Peanut butter, chocolate chips, and oatmeal are all delicious on their own, but when combined in cookie form in this recipe they bring out the best in each other. These treats are among my favorites that I’ve made lately; they’re not too sweet, with interesting texture and a great combination of flavors.
If you’re not really a chocolate person (not that I could ever understand such a thing) you can omit the chocolate chips and just go with plain peanut butter oatmeal. You could also use peanut butter chips, or you could use crunchy peanut butter instead of smooth for some added texture. Either way, I’d recommend keeping these cookies small, because the oatmeal makes them pretty hearty.
This batch of cookies went to Southern Maryland with Mike this week; he’s visiting his parents, and our awesome cousins Barb and Robb and the incomparable Maureen, my goddaughter. I’m hoping that I’ll get a photo of Maureen eating one, but so far I’ve only seen a video of her with chocolate pudding all over her face. We’ll keep that one around for her wedding, of course.
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup butter, slightly softened
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 1/4 cups flour
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Preparation
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line three baking sheets with foil or parchment.
In a mixing bowl, combine butter and peanut butter and beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until well-combined, scraping the sides of the bowl often.
Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, then add vanilla and beat until combined.
Beat in flour, about one half-cup at a time, until well-combined. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
Using a one-inch cookie scoop, drop dough onto prepared cookie sheets; you should be able to fit 12 cookies on each sheet.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are just golden brown; cookie centers will still look slightly puffy. Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheets for about 5 minutes, then place on wire racks to cool completely.
Note: this recipe yields 60 cookies. Because I only have three large-sized baking sheets, I let each of them cool between batches before I scoop on another round of dough.
amy bakes in the 'burgh 
Oh crap, we didn’t take a photo of Maureen eating one of these cookies. She loved them and begged for them. Then she hated them. Then she loved them again. Very fickle. No I, though. I loved them consistently and ate the majority of them. Then Mike suggested that I share some with Robb. In fact, that thought had never crossed my mind. But then I felt guilty and counted out 18 cookies to share. I think that means that Maureen ate 5, Mike ate 5, Robb shared 18 with his coworkers, Mom ate 1,….and I single-handedly ate 31 cookies. The baby made me do it.
31 cookies? I salute you, madam. You are a gal after my own heart. And clearly the baby needed the protein in the peanut butter. And the calcium in those chocolate chips. I mean really, you’ve done something very, very necessary here.