Healthy-ish Monster Cookies

My sweet friend Beth introduced me to these fabulous monster cookies a few years ago. I wasn't content with just the 1 or 2 (or 7) I'd grab at her house when she made them. She kindly shared the recipe with me and she and I had fun playing with the recipe each time we'd make a batch. We both began sneaking adding flax seed to the recipe and trying several different variations that would allow for a unsuspectingly healthy-ish cookie. I say "healthy-ish" as to not trick you into thinking you can eat 10 of them at one sitting, although you may be tempted, but so you'll realize these cookies are packed full of all kinds of healthy ingredients that you should be incorporating into your diet...oats, flax seed, protein from the peanut butter...why not have them in a delicious cookie?! Here is the exact recipe I used for the cookies pictured:

Monster Cookies
3 eggs
1 stick butter or margarine
1.5 c brown sugar
1 t. vanilla
1 c. peanut butter (I used natural, crunchy peanut butter)
2 t. baking soda
4.5 c. rolled oats
1 (6 oz) pkg of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c. ground flax seed (or chopped nuts)
1/2 c. M&M's (For this batch I just used 2 fun sized packages of M&M's from the boys' Valentine loot)

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, vanilla, and peanut butter. Mix well. Add baking soda and rolled oats. Mix thoroughly. Stir in remaining ingredients. Compact the dough a bit in rounded tablespoons and drop on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 8-10 minutes. Don't let them get too brown or they won't be chewy.  For a little extra color, add 2 or 3 M&M's to the top of the cooling cookies.

Another one of my favorite variations of this recipe is using dark chocolate chips in place of the semi-sweet chips and replacing the 1/2 cup of M&M's with craisins.

Adding the last ingredients

Ground flax seed - full of fiber & Omega 3 fatty acids (your kids won't even notice!)

Right out of the oven

A lightly browned outside and soft and chewy inside.. YUM!

I hope you enjoy these cookies as much as my family and I do. Let me know what you think and if you come up with a tasty variation!