Peanut Butter Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

It’s no secret that I love peanut butter and in baking there’s something magical about adding peanut butter to recipes.

It just makes things better.

It makes baked goods moist, rich, and decadent in a going-to-stuff-my-face kind of way.

For the peanut butter allergy folks, you could most definitely use sunflower seed, almond, or cashew butter in these cookies.

I also adore oatmeal cookies.

Did you see my last cookie creation?  Chewy, brown sugary oatmeal raisin cookies

When they are done right, I think that oatmeal-based cookies trump most other cookies.

Today’s cookies have oatmeal in them even though they don’t have much of an “oatmeal cookie taste”.

The peanut butter flavor is more dominant than oatmeal flavor.

When it comes down to it, though, I’ve really never met a cookie I didn’t like.  Oatmeal raisin, peanut butter, chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, molasses.  They’re all good.

Except dry cookies.  Those are not so good.  Don’t break any baking rules and make them dry or overcooked.  Or put nuts into baked goods.  Blech.

So when I saw Jo-Anna of A Pretty Life in the Suburbs’ recipe for Cookies ‘n Creme Stuffed Oatmeal Cookies, she got my wheels turning for this month’s Secret Recipe Club recipe reveal, and it steered me in the direction of using oatmeal.

I’ve also been eyeing the Cooks Illustrated Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that I’ve read rave reviews about.  Ever since 2009.  I based last week’s oatmeal raisin cookies from the melted butter technique they used.

Because really, you can do no wrong with melted butter and peanut butter combined with oatmeal and white chocolate.

At least not in my book.

 

 

I loved these cookies

And now it’s time to geek out with food science trivia which likely explains why I loved them.

It has to do with sugar ratios, melted butter, and eggs.

The Cooks Illustrated website compared their ‘new cookie’ (2009) vs. the classic Nestle Tollhouse cookie (1950s I’m guessing) in this little chart (source)

Sugar: by having a higher proportion of brown sugar to white sugar, you will get a chewier cookie.  That’s a big bonus for me.

• TOLL HOUSE RECIPE: Equal Amounts Brown and White SugarA 1-1 ratio of brown to white sugar creates a cookie that’s neither crisp nor chewy.
• OUR RECIPE: More Brown Sugar Using more brown sugar than white makes for a chewier cookie.

 

Butter: By melting the butter you get a chewier cookie, less of a cakey cookie, and enhanced flavor.  Yes please.

• TOLL HOUSE RECIPE: Creamed Solid Butter.  Creaming butter creates a cakier texture in cookies.
• OUR RECIPE: Browned, Melted Butter.  Melting butter contributes to chewiness; browning it enhances flavor.

Eggs: Reducing egg whites increases chewiness and reduces dryness.  Score.

• TOLL HOUSE RECIPE: 2 Whole Eggs. Whole eggs contribute to a drier texture.
• OUR RECIPE: 1 Whole Egg, 1 Yolk. Eliminating one egg white also boosts chewiness.

 

Take that, Alton Brown.  You’re not the only one who can geek out.

Another thing I loved about these cookies was that I didn’t have to use an electric mixer.

I did everything by hand and with one spoon.   That’s the beauty of the microwave melted butter technique.  You don’t need to whip or cream anything together.  Just melt ‘n stir.

I am still pining away for that Kitchen Aid but so far the Mixer Fairy hasn’t paid me a visit yet.

Not being bothered to use any sort of mixer in this recipe was a nice bonus.

It’s nice having fewer dishes to do.  Beaters, bowls, paddles.  It all adds up.  I hate doing dishes and do everything in my power to keep them to an absolute minimum.

I’d rather spend my time baking and cooking or sampling the raw dough eating the finished product than doing dishes.

And between me, Scott, and Little Miss Cookie Monster, we made quick work on these

Just typing this post and looking at these pictures makes me really want another one.  Or three.

They are chewy, sweet, rich, and the peanut butter flavor is enhanced even more by the addition of peanut butter chips.  I bet butterscotch chips would also be excellent in these, too.

The oatmeal makes them soft

And the white chocolate chips make them sweet

This wouldn’t be an “Averie dessert” if there wasn’t peanut butter in the recipe or white chocolate.  <– Those two links showcase all my peanut butter recipes and all my white chocolate recipes in one place.  I will be adding these cookies to both sections.

Have I convinced you to make these yet?

They’re a new favorite of mine.

They’ve earned a special place in my heart.  And in my stomach.

Questions:

1. What’s your favorite kind of cookie?

2. Do you like food science, aka geek speak, as much as I do?  Or would you prefer to just follow the recipe and you don’t care why it’s going to work, just that it does?

I am actually fascinated by that kind of thing.  I want to know why adding or removing a certain ingredient will make the recipe work, not work, hold together, fall apart, rise, fall, get puffy, spread, stay chewy, get crisper, and so forth.

It would just be too easy to trust something or just follow someone else’s recipe; I’d rather re-invent the wheel every.single.time.  Kidding, kind of.

3. Best thing you ate or did over the weekend?

I hope you had a good one.  I did.  It went by way too fast, and we were busy, but I enjoyed time with Scott and Skylar and the weather was perfect.  74F, sunny, gorgeous.

If you’re just catching up on posts from the weekend, here are mine since Friday

• Blueberry Banana Recovery Smoothie (It was accepted which made me happy)
• Chew On This (nothing wrong with chocolate covered chips)
• Apple Picking
• Shabby Apple Giveaway (winner announced next post!)
• Test
• Plug and Go
• The Server Shuffle

And thank you for your patience with older posts and recipes from 2009 and 2010.  In transferring servers/hosts last week, the links got a bit jumbled to older posts and recipes.  Within a day or so, everything should be back to normal.  Apologies for anyone trying to make one of my 2009-2010 recipes; things will be straightened out, soon.

Have a great week!