oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies
The weather has become just about perfect here in north Florida. The mornings are still cool, but the afternoon temperatures have been getting up into the 70s and low 80s. The days are getting longer, and our azaleas and dogwoods and redbud trees are in full bloom. When I get home from work, neighborhood kids are outside playing and people are walking their dogs or jogging. In fact, swing by my house around 6:30 in the evening and you’re likely to find me in one of our white Cracker Barrel rocking chairs, with the latest edition of a food magazine in one hand, a glass of wine or iced tea in the other, while Maddie and Oliver play in the front yard.
Of course, if you look a little closer, you’ll notice that my white rocking chair is covered in a yellowish-green film of pollen from the oak trees. So don’t look that close, please.
I’ve started running due to some much needed peer pressure from a friend at work. I wake at 5am three days a week, somehow find the energy to extract myself from the bed, and after some blurry moments in the bathroom, I head out the door wearing my headphones and carrying a small flashlight. The early mornings are dark, dimly lit by the moon’s light, and the sky is filled with stars. The neighborhood is quiet, and there are only a handful of other walkers and runners out. After four weeks of this routine, it’s a morning ritual I’ve come to depend on. (I was going to say cherish, but I’m not at that point yet.)
Perhaps I can blame the extra endorphins generated from that runner’s high, or maybe it’s just because I really like to bake, but I decided to bake up a batch of cookies for my colleagues at work last week. My goal was to incorporate oatmeal and peanut butter into a chocolate chip cookie. I made some modifications to this recipe from Gourmet magazine and ended up with a pretty darn amazing cookie.
When baked just for 15 minutes and cooled completely on a rack, these cookies are firm on the outside and soft and tender on the inside. If you just can’t wait for the cookies to cool, you’ll be rewarded with melted chocolate on your fingers as you break off a warm chunk to put in your mouth.
Yield: approx 60 cookies
Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
This recipe calls for grating chocolate. If you've never done this by hand before, you're in for quite an arm workout. I found that grating the chocolate using my mini food processor worked as well as grating by hand, and it saved me from getting hand cramps. If you don't have a food processor, grate the chocolate by hand. Just have some ibuprofen ready when you're done.
Note: You can make the dough ahead of time, form into balls, and freeze on a wax-paper lined sheet pan. Once the balls are frozen, bag them up in a large freezer storage bag.
Ingredients:
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1 cup natural peanut butter, stirred very well
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
12-ounce package semisweet chocolate chips
4 ounces semisweet chocolate, grated
Directions:
In a food processor, process 1 cup oats until ground fine. In a large bowl, stir together ground oats, remaining 1 cup whole oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
In another large bowl with an electric mixer (or in the bowl of a stand mixer), beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and peanut butter. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition, and gradually beat in flour mixture. Add chocolate chips and grated chocolate, beating until just combined. Chill cookie dough, covered, at least 2 hours or overnight (and up to one week).
Preheat oven to 325°F. Form rounded tablespoons of dough into balls and place on cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart.
Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven for 15 minutes, or until just pale golden. Cooking any longer than this will result in crispier cookies. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to baking rack to cool completely.
Adapted from this recipe in Gourmet, 1996.
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So much to say…first, yes FL weather right now is perfect. I can just imagine you in your rocker, a little jealous of it and your front porch! 🙂 2nd….so proud of you for embracing the running, especially at that time of day! it’s hard enough to run…but wake up before dawn to do it, kudos to you girl!
Now…the cookies. Oh my, totally all my favorite things in a cookie! I am not a huge choc chip fan but pair it with oatmeal and PB??!! LOVE!
Aggie – thanks for the running encouragement. Now that I’ve gotten used to getting up so early, it’s really okay. I’ve signed up for a 5K in a few weeks, so I’ve got a goal to work towards. 🙂
Yes indeed. Everything you could possibly want in a cookie. Do I have to run to eat them though?
No running required, Mardi. 🙂
I love this combination of flavors! I’ve tried a different cookie recipe with these ingredients but I really want to make this one too now.
Tracey – If you do, please let me know how you liked them!
These are the kind of cookies that you could sell for $3 each… and I’d be happy to pay that much for them. They look rich and chewy and full of all the things that I love in a cookie.
Beautiful MJ!
Ooh – thanks, Brian. A way to make some extra $$ on the side, perhaps? 😉
Yum! Three of my favorite cookies rolled into one!
I’d run to the cookie jar for one of these!
I’ll have mine warm, please … and you do not know how much I would like to join you on that porch and just relax! (Even with the pollen!)
Kelly – I’d love to have you join me on the front porch some time. You have an open invitation.
Kudos to you for getting up early and getting out there and running. I wish I could say the same. Then I could make up a batch of these good looking cookies without any guilt. But… guilt be damn, I’m still tempted to make a batch! 🙂
Ha! You should definitely make these, run or no run. 🙂
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These look wonderful! I, too am in North Florida and have been enjoying this Spring like weather. It is pretty cold this morning, though. I am not enjoying all the pollen!!
Christy – You’re right about the morning temps. I’ll be happy when we can stop dressing in so many layers. 🙂
Oh wow, they look sooooo amazing!
I’d have to run at least a mile to even eat one! I find it a challenge to even wake up at 7.30, never mind even run! Your doing brilliant though!
I made these this weekend w/ my kids’ help. I hope I did this recipe justice, my children, my mother and myself all sure have enjoyed them, this was my first experience grating chocolate and it was an arm workout, mine probably ended up with about 3 1/2 ounces instead of the full four when all was said and done but, I think they came out ok. I’d brought some in the office today for you to test and see if I did you any justice but, you aren’t here today so, guess that means I’ll just have to attempt them again another time, much to my family’s delight I’m sure ;).
Been quietly following your blog for a long time.
Made these over the weekend. My mother declares that each of the elements- chocolate, oats, peanut butter- were in absolute perfect balance. Each making a distinct appearance but none overpowering the others. Like something you’d get in a fancy restaurant
One issue I did was that I found them very hard to mix. The batter was really dense and I had to keep freeing the mixer legs of buildup because they couldn’t handle that.
Another issue was that they seemed to fall apart on me. If anyones planning on making these dont make them too large! They have a kind of crumbly texture which is reallly better sustained with a smaller cookie.
But this with a glass of milk on a Florida porch in Summer? The kind of thing that makes you grateful to be alive.
Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Great with pecans!
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