So you know when all the Halloween candies come out in the bulk section? That’s what inspired this recipe. My 5-year old was scoping out the Halloween smarties, so I figured why not do some monster cookies out of them. Up until a couple years ago, truth be told, I didn’t know what a monster cookie was! But once I did, I got to work creating my first Monster Cookie recipe. I like that its an “anything goes” type of cookie, and you can put whatever treats you like it in. From candies, to chocolate chips to nuts and/or raisins.
One tip that you won’t want to forget with this recipe, is adding the candies on the cookies just before they go in the oven. Otherwise all the candy coating will wear off. I’ve made this mistake before. They still taste great, but just aren’t as pretty. But hey, its Halloween and all, maybe the scarier looking, the better!
- ½ cup pumpkin puree (I used canned pumpkin)
- ½ cup coconut palm sugar (or sucanat, or another raw brown sugar)
- ½ cup stevia for baking or 6 packets of stevia (or whatever sugar or substitute you like)
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ⅓ cup peanut butter, almond butter or nut-free butter (I used Sun Butter to make it nut-free for school)
- ⅓ cup unsweetened applesauce (1 snack pack)
- 1¼ cups oat flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp nutmeg
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1½ cups oats (I used old fashioned)
- ⅓ cup chocolate chips
- 60 Halloween smarties or M&M's
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer (with paddle attachment), mix together all your wet ingredients & sweeteners (pumpkin through to applesauce).
- Once its mixed to a smooth consistency, add in all your dry ingredients (oat flour through to oats).
- Stir in the chocolate chips by hand.
- Drop cookies by the spoonful onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper (or another non-stick method). Just before they go into the oven, place your candies on top (about 2-3 per cookie).
- Bake for 14-15 minutes until just golden around the edges. Allow to cool, and store in an airtight container.