Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

As you probably know, I love making cookies and trying new cookie recipes. And this is the best time of year to do it! These Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies are the result of my latest successful cookie adventure.

These may not look like Christmas cookies, but as far as I’m concerned, any cookie I make after Thanksgiving is a Christmas cookie. The recipe is a pretty basic, easy-to-execute drop cookie, no more difficult to make than the average oatmeal cookie or chocolate chip cookie or peanut butter cookie. I love all three of those cookie styles, and this one has a little, or maybe a lot, of each, which means they’re totally delicious!

I think you could vary these in many ways to your personal taste. I like the ratio of brown sugar to white sugar, so I probably wouldn’t mess with that, but other flavors could surely be swapped in. You may be able to use a different nut butter, like almond or cashew, or a different chocolate, like milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, or bigger chocolate chunks. The chocolate could be left out and perhaps replaced with dried fruit or toffee bits, too.

While I like fancy cookies with swirls and sprinkles and frostings and other embellishments this time of year, I will definitely take a humble-looking but delicious drop cookie on my holiday cookie tray. These are wonderful and worthy, loaded with multiple classic cookie ingredients, and if you need them to look more Christmas-y, feel free to put a pretty bow on them.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Based on a recipe in Better Homes and Gardens Baking

½ cup unsalted butter at room temperature

½ cup creamy peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar

½ cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 ½ cups all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

3 cups rolled oats

1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. In the bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer (or another large bowl if using a hand mixer or stirring by hand) combine the butter and peanut butter. Beat together on medium speed until fluffy. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat on medium speed until pale and fluffy.

2. Add the eggs one at a time, beating until well combined. Beat in the vanilla extract.

3. In a medium-size bowl, combine the flour, salt and baking soda. Whisk or sift together to combine well.

4. Add the flour mixture a little at a time to the butter mixture, beating on low speed until just combined. Stir in the oats on low speed. Stir in the chocolate chips. If necessary, complete the final stirring with a sturdy spoon or rubber spatula.

5. Cover or wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours or up to 2 days. If planning to store for a longer time, freeze wrapped dough in a freezer safe bag or container.

6. When ready to bake the cookies, preheat oven to 350 F.  Lightly spray a cookie sheet with nonstick cooking spray or line it with parchment paper. Scoop about 2 tablespoons dough for each cookie on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing at least 2 inches apart.

7. Bake at 350 F for 8-11 minutes or until golden brown on the edges and set in the middle. Cool on the pan for 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with remaining dough.

Makes about 5 dozen cookies. Store in an airtight container or freeze baked cookies or unbaked dough well-wrapped for up to 3 months.

Other recipes like this one: Peanut Butter Cookies with Peanut Butter Cups, Rum Raisin Oatmeal Cookies, Oatmeal Date Cookies with Cardamom, Milk Chocolate Chip and M&M Cookies

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

There are two reasons that I don’t put much about my non-recipe life on these pages: 1) It’s boring, and 2) What I would have to say would sound suspiciously like complaining. There’s no room for complaining, just because there’s very little room for new recipes in the average day/week/month.

So, my day job has become all-consuming, which is frustrating and uncomfortable. I simply don’t get days off (including weekends and holidays), and I’m not a naturally energetic enough person to come home from work and do a bunch more stuff, like baking or writing or laundry. I’m still going to try, though.

And here’s this great baked oatmeal! There are lots of recipes out on the Information Superhighway for things like this, and for good reason. It’s easy and delicious, a satisfying breakfast with plenty of late season pumpkin flavor. (I’m not tired of pumpkin and its accompanying spices yet, but, then again, I haven’t had much chance to get overwhelmed.)

I love oatmeal, so putting some of my other favorite flavors with it and putting it in a pan for a lovely, hearty dish is super fabulous. You can customize this dish to your taste, of course. I like the pecans I put in, but you could leave them out or swap in walnuts, chocolate chips, or dried fruit. 

This dish goes together in about the time it takes to preheat the oven to bake it. If you have a bit of extra time some morning, this is a great way to meet the day. The leftovers are good reheated, too, so bake once and enjoy for a few days. That is if you have few enough people eating it to save some for later.

Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal

2 cups rolled oats (old fashioned or quick oats)

1 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice

1 teaspoon baking powder

¾ teaspoon salt

¼ cup brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

1 egg

1 cup pumpkin puree

½ cup chopped pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8-inch square baking dish with nonstick cooking spray, or grease it with butter or oil.

2. In a medium-size bowl, combine the oats, Pumpkin Pie Spice, baking powder and salt. Toss together to combine.

3. In another bowl, beat together the sugars, milk and egg with a whisk until smooth. Whisk in the pumpkin puree.

4. Stir in the oat mixture until well combined. Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake at 350 F for 30-35 minutes, or until set and no longer liquid in the middle. Serve warm.

Makes about 6 servings. Leftovers keep well covered in the refrigerator. Reheat to serve.

Another recipe like this one: Apple Baked Oatmeal with Walnuts and Cranberries,

Cinnamon Raisin Baked Oatmeal

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars

A lot of my recent meal choices and recipe adventures have been informed by my overstuffed pantry closet. Of course, such shelf-stable abundance increases the chances of Synchronicity when perusing a recipe collection. That’s pretty much the way it was with these delicious oatmeal bars.

These are kind of like a fat and moist oatmeal cookie with lots of chocolate chips and a good, crunchy dose of pecans. The original recipe called for quick-cooking oats, and I stuck with that, simply because there are so many of them. I really think the more tender quick-oats form a better foundation for these bars. Regular oats might be too coarse, crumbly, and harder to palate.

 

A quick look at the recipe below will reveal how simple it really is, and the resulting treats are remarkably satisfying for as little work as a they require. They are sweet and moist, but still a bit chewy from the oats. Chocolate is always good in a place like this, and I really liked the slightly sweet crunchiness of the pecans (I had some left from making these muffins). You could use walnuts, or no nuts at all, if you prefer.

I was surprised by how good these bars are, and we almost ate the whole pan before I could get photos. They are as satisfying to enjoy as any oatmeal cookie, and, with all that oatmeal, they’re even kind of breakfast-able. Well, I like to have them with my morning coffee, anyway. And my afternoon coffee. And for dessert after supper. I may have to keep my pantry overstuffed with quick oats, pecans, and chocolate chips 

forevermore!

Oatmeal Pecan Chocolate Chip Bars

Adapted from Pillsbury: The Complete Book of Baking

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon fine salt

1 ½ cups light brown sugar, firmly packed

1 cup butter (2 sticks) at room temperature

2 tablespoons molasses

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 cup chopped pecans

1 (12-ounce) package semi-sweet chocolate chips (about 2 cups)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray a 13 x 9-inch baking pan with cooking spray, or grease it with butter or oil. Set aside.

2. In a medium-size bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir together to combine well. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a heavy-duty stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer), combine the brown sugar and butter. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the molasses, vanilla, and eggs until very well combined.

4. Slowly add the oat mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips.

5. Spread the batter evenly in the prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown and set in the middle. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into bars of desired size. Can be served warm or completely cooled. Leftovers, covered tightly, are good for several days.

Makes about 3-4 dozen bars, depending on size.

Other recipes like this one: Maple Date Oatmeal Bars, Oatmeal and Dried Cherry Bars, Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Energy Bars, Whole Wheat Butterscotch Pecan Bars