Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Grab a glass of cold milk.  It’s cookie time!

These are my new favorite cookies, and I’m not even a big cookie lover.  They are so chewy, so flavorful, so comforting, so perfect and delicious…  I cannot wait to make another batch!  

Kiel’s Midnight Cookies aka
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins and Almonds 

The other night, around midnight, I got a bizarre craving for chocolate chip cookies.  It was bizarre because, about nine years ago, I stopped liking chocolate chip cookies.  Now, before you throw your hands up in the air with surprise/disgust or cross me off your friend list, hear me out.  You have very little choice as to what you like and don’t like to eat.  Your taste buds decide for you.  Now it’s true that your tastes evolve based on what flavors you’ve been exposed to growing up, but short of psychologically conditioning yourself to like/dislike A, B, or C, you’re pretty much stuck with what your tongue tells you.  

So, back to the chocolate chip cookies… 

I told Kiel about my craving.  He replied that he prefers peanut butter cookies (as do I).  Then his imagination started rolling and he exclaimed, “With raisins!”  “Raisins?” I asked, dubiously.  “Yes, raisins,” he confirmed.  “Raisins in peanut butter cookies do not sound good,” I told him.  He ignored me.  “And almonds!” he said, forging ahead.  “Raisins and almonds??”  Really, this sounded awful to me.  Ew.  

I thought about it awhile longer though, and his invention began to take shape.  Over the next couple of days, I thought a lot about these cookies and tried to figure out how to combine peanut butter, raisins, and almonds in a delicious way.  

First, I decided that oats would have to be the base.  While peanut butter and raisins are pretty good together (ever have “ants on a log”?), my peanut butter cookies are crisp and don’t serve as good foils for raisins.  

peanut butter oatmeal base

With that decision made, I considered the peanut butter second.  Originally, I planned to use peanut butter chips, but I felt there was just too much going on in one little cookie.  I didn’t want a chewy oatmeal cookie with lots of chunks of other things inside of it.  I decided to use peanut butter and mix it with the oats to serve as the base of the cookie.  I looked around the store for organic peanut butter but worried that the cookies would spread too much, and I’d end up with a goopy mess.  Seeing as this is my first crack at this cookie, I opted to play it safe and used melted peanut butter chips.  I added two tablespoons of whole milk so that it would be easier to stir into the cookie batter.  I also decided to use chopped almonds, but got very lazy while wandering the grocery store, so I bought pre-sliced almonds.  They’ll be good added to cereal later.  

So… two days after Kiel’s crazy midnight cookie craving… after a lot of planning,  daydreaming, consulting with dozens of oatmeal cookie recipes, and laborious love in the form of countless churning (beating eggs, beating sugar, beating butter, beating butter and sugar)… the cookies are out of the oven.  And I take a bite.  And I think… “Holy crap.  These are amazing!”  Kiel is a genius!!”  Whip up a batch – I am sure you will be as impressed as I am.  

..:*:..

Some IMPORTANT notes:  Sticky batter… The batter tends to get sticky because of the peanut butter.  Just rinse your hands with cool water and resume forming balls when the batter is sticking to your hand too much.  Mixing the cookie dough…  I recommend mixing the cookie dough with chopsticks.  It’s so much easier than using a spatula, spoon, etc.  Refrigerating cookie dough…  If you like, you can refrigerate the cookie dough for up to 30 minutes before putting them in the oven.  They are easier to shape into balls when they’re a little cool.  I don’t recommend much longer than 30 minutes because, as the peanut butter cools, the dough hardens.  The cookies are out of the oven – now what?  If you’re not impulsive about eating baked goods straight out of the oven, unlike me, then cool the cookies.  Let them cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheet so that they can settle into their form.  If you try to take them off too early, they’ll break apart.  I cooled the cookies on a plate.  Okay I cooled them… can I eat them now?  YES!  ^_^

butter, hand beaten with sugar

  

beat the eggs lightly – you don’t want to torture them.  look for big bubbles….

sa-wing, batter batter cookie batter….

raw cookies, ready for the oven!

A huge nod to the editors of Cook’s Illustrated for guidance as to cookie size and preparing the batter for the oven!