Fall Baking: Giant Monster Cookie #HarvestFun

I am a member of the Collective Bias®  Social Fabric® Community.  This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias and its client. #HarvestFun #CBias #shop

It's really feeling like Fall here in Minnesota!  The weather has cooled off, the tree's are turning colors, pumpkins have started to appear in homes on on door steps.  I have started to pull out some of my more fall recipes to make for dinner and trying new fall baking desserts and treats. 

Last week I decided to make some Monster Cookies for my kids as an after school treat and changed them up a little bit to make it a little more fun.  I used some of the Fall M&M's that I found at Walmart and I even made a delicious Caramel apple Cider to go with it!  You can find both of the recipes below!

I grabbed a couple bags of the Fall M&M's in the Candy Corn flavor (which is white chocolate, my favorite!) to make the cookies a bit more fall like, and I decided to make one Giant Monster Cookie instead small ones.  My boys loved it! 

The cookie was the size of a small pizza and I cut it into slices that looked like pieces of pizza.  You could add frosting to the top of the cookie if you want, I thought it was delicious just the way it was. 

Staying with the fall theme, I had some Mott's Apple juice on hand and decided to make a warm drink for my kids. 

I put come Caramel Apple Cider in the crockpot to warm up and have ready for after school.  It made my house smell heavenly!  I love making drinks like apple cider and hot chocolate in the crockpot, they stay warm and are ready whenever people want a mug. 

How to make Caramel Apple Cider

Mix all ingredients together in a small crockpot and let simmer for several hours.

• 4 cups Mott's Apple Juice
• ⅓ cup Orange Juice, fresh squeezed or a good quality
• 4 cloves
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ⅓ cup caramel sauce

When you are ready to drink or serve, scoop out the cloves and cinnamon sticks.  Add whip cream and caramel sauce on top of the apple cider before serving. 

Both of these recipes turned out delicious and my boys were so excited when they got home on Friday night and had such a yummy treat.  The Monster cookie was HUGE so I ended up sharing it with some neighbors! 

How to Make Monster Cookie Bars

Ingredients

2 c. all-purpose flour
1½ c. quick rolled oats
1 c. sugar

1 c. brown sugar
⅔ c. peanut butter, creamy or chunky
1 c. (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 eggs
1 tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla
¼ c. chopped peanuts
¼ c. chocolate chips (a mix of regular and mini)
¼ c. M&M's (I used the Candy Corn Mix)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a small pizza pan.

2. In a medium size mixing bowl, whisk together oats, flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat together peanut butter, butter and sugars for 1 minute. Turn speed to low and add one egg at a time. Add vanilla and mix until combined.

4. Remove bowl from stand mixer. Fold in dry ingredients, then chopped peanuts, chocolate chips and M&Ms.

5. Pour onto pizza pan and pat down until even. Place in oven and bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the top begins to brown.  Remove from oven and let cool. 

Enjoy your yummy fall recipe! 

For more great ideas visit the Fall Baking and Entertaining Pinterest Board.