Peanut Butter Oat Cookies

Peanut butter is one of my favorite things. Ever. It's really every college student's best friend. I think my roommate and I went through five jars of peanut butter in our four-month semester. Whoa.

Peanut Butter all day, every day.

I love my Aunt Michelle, but being forced not to enjoy peanut butter because of a peanut allergy may be one of life's greatest tragedies. Of course, I'm exaggerating. Kind of.

Apparently I'm on a cookie kick, because when I went to open a new (giant) jar of peanut butter today, all I wanted (besides to just stick a spoon in it and start eating) was a gooey, moist, peanut buttery cookie. My mom used to make them all the time for my brother and I when we were little, and I always loved making the signature impressions with a fork. It was my one peanut-butter-cookie-making job, and I did it with gusto.

It's been years since I made peanut butter cookies, so when I whipped up a batch of these today, the smells that filled my house reminded me so much of childhood and school lunches. Adding the oats made them a little fuller and more chewy, which I like. I also like to use crunchy peanut butter because then every so often you get the little surprise nugget of nut and it's just so tasty!

The ingredients for this cookie are things that I always have on hand in the pantry, so I see many more batches in the future! Again, I'm using whole wheat flour as opposed to white flour, but either is perfect.

1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats, divided
3/4 cups unsalted butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup chunky peanut butter (I used Adam's)
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanuts (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make oat flour (pulse 1 cup of oats in food process for 30 seconds).

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk oat and whole wheat flours, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3. In another medium bowl,  cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add egg and vanilla and mix. Add peanut butter. Add to previously prepared flour mixture. Stir in remaining oats and peanuts (if using).

4. Place two inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Now for my favorite part! Using a fork, press tops of cookies down, creating that signature crosshatch pattern.

5. Bake about 12 minutes, until lightly browned at the edges, rotating halfway through baking.

6. Enjoy the peanut buttery goodness!

And just for fun...a video of my dog getting a little sample of these cookies :)

Cranberry, Maple, and Oatmeal Cookies

For those of you that don't know, my dad is an avid cookie connoisseur. Lunch, dinner (and sometimes even breakfast) usually consists of the normal meal followed by at least three cookies. You really could call him the cookie monster. He would be flattered.

He prefers his cookies loaded up with "the good stuff," aka: chocolate chips, coconut, oats, nuts, dried fruit, etc. So loaded up, in fact, that the cookies rarely ever become cookie shaped...they remain more like little dense balls of goodies with some dough in between.

When I came across this recipe, courtesy of Tate's Bake Shop's Baking With Friends I was a little apprehensive because, besides the basics needed to make the dough, there really are only three other ingredients: cranberries, maple syrup, and oats. That's not a lot of goodies. But I loved the idea of putting the tart cranberries into the cookies so I decided to give them a try. If the cookie monster didn't like them, then more for me right? Well let me just say, they are AMAZING. They are perfection in every way an oatmeal cookie should be. Chewy and moist and homey. With that little zing of cranberry. Yum. The original recipe calls for unbleached flour, but I'm trying to cook and bake with more whole grains this year, so I substituted whole wheat flour. You can't even tell the difference! These cookies are the perfect winter treat, if I do say so myself.

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I like Bob's Red Mill)
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2 sticks salted butter, at room temp
1/2 cup pure maple syrup (I only had "Honey Creme" in my pantry, but it was DELICIOUS)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries (or whole fresh cranberries for a more tart flavor)
1 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, salt, and baking soda. In another large bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter, and maple syrup with an electric mixer until well combined. Beat in the egg and vanilla extract. Using a spoon, stir in the oat mixture, just until combined. Mix in cranberries and pecans.

2. Drop about 2 tablespoons of dough about 2 inches apart onto baking sheets.

3. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the cookies are lightly browned around the edges and still slightly soft, rotating the position of the baking sheets halfway through.

4. Try your hardest to wait 5 minutes while the cookies cool and set.

5. EAT EAT EAT EAT.


They're really addicting, so just a fair warning, you might eat about half the batch in one sitting. Which is fine. Because winter clothes are designed to expand anyway.