Meli’s Monster Cookies Original Gluten-Free Cookie Mix

We’ll start with the most critical fact: these cookies are reeeeeaaaalllly good! Imagine it: homey, whole-grain gluten-free oatmeal cookie flavor partnered with salty peanut butter,  chocolate chips, and milk chocolate and peanut butter M&M’s, all packed together so you can easily bake up a batch of chewy-soft, super-sweet, hearty, totally irresistible, and rightfully named monster cookies. 

The mix-ins make the cookie particularly exciting, but another interesting difference is the ingredients list; this mix doesn’t lean on flour, glutenous or gluten-free, for its body and texture. It’s based on a family recipe that the company calls “accidentally gluten free.” (See the ingredients list below to learn more about what’s inside.)

To make the 16-cookie mix, you need to add to the mix 1/4 cup of peanut butter, 1/4 cup of softened butter (use salted butter or add a pinch of salt to unsalted butter), and 1 egg.  The directions on the box recommend baking for 7 to 9 minutes at 350°F, but we found that we needed to add at least 5 to 7 extra minutes to achieve even the soft cookie phase. Also, we used a size #40 cookie scoop which helped form equal-size cookies with the sticky batter. 

The cookies are softest when warm right out of the oven, but also tasty when they firm up a bit as they cool. And did we mention the batter? Put it this way–it’s ALL good! 

WHERE TO BUY: Target; meliscookies.com for store locator

INGREDIENTS: Certified Gluten-Free Oats, Sugar, Brown Sugar, Chocolate Chips (Sugar, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Vanilla Extract), M&M Milk Chocolate (Milk Chocolate–Sugar, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Cocoa Butter, Lactose, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Artificial Flavor–Sugar, Cornstarch, Less than 1%: Corn Syrup, Dextrin, Coloring including Blue 1 Lake, Yellow 6, Red 40, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Red 40 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake, Blue 2, Gum Acacia), M&M Peanut Butter (Milk Chocolate–Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Chocolate, Skim Milk, Milkfat, lactose, Peanuts, Soy Lecithin, Salt, Artificial Flavors–Peanut Butter–from Partially Defatted Peanuts–Sugar, Partially Hydrogenated Palm Kernel Oil, Less than 2%: Cornstarch, Dextrose, Corn Syrup, Natural Flavor, Salt, Gum Acacia, Coloring that includes Blue 1 Lake, Red 40, Yellow 6, Yellow 5, Blue 1, Blue 2, Red 40 Lake, Yellow 5 Lake, Blue 2 Lake, Yellow 6 Lake), Dextrin, Propyl Gallate (to maintain freshness), Baking Soda, Vanilla Flavor (Dextrose, Natural Flavor), Salt.

CONTAINS STATEMENT: Milk, Peanut, Soy.

CERTIFIED GLUTEN FREE: Yes