NUTTY FOR OATS COOKIES

Yield: 38 cookies

Baking Temperature: 350 degrees

Baking Time: 11-13 minutes

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter (1/3 cup peanut butter and 1/3 cup Almond Butter works well, too)

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

¾ cup packed light or dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 large eggs

1 cup old fashioned rolled oats, ground for 30 seconds in a food processor (or electric chopper)

1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats

2 cups chocolate chips

·         (Add a half cup chopped peanuts or chopped almonds if desired)

Add Reese’s pieces, mini M&Ms, peanut butter chips, etc.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease 2 baking sheets or line with parchment paper.

Cream the peanut butter, butter, sugar, vanilla, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl.  Beat in the eggs, scraping the bowl once they’re incorporated, then the ground oats, old fashioned rolled oats and chocolate chips (add all the add ins).  Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets.

Bake the cookies, reversing the pans midway through (top to bottom, bottom to top), until they’re barely set and just beginning to brown around the edges, 11 to 13 minutes.  Remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool completely on the pans.

Nutrition Information Per Serving (1 Cookie, 29 G): 7g whole grains, 131 calories, 7 grams fat, 3 g protein,  5 g complex carbohydrates, 10 g sugar, 1 g dietary fiber, 14 mg cholesterol, 64 g sodium, 99mg potassium, 14 RE vitamin A, 1 mg iron, 11 mg calcium, 62 mg phosphorous, 7mg caffeine.

Ingredients

Dough

Ready to Bake

Just Out of the Oven

PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP SHORTBREAD WITH PEANUT BUTTER GLAZE

Adapted from: http://theviewfromthegreatisland.blogspot.com/2012/03/peanut-butter-chocolate-chip-shortbread.html

makes about 21 small cookies 
1 stick, (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, room temp 
1/3 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour  
1/4 cup confectioner's sugar
scant 1/2 tsp sea salt
1 cup milk chocolate chips

·                     Cream the butter and the peanut butter together in a stand mixer, with a hand mixer, or a wooden spoon.  Beat in the vanilla.

·                     Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the butter mixture.  Mix until the dough comes together. 

·                     Stir in the chips, and turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap layed out on a pastry mat.  Gently pull the dough together and form it into a log.  If it is still crumbly, work it with your hands until it holds together smoothly. Roll it up in the plastic wrap, smoothing the shape as you go.  Twist the ends securely and refrigerate for at least a couple of hours.

·                     Slice the log into slices with a sharp knife or a pastry cutter. Not too thick, not too thin, about 1/3 inch.  If a slice crumbles a bit, just smoosh the dough back together.  These don't have to be perfect disks.

·                     Bake on a parchment lined baking stone or baking sheet at 325 for about 12-14 minutes.  The cookies will not be browned, and they may look undone, but don't over bake. 

·                     Let the cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack.

·                     Cool completely, then glaze (see recipe below)

Just out of the oven

Peanut Butter Glaze (my recipe)

¾ cup powdered sugar

2 ½ Tablespoons milk

1/8 cup smooth peanut butter

Dash of sea salt

Mix all ingredients together until smooth.  Add a dash of salt.  Using a small teaspoon, top each cookie with the glaze and smooth all around the cookie.  If desired, shake a small amount of sea salt on top of each cookie. (the salt adds that yummy salty and sweet combination).  Let set for approximately one hour before serving.  Serve with milk. 

Glaze

Just after the cookies were glazed

Ready to Eat

Plate of Cookies