halloween.

This recipe does require at least four hours of chilling time, so it requires some advance planning. You beat melted and cooled butter with dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, corn syrup and vanilla; beat in eggs, followed by creamy peanut butter; add in old-fashioned oats, flour, baking soda, and salt; and stir in Reese's Pieces and chocolate chips (I used Callebaut 2815 57.9% callets). I chilled the dough for a few hours and then portioned it out with a #24 scoop, getting 42 cookies from a batch. 

I loved the textured tops of the cookies, with the chocolate chips and Reese's Pieces adding some great color. The cookies were extremely chewy, hearty, chocolatey, and peanut buttery -- really, it was an all-around terrific cookie. The only thing I didn't love about them was that the outer crust and the edges of the cookie were quite soft -- there was no crisp exterior. It's been a long time since I've made the Monster Cookies from Baked: New Frontiers, but they're fairly similar with regard to the ingredients and their proportions. I seem to recall that the Baked cookies have a chewy interior but a firmer exterior. I like textural contrasts, so my personal preference would be for crisp edges whenever possible -- and perhaps I could have achieved that if I had baked my cookies longer. But I still enjoyed every soft, chewy bite.

 

Recipe: "Monster Cookies" from Midwest Made by Shauna Sever.

Previous Post: "The Cookie That Has Everything: Monster Cookies," August 24, 2010.