I have the day off! Oh the places I could go, the adventures I could seek. Reality is: Oh the leather furniture thirsts for polish, the cob webs on the ceiling aren’t Halloween decorations. Should I do chores on my day off? Nah, life is too short to not bake and bake I did. Soft, chewy, flourless oatmeal monster cookies. It was just the right remedy to ease the “almost got rear-ended on the freeway” kind of week I had. Thankfully, the dude in a taupe SUV screeched to a halt a few millimeters from my bumper. People, let’s pay attention! There have been far too many accidents from negligence and a fatality last week at that!
Public service announcement is now over and I’m back to being happy on my day off with sunny skies, crisp air, bright autumn colors (ignoring the ones on the ground that need raking), and a spread of warm, freshly baked flourless oatmeal monster cookies across my island counter. Life is good.
I’m not baking these cookies for the band at large, like the peanut butter chocolate chip cookies or the chocolate revel bars that I made in the past. These flourless oatmeal monster cookies are for next weekend. The last high school homecoming for my baby whose friend group has decided to enjoy the Friday football game and ditch the Saturday night dance, and eldest Beauty and friends will be home for the weekend to relish the fun with their siblings, friends, and beloved former band mates. And where will the collective group go on Saturday night? Oh the place they will go is the place where they know they will find plenty of food. (See what a morning of baking does to me?)
There will be a scattered montage of shoes in assorted styles and sizes at the front door, sprawled out legs covering the family room floor, and the sound of laughter and camaraderie filling the air and two cheesy hearts. (Hunky Hubby and I are oozy cheesy that way and proud of it!) The mound of flourless monster cookies will surely be devoured along with a variety of other sweet and savory noshes and I will likely need to gulp a few times and bat away misty eyes because my baby is checking off some of her final high school events.
For now I’ll just enjoy cookie #2 with a cup of coffee and tell you all about these yummy flourless oatmeal monster cookies. If you too are a chewy cookie lover who will take soft-baked over crispy any time, you will need to call in the will power reserves to only eat just one. Okay, only eat just two. These cookies are scrumptious and kudos to my friend, May, for sharing her recipe that I halved and only tweaked a tiny bit. I used light pancake syrup in place of plain corn syrup simply because that is what I had on hand and with such a teeny tiny amount no one will know the difference. I also added one-half cup of mini chocolate chips and one cup of colorful chocolate candy pieces as to not overpower the peanut buttery-ness of these decadent cookies.
I just may go polish furniture, clean away cob webs and rake some leaves. May day has been full of sweetness and may yours be too. Enjoy!
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- 3 eggs
- ¾ teaspoons light maple syrup (corn syrup is a fine substitute)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 4 ½ cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
- 1 cup candy-coated milk chocolate pieces
- ½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350F.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until smooth.
- Add peanut butter, vanilla and syrup and beat again until well blended.
- Add eggs, one at a time, lightly stirring in between..
- All at once, add baking soda and rolled oats and mix until well incorporated.
- Add all of the chocolate and mix again.
- Using a cookie scoop, drop onto ungreased pans at least 2-inches apart.
- Bake 13-15 minutes. Carefully transfer to wire rack to cool.