Saturday, May 10, 2008

One monster of a cookie...

Have you ever wanted a large, crunchy (yet not dry), over-the-top cookie packed with fun and tasty mix-ins? Well then, look no further than these outrageous Toffee and M&M Monster Cookies that I made before we left for our Disney trip.

Since we were bringing the pups down to the farm so they had some familiar faces watching them, I wanted to bring a treat with to say thanks. Big, thick and a fantastic crisp/chewy texture, these cookies pack a wallop of peanut butter flavor thanks to the generous addition of 1 1/2 cups chunky peanut butter. Creamy peanut butter would be fine, but I know I wouldn't want to miss out on the extra nutty crunch the chunky peanut butter added.

With just a touch of flour, the majority of the dry ingredients are simply old-fashioned rolled oats. Because of this, it is highly recommended that you allow the assembled cookie dough to rest for at least 30 minutes to give the oats a chance to absorb some of the moisture from the butter. You could probably throw whatever bits and pieces of chocolate or candy you want in these, but we choose bittersweet chocolate, toffee bits and full-sized dark chocolate M&Ms. Because I wanted them to look a little extra special, I did fuss and arrange the M&Ms on top of the dough, rather than just mixing them in with the other ingredients.

We did divide most of the dough into 1/4 cupfuls, which produced beautiful and massive bake-sale worthy cookies, but we also did scoop out a few cookies with a heaping tablespoon worth (as seen as the smaller cookie in the above photograph) to freeze and save for us. I kept the smaller unbaked dough pieces in the freezer while we were gone and have been baking them off since we got back - we enjoyed the last while writing this post. With brown sugar in the dough, the cookies already had a small, but noticeable caramel flavor in the background, but with the addition of those crunchy toffee bits, that flavor was brought out even more for a wickedly good treat. We did think that one of the best advantages to this recipe is the fact that the dough is easily mixed by hand so you don't need a mixer (a great recipe if you have little helpers around!).

11 comments:

  1. Can't wait to try this one. It is similar to one that a friend's mother used to make for us. Thank you!

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  2. I guess next time you'll have a lot of volunteers to watch the puppies just to have those treats! Those must be really nice cookies, love the way you arranged the m&m's on top! Rita

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  3. These look great! My kids will love them.

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  4. Teri - Great! How does this one differ?

    CC - Thanks!

    Lisa - I hope they do - I think we will have to make another batch this week as Jeff really liked them.

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  5. Those look so good Joe! I've been looking for a recipe for my Church bake sale next weekend....I think this is it! Thanks!
    Val

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  6. Val - you'll have to let us know how they do!

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  7. I just made some monster cookies too! Love the idea of putting toffee bits in them though! They look great!

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  8. These look exactly like the cookies at the post-race table I ate a looong time ago! It has all the components, oatmeal, peanut butter, M&Ms, but yours has toffee and that sounds even better.

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  9. MS&S - Thanks!

    Christina - I bet they would be a great pick-me-up after a run!

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  10. Oh, I am sooo making these.

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  11. Hilary - I hope you enjoy them!

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