Easter Hunt Cookies

If you’ve got a bunch of colorful eggs, where do you hide them?

in peanut butter, oats, and a bit of green food coloring I say!

It took my husband a moment to catch on.
what do they look like? I asked
um, green cookies with m&ms?
(uh, yea)
or…..easter eggs hiding in the grass?…
Yes!

If you need a fun Easter snack, come over and grab a few from my basket. Of course the really good ones are sitting in my freezer. That’s what I love about these cookies. The peanut butter and oats make them a bit chewy in general, but when they’ve been sitting in the cold they’re even better!….more chewy and mmmmm, delish.

These cookies are a basic Monster Cookie recipe. But for Easter, we’re showing off its softer side. We’ll just call them Easter Hunt Cookies.

You’ll find a version of them here on The Pioneer Woman and who can pass up the Neiman Marcus cookie recipe which also calls for ground up oats and grated chocolate bar? Mmm. Good thing I gave most of these Easter cookies away. Now I have an excuse to make more!

This particular recipe is from the Keeping Up Cookbook, which is quite fabulous. The recipes are simple, down to earth, and taste great. My friend Katherine let me browse through hers and well, now I need a copy.

I’ll share the details with you here, with a few added adjustments. Of course you can always use your own favorite cookie recipe, adding some oats and green food coloring. The oats really make the cookies look like “grass.”

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups peanut butter

2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats-ground into flour
2 1/4 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda

* 1 bag of m&ms
* you can decrease the amount of m&ms to half a bag and then add chunks, or grated bits, of a semi sweet chocolate bar OR 1/2 bag of semi sweet chocolate chips.
I’m always a dark chocolate girl. But in cookies I like to mix semi-sweet and milk chocolate together. I think it gives good balance.

Okay, start by grinding 2 1/2 cups of oats into flour. You can do this in a food processor or a blender.
When you’re done it should look like this:
Dump it into a bowl with the other old fashioned oats, the salt, and baking soda. Mix together and set aside.

In a separate bowl (or mixer), cream the butter and sugar. Then add the eggs, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes. I always beat my eggs/sugar/butter for 2-3 minutes because the eggs become fluffy and light. You can actually see the chemistry change as you do this.
Then, add the secret ingredient…..food coloring!
I recommend using Wilton’s brand because the colors are intense and gel-like–so it doesn’t add extra liquid to your recipe.
Just plop a bit of green into the dough and mix it up! Add as much or as little as you like. I used a hefty bit from a toothpick and they came out very green. Wilton is good that way.
Then, add in the oat/oat flour mixture, mix it all together (just until moist) and your dough looks like green grass!

Finally, add the treats…..
I left the chocolate bar out this time because I only wanted to see “eggs” in the grass but you can certainly add chocolate chips and/or chocolate bar as well at this point.
Use a mini cookie scoop and fit about 20 balls of dough on an ungreased baking sheet. These cookies are dense, so a smaller size works best.
Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Let them cool for 5 minutes.
And enjoy!
Happy Easter! May the best bunny win the egg hunt.

Easter Egg Hunt cookies recipe from MADE Everyday with Dana

…and don’t forget to try these right out of the freezer. You’ll be easily addicted.
…and remind anyone you give these to that there’s peanut butter in there! Don’t want any peanut allergy flareups.

  1. 1) M

    If i need to take out the peanut butter, do i need to substitute with more butter? I’m looking forward to making these this Easter!

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