Nutella Crashes The Monster Party
Personally, I think 10 pounds of chocolate and a few handfuls of stale multi-colored conversation hearts is the perfect way to say, "I love you in a purely platonic and completely age-appropriate way, even if you did throw an action figure at my Lincoln Logs castle last week." Alexis, however, decided cookies were the way to go when it came time to put together Valentine's Day goodies for her class.
As luck would have it, I had that whole Monster Cookies/Nutella Frankenstein-like thing I wanted to try. Who better to bake experimental cookies for than a bunch of preschoolers? It's not like they are going to complain if they suck, and even if they do, who is going to listen? We're talking about the portion of the population that dips grapes in ketchup and declares the concoction, "So yummy!"
It turns out the Nutella infused Monster Cookies didn't suck. Not that *I* would know. I didn't eat like four of them in one night. Nope. Actually, I know they didn't suck because I got three separate emails from preschool parents asking for the recipe. First of all, if you're asking for the recipe for cookies that were sent for your kid? I kind of love you because I totally would have stolen a cookie, too. Second of all . . . um . . . never mind. I started thinking about Nutella and peanut butter and M&Ms getting together and my brain shut down and went to its happy place.
Hmmmmmmmmmmm . . . Nutella . . . peanut butter . . . M&Ms . . .
Oh, yeah. Recipe. RECIPE. Here's the concoction:
Nutella Monster Cookies
1 stick softened butter
1 1/4 cups brown sugar
1 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups Nutella (Or the whole jar. It doesn't matter.) (Seriously. If the cookie batter seems too liquidy, you can just add more oatmeal.)
1 cup peanut butter
2 teaspoons baking powder
5 cups oatmeal
1 bag plain M&Ms (Yes, the whole bag. Trust me.)
1 cup chocolate chips (Or the whole bag. Whatever.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Combine butter, brown sugar, and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Add in the eggs, vanilla, salt, and peanut butter, mixing well. Stir in the remaining ingredients.
Drop by the heaping tablespoon onto cookie sheets. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool for 2-3 minutes before removing from cookie sheets.
Makes approximately 3 dozen (large) cookies.
Heart Sprinkles Totally Optional****************************************************************************
Thank you to everyone who left a comment on the pediatrician post. It did help to have confirmation that I'm not crazy and that the short person really is just fine. Since there were no anonymous, "Uh, she's fat," comments, I must not be blind or delusional. This time.
I'm writing a letter to the head honcho to explain why we are no longer willing to see that particular doctor. I'll report back on whatever happens, if anything.
Recipe
Reader Comments (13)
I just went into a sugar coma reading that recipe. But I bet they were good!
Yum to the yum! And now I must overt my eyes before I gain like 3 pounds just looking at those things!!!
Look yummy!
Oh. My. Thighs. What size bag of M&Ms? The big one?
I'm impressed! Usually you can tell the kids of working moms, because they just tape a
lollipop to a card and declare it "perfect!" (Not that there is anything wrong with that - geez, don't want to get hate mail!)
Glad it worked out. Do you have some frozen ones? Will trade for girl scout cookies.
@Robyn--Yeah, the big one. I think it's 1 lb? I couldn't find anything online to confirm and I already threw the bag away, so I couldn't verify.
So it was you! The other day I knew that I absolutely needed to bake monster cookies. The problem was that I knew I had seen the recipe on a blog somewhere but I couldn't remember which one. I spent a large chunk of time frantically browsing favorite blogs and searching the words "monster cookies" while my computer nerd husband looked on in disgust at my search methods. I finally settled on usng The Pioneer Woman's monster cookie recipe (hers uses peanut butter chips instead of actual peanut butter). But now you've introduced nutella monster cookies into my life and I think the only answer is to bake more. Now. Thank you.
new commenter but have been reading your stuff for a while...
i did enjoy your pediatrition post and am dreading what my daughters DR is giong to say at her five year check up.
my question is, how do you get away with bringing Peanut Butter to school? I did that once and the teachers went batshit on me!!!!
I would have stolen a cookie, too! haha. Those look amazing. Too bad I've just put a ban on chocolate chips in our house. I was eating like a bag of them per week.
@cityworker--We are REALLY, REALLY, REALLY lucky that there is only one kid who is allergic to peanuts at our school, and it's a mild (has to consume) allergy. I'm dreading the school change and the probability that we'll have to deal with lots of restrictions next year. :-/
I'm actually surprised you were allowed to send Nutella, too. It has hazelnuts in it and those a deadly to those with tree nut allergies. Between the peanut butter and the nutella these cookies are a NO GO in this house because I'd be the only one that ate them. :(
I found you through DesignHER Momma. And I am staying forever because of thsoe cookies!! I have a serious love affair with hazelnuts. I grew up VERY allergic to them- no other nut allergy, just hazelnuts. Caused me to break out in hives that caused important parts of me to swell up in scary ways. Happened 3 times and the family suddenly became hugely diligent about ingredients. 30 years later, my best grilfriend went to Paris and came back with chocolate. Divine dark chocolate. From Paris. She knew my reaction to hazelnuts as a kid... so we cautiously did our own food allergy testing with me taking a tiny bite and waiting 30 minutes before having another nibble. Turns out- the reaction is GONE. I celebrated by eating an entire jar of Nutella.
I really did.
OK, maybe not. But I did celebrate by buying a jar of it and finding many ways to enjoy it!!
So all that to say... I'm your newest fan!