Peanut Butter Oatmeal M&M Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I’m not sure if it is just the onset of Halloween season that gets me craving M&M’s so exhaustively, or if it’s the shorter days = the need for more comfort foods,… or just because they are a highly addicting candy that makes the happiest of cookies!! It truly doesn’t matter. When baked into cookies, I think M&M’s are the equivalent to funfetti cake. Colorful goodies make us smile! And there’s never been too many smiles.  Lots of pantry staples come into play to make these cookies. We are using dark brown sugar, old fashioned rolled oats, peanut butter, a little Jello powder for a texture boost, mini M&M’s of course, chocolate chunks and flaky salt! These cookies are big and not too sweet. The best kind of salty sweet snack. And they make an excellent freezer stash. You can freeze individual balls of dough or the baked cookies themselves. Just wrap well with plastic and store in freezer safe bags. These cookies mix up quickly, but do require at least ONE HOUR chill time. Or overnight. Sorry, but they are very soft and sticky when they are first mixed. Make them the night before you want to eat them and then just pop them in the oven the next day!!  My son and his friends gave them a score of 150 million out of 10…so they are good, ha!

Cookie dough:

2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 tsp Kosher salt

1 tsp pink Himalayan salt (or other sea salt)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 TBS vanilla flavored Jello (instant pudding and pie filling variety-not required but adds a nice malty flavor while enhancing texture)

12 TBS unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup conventional peanut butter (we are Skippy fans)

1 cup dark brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp vanilla extract

Your desired amount of chocolate chunks/ chips/ chopped up bar and M&M pieces. Reserve some for the tops of cookies as well.

Flaky sea salt for topping if you wish.

Method:

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients:  flour, oats, salts, baking soda, nutmeg, and jello powder, if using.

In the mixing bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle, or using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium high, until creamy and light colored. At least three minutes. Scrape the bowl and the paddle down. Add one egg and beat for one minute on medium low. Scrape the bowl and add the second egg. Beat for another minute and scrape down the sides. Turn the mixer on medium speed and beat for 2 more minutes. The mixture should be full of volume. Add the vanilla and mix until incorporated.

Next, add in all of the dry ingredients. Mix on LOW just until a few streaks of flour remain. Then, slowly mix in M&M’s and chocolate, on LOW, for no more than 30 seconds!

To chill the cookie dough: line a baking sheet with parchment.  Scoop out mounds of cookie dough and roll gently in between your palms. It will be fairly heavy and wet. It doesn’t matter how close you place them because this is just for the fridge time. Press extra pieces of candy/ chocolate into the tops of the dough balls. You will get between 18 -24 cookies depending on size. If chilling longer than one hour, cover with plastic wrap.

When ready to bake, arrange a rack in the upper third of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.  Allow cookies to sit at room temperature for 20 minutes before baking.

Leave about 2 inches in between cookies when placing on the cookie sheets. Bake one sheet at a time for 12-13 minutes. Check for the edges to be set but the center still puffed and slightly underdone. The cookies will firm as they cool. Leaving the middles slightly underbaked helps to create that gooey center/ crispy edge magic of our cookie dreams.

Inhale at your leisure.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature. Cookies freeze well too! Wrap individually in plastic and store in zip top freezer bag. Thaw at room temperature.

Bake on repeat.