Monster Cookies

Monster Cookies are the perfect cookie to make when you can’t decide what flavor you’re in the mood for. These cookies offer three flavors in one: peanut butter, chocolate chip and spicy dark chocolate. All three doughs work well together, but have distinctive enough appearances and flavors that they make for an unusually good – and unusually good looking – cookie.

The vanilla chocolate chip dough is a pretty normal chocolate chip cookie dough that is loaded with chocolate chips. The peanut butter dough calls for crunchy peanut butter and a handful of salted peanuts to be added. I like to add some peanut butter chips to drive home the peanut butter flavor even more. The dark chocolate cookie dough has chopped dark chocolate in the dough and actually has cayenne pepper in it, which gives it a spicy finish. It’s not too spicy, but it does have some heat to it that makes it really stand out from the other flavors in these monster cookies.

The cookies are crisp on the outside and chewy in the center, just as you would want a chocolate chip cookie to be, even though these are anything but your standard cookie.

I like these cookies for Halloween because when you make them the way I did here, with the dark chocolate cookie dough in the center, the cookies turn out looking like giant monster eyes! Of course, you can assemble the three cookie doughs in any in any order you want, but I do recommend keeping them all separate (as opposed to swirling them together) so that you can get the full flavor of each cookie dough. I scoop up the doughs on a large spoon, one after another. For even easier assembly, form small balls of each dough separately and press them together before placing them on the baking sheet.

Monster Cookies
Vanilla Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Spicy Dark Chocolate Cookie Dough
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup finely chopped dark chocolate

Peanut Butter Cookie Dough
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter, pref. crunchy
1/4 cup salted peanuts, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Make the vanilla dough.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg and vanilla extract. Gradually stir in flour mixture, followed by chocolate chips. Set aside.
Make the chocolate dough.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, salt and cayenne pepper.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg, vanilla extract and cocoa powder. Gradually stir in flour mixture, followed by chopped dark chocolate. Set aside.
Make the peanut butter dough.
In a small bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light. Beat in egg, vanilla extract and peanut butter. Gradually stir in flour mixture, followed by chopped peanuts and peanut butter chips. Set aside.

To assemble cookies, collect about 1 tbsp of each dough on a large spoon, scrape off into a large ball using a second spoon or round butter knife (each should be under 1/4 cup in size) onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Allow at least 2 inches for cookies to spread.
Bake at 350F for 13-15 minutes, until cookies just begin to brown around the edges.
Cool for 4-5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to allow to cool completely.

Makes about 40 cookies