Soft cookies bursting with pumpkin spice and filled with the textures of chewy oatmeal, rich chocolate chips, gooey marshmallow, and crunchy chocolate candy. These take monster cookies to a whole new level.

I never know how I’m going to feel about fall until it happens. Some years, I resist, holding on to the last vestiges of summer. Some years, I avoid pumpkin and plaid, preferring to skip to Christmas. Some years, I embrace the season and warm spices and bake all the pumpkin things, throwing the windows open at night to pretend the weather is actually cold already.

This year is somewhere in between.

I’m excited for pumpkin and apple. I’m brainstorming all the fall desserts to share with you. I’m also done with the heat, but can’t quite get into sweater weather when it’s wildfire season and 101 degrees today. I’m conflicted. The orange sky the last few days is rather on point. But it’s also sad and dangerous and less than ideal lighting for dessert photography. Like I said, I’m conflicted.

But I definitely love these cookies. It’s our tradition to make them on Halloween while we hand out candy. Then, we have candy and cookies to snack on for days.

How to make pumpkin monster cookies

Combine your dry ingredients by sifting the flour, salt, and baking soda (trust me, sifting makes a difference).

Whisk in the spices and oatmeal until the spices look evenly distributed. That’s my super technical way of knowing when the dry ingredients are sufficiently whisked. Set aside.

Cream the butter until smooth. Some people skip this step, but I find it helps.

Beat in the sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. This should take 2-3 minutes Scrape the bowl at least once or twice. I like to beat for 1 minute, scrape, beat for 1 minute, scrape again, then beat one more minute. And, obviously, scrape again. You get used to it after all these years of baking.

Beat in the pumpkin until combined.

Beat in the egg and vanilla for 30 seconds.

Mix in the dry ingredients on low. It’s okay to mix just until they come together but still don’t look fully combined. You’ll be stirring by hand a couple times, so there’s no need for it to be fully mixed yet.

Stir in the chocolate chips.

Add in the mini marshmallows (optional). See note below for the option I used (chopping up regular marshmallows) but recommend using with caution.

Then gently stir in the M&M’s (mini or plain—I used mini inside but placed plain on top for looks).

Chill or bake right away. I’ve done both. I love both. Baking right away gives a soft, chewy cookie with a little texture from the oatmeal. Chilling for up to three days helps the flavors meld more and the oatmeal softens. You can also shape them into balls and freeze them to bake later.

Tips for this recipe

Stir the M&M’s in very last and very gently

This is purely for aesthetics. The color of the M&M’s can come off and create a funny tint to the rest of the cookie, so I try to stir gently.

Use room temperature eggs and butter

Almost all traditional cookie recipes call for this, and for good reason. Everything will blend better and the flour will absorb into the liquid better at room temperature. Plus, it helps to dissolve the sugar in the creaming process, which helps create a more cohesive flavor.

Beat the butter and sugar until fluffy

See how it looks after one minute?

Now two minutes?

Now three?

It’s helpful to beat around 2-3 minutes. I usually do 3, because my paddle attachment doesn’t get quite all the way to the edges and bottom. Plus, we use the organic sugar from Costco, which has larger granules that take longer to break down. Just like with the previous tip, you want the sugar to dissolve some during beating, so don’t skimp!

Marshmallows are optional

I made a daring choice to chop up regular marshmallows because I was out of mini marshmallows and didn’t feel like carting my toddler to the store at 7am. It worked well, and the ones on the outside melted and caramelized a little. It’s kind of a personal preference, though. If you don’t like crunchy caramel-y bits, use mini marshmallows, which will not melt. Or, you can skip them altogether if that’s just not your thing, but it’s our favorite little addition to these cookies.

You might also like:

• Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Oatmeal Cookie Berry Bars

• Caramel Cookie Oopsie Bars

• Browned Butter Dutch Apple Pie Bars

• Browned Butter Cinnamon Cake