Soft and Chewy Cookie Monster Cookies

Cookie Monster Cookies are what you bake when a kid wants something bright blue and a little bit silly. These are loaded with chocolate chips, Oreos, and chunks of cookie, with a whole chocolate cookie sealed inside each one.

The blue is the whole appeal, so it has to still read blue out of the oven. That’s why I keep the dough darker than what looks right, then bake just until the edges set, and you’ll get a soft, chewy cookie that looks the way a kid hopes.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

• A whole chocolate cookie is sealed inside each one, so breaking a cookie open is half the fun.
• The bright blue comes from the dough itself, not frosting, so there’s nothing to decorate, and the kids can help stir.
• Five kinds of chocolate and cookie go into the dough, so every bite has something a little different in it.
• If you like a cookie that doubles as an activity, these sit next to my marshmallow swirl cookies as the two I keep for baking with kids.

Ingredients You’ll Need

You’ll need all the ingredients shown in the photograph below.

• Blue food coloring. This is the ingredient that makes or breaks the look. Gel gives a deeper, truer blue than liquid, and the dough should look almost too dark before the flour goes in, because it lightens as it bakes.
• Butter at room temperature. Soft, not melted. Melted butter spreads the cookies thin, and cold butter won’t cream properly with the sugars.
• Oreos and chocolate chip cookies. Both get chopped small, so they spread through the dough evenly. If you’d rather bake the chocolate chip cookies yourself, these soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are the ones I crumble in.
• White chocolate chips. They go in alongside the dark chocolate for contrast. The same chips carry my white chocolate chip cookies if you end up with half a bag left over.
• The chocolate cookie disc. One flat chocolate cookie gets tucked into the center of each ball of dough. That hidden cookie is what makes these more than a loaded chocolate chip cookie.

How to Make Cookie Monster Cookies

A complete printable recipe and the measurements in both US customary and metric are available in the recipe card below.

Cream the Butter and Sugars

Beat the room-temperature butter with both sugars until it turns pale and creamy, around five minutes. This is where the cookies get their soft texture, so don’t rush it.

Mix in the Eggs and Color

Add the eggs, vanilla, and blue food coloring, and beat until the dough is an even, deep blue. Add the color now, before the flour, so you can still see and adjust the true shade.

Add the Dry Ingredients

Stir in the flour, salt, and baking powder with a wooden spoon, and stop the moment the dough comes together. Overmixing is what turns the cookies tough.

Fold in the Chocolate and Chill

Mix in the chocolate chips, white chips, chopped Oreos, chopped cookies, and chocolate chunks, holding back a little of each to press on top later. Chill the dough for 30 minutes so the cookies hold their shape instead of spreading thin. You can mix the dough ahead and keep it covered in the fridge; let it sit out for a few minutes before shaping if it’s gone firm.

Shape and Stuff the Cookies

Scoop about two tablespoons of dough and flatten it in your hand, set a chocolate cookie disc on top, then cover with another two tablespoons of cookie dough and seal the edges all the way around so the disc stays tucked inside. Press the reserved chocolate onto the top. They come out big, and that size is part of the appeal.

Bake and Cool

Bake at 350°F (180°C) for 12 minutes, until the edges are set, but the centers still look soft. Let the cookies cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before you move them, since they firm up as they sit.

Recipe Notes and Expert Tips

• Start with a deeper blue than looks right. Butter, egg yolk, and brown sugar all carry yellow, and yellow plus blue slides toward green. Color the dough until it looks almost too dark, and use gel rather than liquid if you have it.
• Judge the bake by the edges, not the color. Blue dough barely browns, so the usual golden cue doesn’t show up. Pull the cookies at 12 minutes when the edges are set and the centers still look soft, and let them finish on the hot tray.
• Chill before shaping. The 30-minute chill keeps the cookies from spreading thin and losing their chew. If your kitchen’s warm, give the dough a little longer.
• Seal the disc all the way around. Press the top and bottom layers together at the edges so the chocolate cookie stays inside and doesn’t leak out as it bakes.

Recipe Variations

• For the classic googly-eyed look, press candy eyes onto the cookies the moment they come out of the oven, while the surface’s still soft enough to hold them. I haven’t tested them as part of this recipe, so treat it as an add-on, and check the candy-eye package if you keep a vegetarian kitchen, since some brands use a shellac glaze.
• The chopped cookies are the flexible part. Biscoff, Chips Ahoy, or extra chocolate chunks all stand in for some of the Oreos, a well-supported swap as long as you keep the total amount the same so the dough still holds together.
• The color’s up to you. Swapping the gel color is supported and changes nothing else: purple or green works if you’d rather match a different party theme, and only the look changes, not the method.
• Scoop smaller if you want more, modest cookies instead of 12 big ones. Smaller cookies bake faster, a supported, low-risk change, so start checking a minute or two early.

How to Store Leftovers

Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. They’re softest in the first couple of days.

To freeze, layer the cooled cookies between sheets of parchment so they don’t stick, and thaw them at room temperature when you want one. A few seconds in the microwave brings back the just-baked softness.

What to Serve With Cookie Monster Cookies

These are big, sweet cookies, so they go with the plainest things next to them: a cold glass of milk for the kids, or coffee for the grown-ups. If you’re setting out a party table, they sit happily beside a bowl of no-bake Oreo balls and some fruit to cut the sugar.

FAQs

More Cookie Recipes to Bake

If this batch goes fast, here’s what I’d make next.

• Double Chocolate Chip Cookies. When you want the chocolate running all the way through the dough, not just the chips, this is the one.
• Copycat Crumbl Cookie Dough Cookies. For the same big, soft cookie without the blue, start here.
• Chocolate Crinkle Cookies. The softer, fudgier pick when you want something that looks tidy on a plate.
• Sugar Cookies Without Butter. A plain, soft sugar cookie for the days you want something simpler than the blue.