Granny Boots’ Monster Cookies
350°F
12 Minutes
- 1 dozen eggs
- 2 lbs brown sugar
- 4 cups white sugar
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp Karo syrup
- 8 tsp baking soda
- 1 lbs butter
- 3 lbs peanut butter
- 18 cups oatmeal
- 1 lbs chocolate chips
- 1 lbs M&Ms
1- Beat butter and sugars
2- Add eggs, syrup, vanilla; mix until combined
3- Add baking soda, peanut butter, and oat meal; mix until combined
4- Stir in chocolate chips and M&Ms (best if mixed in a large roasting pan)
5- Drop by large tablespoon or ice cream scoop and flatten; about 6 cookies to a sheet
6- Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes, do not over bake
I found this recipe back in November when I was going through my great grandma Boots’ recipe box. My nan said she remembered Grandma Boots making these cookies and they were “sooo good.” Both my mom and my aunt remember her making these too!
When I was typing up each recipe I had found into a PDF, I texted my brother-in-law, Tyler (who also studied culinary!) and told him about this recipes quantities, how Granny Boots mixed them in a ROASTING PAN, and it said not to put more than six cookies on a sheet. His response was “They’re monster cookies!!!!! I need them!” I said I cannot imagine the cost! He suggested we have a baking night and split the cost, so that’s exactly what we did!
I think several of us were looking forward to this recipe. I have seen monster cookies before, there is a recipe in the cookie cook book my grandma Sue gave me, but I have never made them. We ended up planning to make these on New Years Eve, and Tyler, my mom, and I split the cost.
Just a fun little break down for you, the total cost for this recipe (assuming you need to buy all of the ingredients, even the vanilla) is a whopping $53.25 currently! That doesn’t include tax. Compared to the Nestle Tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe which would be roughly $24.55 for all the ingredients. But let’s be honest, you probably have enough flour/butter/sugar/vanilla in your kitchen to make them. Realistically, you’d most likely only need to buy the chocolate chips and eggs for the Tollhouse cookies, which would make it only $8.81 cents. Needless to say, this recipe is pretty insane.
Unfortunately, I did not get a ton of step-by-step pictures for this. I think we started these around 10pm, and we quickly realized this was going to be a huge task. Tyler and I got to work immediately. He started with creaming the sugars and butter- which we found out was simply too much for my mom’s Kitchenaid to handle. I cracked the dozen eggs and measured out the oats and baking soda.
Tyler and I fought for our lives trying to keep the butter and sugar contained in the bowl of the Kitchenaid. It was simply too full, and was sloshing over the edges. We let the mixture run on a low speed while we used our hands to block the sides of the bowl so nothing would spill out. I would say this had a 90% success rate, but probably wasn’t the safest idea keeping our fingers right next to the moving parts of the mixer. I love to preach about kitchen safety, so do as I SAY not as I DO.
Then Tyler braved his biceps and fought for his life again as he mixed the butter and sugars with the dozen eggs. I think it’s hilarious to look at these photos and see the progression of bowl sizes, because nary a bowl existed in my parents kitchen that was big enough to handle these cookies.
My favorite part about working with Tyler and my dad in the kitchen is the fluidity in which we all move together. There truly is something to be said about cooking with other people who love to cook. There isn’t in second guessing, or questioning. We move together and around each other like a well oiled machine, stepping into help without needing to ask, and moving on to the next steps easily.
We ended up calling my dad in to ask if he had anything bigger than the biggest mixing bowls we could get our hands on. He brought out his big stock pot. The one he uses to boil whole ears of corn in the summer. That ended up being the perfect size, so take note if you decide to brave this recipe.
Tyler and I both had to laugh, that at no point did it ever cross our minds to cut this recipe down. This recipe made SEVENTY FIVE cookies in total. So, unless you’re looking to feed a small army; half the recipe. And unless you’re looking to feed two football teams; may I suggest quartering it?
Once we had all of our ingredients mixed (and the sorest arm muscles the world has ever seen), we used an ice cream scoop to drop the dough onto cookie sheets. Tyler and I used our hands to flatten the cookies and try to keep them in a round shape.
We did end up using slightly different amounts of chocolate chips and M&M’s than the recipe called for. Let’s be honest, these cookies are pretty much 90% oats anyway. We just used the entire bag of chocolate chips (I don’t remember how many total ounces it was, but I think it was only slightly over) and two bags of Valentines M&M’s. They were 10oz bags, so it was only over by 4oz. I honestly felt like we could have added more of both. So, if you’re thinking “wow $53.25 isn’t enough to spend on cookies, I should get more M&M’s and more chocolate chips.” I say go for it! Follow your dreams! Let these be the most monstrous monster cookies in existence!
I think in total, we were probably in the kitchen for almost 3 hours making these cookies. Making the batter didn’t take long at all, but because there was SO much of it, and we could only fit 3 cookie sheets in the oven at a time, we were cooking batch after batch after batch.
These did take a lot longer than 12 minutes in the oven; which could be due to the fact that we had 3 cookie sheets in there. I think they tended to take closer to, if not more than, 20 minutes to bake. We tried to rotate them after the first 12 minute timer went off. We took them out when we were able to press on the top center of the cookie and it was mostly firm. We carefully removed them from the cookie sheet right away and put them on a wire rack to cool.
Some of the cookies did break a part, but we were okay with that as it was NYE which is really just a big snack/grazing night in our household. We were walking by the cooling racks plucking little chunks of the cookies up to eat.
My final consensus is that the cookies were delicious, and I had such a fun time making them with Tyler. I suggested that we make this a NYE tradition, and maybe try a new cookie recipe next year. I loved how peanut buttery they were, they reminded me of a peanut butter no-bake cookie, but not at all the same texture. I think they could have used more chocolate chips or M&M’s, or even something like marshmallows. They were absolutely fabulous dipped in milk.
My husband said they were good and has eaten a few. My mom said they were very good, a little hard, and way too big. Tyler said he really liked them, but they needed something added; like raisins, or a dusting of powdered sugar.
I think this recipe is hearty, but pretty versatile in the way that these changes would be easy to make. To add some raisins, or marshmallows, or a dusting of powdered sugar.
I am thankful this recipe of Granny Boots’ was kept and I feel so blessed to be able to have the privilege of trying a recipe that my family remembers her making, while making new memories with my family. Please enjoy some terrible glamour shots below, I really need to figure out a place with better lighting because my kitchen has the lighting of a meat counter in an IGA in 2003.
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