A Perfect Three: Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, yes, on that lovely Moroccan pedestal plate made from fossils...

A Perfect Three:  Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

by Victoria Challancin

Probably every American family of the 50s and 60s grew up with favorite cookies home-baked by Mom.  And for many of us, cookies marked our first forays into the world of cooking--again with Mom, or even Grandma.  And although my own Mother was famous for her platters of cookies and other sweets, faithfully delivered to friends at Christmas, the daily fare (or at least weekly) for my family, to be enjoyed after school with milk, was chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter, or oatmeal.  Those three. Always one of those three.  And when it came to the first of those cookies, there was one recipe, and one recipe only:  The Original 1939 version of Nestle's Toll House Cookies.  Nothing fancy-- and reliable every time.  I can still see those wonderful cookies spread out and cooling over opened brown paper grocery bags on the counter.  Times were simpler.  Perhaps methods were as well.

My own son was born and raised in Mexico, where chocolate chips, chocochispas, weren't even available when he was young; I had to bring back bags from visits to family in the US.  And bring them back I did!  Over the years as recipes became more sophisticated, or at least more experimental, the options for cookies recipes seemed endless.  This particular recipe became a family favorite as soon as I discovered it via Martha Stewart.  What a perfect combination of all the cookies I had grown up with, chocolate chip, oatmeal, and peanut butter--all rolled into one lovely recipe and with whole wheat flour and natural peanut butter to boot!

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

(Recipe by Martha Stewart)

Makes about 6 dozen

3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup packed light-brown sugar

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup natural peanut butter 

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups salted whole peanuts

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Stir together oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.

Put sugars, butter, and peanut butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla.

Reduce speed to low. Add oat mixture, and mix until just combined. Mix in peanuts and chocolate chips.

Using a 1 1/2-inch ice cream scoop, drop balls of dough 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies, rotating sheets halfway through, until golden brown and just set, 13 to 15 minutes. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in airtight containers at room temperature up to 2 days.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies - Martha Stewart Recipes 

Enjoy!

If you enjoyed this recipe, you might try this other cookie recipe from my blog:

Crystalized Ginger and Black Pepper Cookies

Victoria Challancin

Flavors of the Sun International Cooking School

San Miguel de Allende, México

©Victoria Challancin.  All Rights Reserved