Pioneer Woman - Monster Cookies

I resisted the Pioneer Woman bandwagon for a loooong time, but one weekday a few weeks ago I was home (can't remember why) and caught her show on the Food Network.  Her kids and husband were out hauling hay, or something, all day so she made them some a good, hearty meal topped off with monster cookies.

A few days later I was still thinking about them, so in an effort to get them out of my head and into mah belly, I went into the kitchen and got to work!

Here's her recipe:

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (1/2 pound) salted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 whole large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 cup oats (either quick or regular)
• 1 cup chocolate coated candies, such as M&M's
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (milk or semisweet)
• 1/2 cup pecans, chopped
• 2 1/4 cups rice cereal, such as Rice Krispies
• Cold milk, for serving

[Because I'm lazy and she said you can adjust the candies as you wish, I used 1/2 cup each of M&M's, chocolate chips, and pecans.  I followed her direction on the Rice Krispies and oats, and added 1/2 cup of Reese's peanut butter chips.]

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Cream the butter with both sugars in a mixing bowl until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the vanilla and beat.

Combine the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Add to the mixing bowl and mix until combined. After that, add in the oats, chocolate candies, chocolate chips and pecans in whatever quantity you prefer. Add the cereal at the very end, mixing until just combined. Do not over mix!

[Once you add the candies and Rice Krispies, the batter will be VERY thick.  I recommend switching to a spoon rather than using your mixer, as the motor in my KitchenAid started to smell like it was burning out.  Don't worry, all is well.  I'm sure you all would have heard my screams (via Facebook, of course) if I broke it.]

Use a cookie scoop to scoop balls of dough onto a cookie sheet. Bake until golden brown, about 20 to 25 minutes, and then allow to cool on a rack.

These cookies are awesome!  Even though I used my 2 tbsp. cookie scoop, these expanded so much they came out monster-sized!  The 4 cookies in the pic above take up the space of 6-8 normal cookies on my cooling rack.  Serve one with a cold glass of milk for a perfect afternoon snack! :)