Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

This is another cookie that I just sort of threw together. And I did it for you, gentle readers: I was hankering for peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, but I wanted something new for the blog. I had a full container of oatmeal in the refrigerator and thought to myself: self, why not make a new, healthier cookie that contains the aforementioned craved ingredients with an added healthful bonus?

These really are delightful. Because of the oatmeal and peanut butter, they’re also relatively un-guilty as cookies go – I’m of the school that believes there’s nothing to be feared from butter and sugar in moderation, and if you add healthy fats (in this case, peanut butter) and whole grains, then it’s practically health food. (Not really. Don’t go telling your doctor you only eat these healthy peanut butter cookies you found on a blog, so they couldn’t *possibly* be causing your raging diabetes …)

This is in contrast to the cupcakes I made over the past weekend, which have absolutely no redeeming nutritional qualities but which are also delicious. I’ll post that recipe next.

I do have one caveat. The chocolate chips did not want to adhere to the dough. I’ve had this problem with non-oatmeal containing peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, too, so maybe there’s just something about peanut butter that’s antagonistic to sticking to chocolate. That said, I think this recipe could have used a smidge more fat, so I’m going to give a range of butter quantities in the recipe below. I think more fat would have made the batter softer and more amenable to full incorporation of chocolate chips.


Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

¾ stick unsalted butter, soft (next time, I’ll use a whole stick)
½ cup peanut butter (I used Trader Joe’s natural salted peanut butter. Regular peanut butter, such as Jif, would probably work okay, but I don’t like it and can’t be sure)
½ cup brown sugar, packed
¾ cup white sugar
2 tablespoons malted milk powder (you could probably omit, but it is such a good flavor enhancer)
1-2 teaspoons vanilla
1 egg plus one egg yolk (I doubled this recipe and think I actually used 3 eggs, but an egg and a yolk will usually do for one and a half eggs)

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
1 cup oats (I used rolled oats, 5-minute cooking)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
1 12-oz bag chocolate chips (I used regular semisweet for this batch)

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together butter, peanut butter, sugars, and malted milk powder. Add vanilla, egg, and egg yolks and stir thoroughly.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and stir thoroughly. Add chocolate chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet. You may have to scoop the dough with your hands and press the chocolate chips into the sides to prevent them from falling out of the batter – the chips will stay in the baked cookies just fine, though. Bake 12-14 minutes, or until very light brown at the edges. Makes about 2 dozen.

Printable recipe here.