Peanut Butter and Oat Cookies

I use my Kroger card when I shop there.  This gives me discounts and they send me coupons and recipes, from time to time.  A few weeks ago Kroger sent a cookie recipe and I set it aside.  It had peanut butter and oatmeal.  That's healthy right?  We have company coming today, so I fired up the oven and went to work.  Yay!  Cookies!
 


Peanut Butter and Oat Cookies

1 1/2 cups oatmeal, divided use
3/4 cup butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup peanut butter The recipe called for creamy, I used crunchy and I STILL added the chopped peanuts
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup peanuts, chopped

1 Tablespoon sugar

 

Heat the oven to 350°.  Line cookie sheets with parchment or Silpat baking sheets.  Set aside.

 

Place 1 cup of the oatmeal in a food processor.  Pulse for about 30 seconds to make oat flour.  Place the oat flour in a medium bowl and add the 1 cup of flour, baking soda and salt.  Stir it up with a whisk or fork and set aside.

 

Cream the butter and sugars for about 2 minutes on medium speed.  I use a stand mixer, Kitchen Aid, so I can do other things while it makes the butter and sugar fluffy.  I don't think this is doable by hand.  Scrape down once or twice.

 

Add the egg and the vanilla and mix.  Add the peanut butter and mix.

 

Carefully add the flour mixture to the peanut butter mixture.  Don't spill all over the counter like some people might do.  Mix slowly until the flour is incorporated and add the remaining 1/2 cup oats and the chopped peanuts.

 

Because I was using chunky peanut butter I used a tad more peanut butter and a tad less chopped peanuts.  I doubt it would have made a difference if I had done the exact amounts.  I just worried about setting off some unknown peanut butter to flour ratio.  At any rate, they turned out terrific.

 

Use a small cookie scoop to form balls and place about 2 inches apart on the lined cookie sheets.  Press down the dough balls with a fork in a cross hatch pattern.  This dough is sticky, so place a Tablespoon or so of sugar on a small plate. 

 

Dip the fork in the sugar between each time you press on a cookie.  Sure, you could use a dish of flour to keep the fork from sticking, but would you rather have extra flour on top or extra sugar?  Yeah, me too!

Bake for 12 minutes or until golden brown.  It wouldn't hurt to rotate the pans halfway through .  I didn't and had some cookies darker than others. 

 

Cool for two minutes before transferring to a  wire rack. 

 

Offer three (or four or five) to your impatient husband and then hide the rest for the company.