Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Monday night around 11pm, I was just about to turn in and I saw a Facebook post from (probably my very favorite blogger) The Girl Who Ate Everything for some Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.  This combination sounded so glorious to my 8 month pregnant mind that I literally almost ditched my bedtime plans and went into the kitchen to make them at 11pm.

There is nothing quite so fierce as the competition between a pregnant ladies rumbling tummy and her sleep.  But ultimately, for Monday night, bedtime won out. 

However, come Tuesday I still couldn’t get that cookie combination out of my mind.  And while I didn’t use TGWAE’s recipe for them, I did use my VERY favorite cookie recipe, for Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies.  There is no better cookie that I make.  This is my most raved about cookie, my most requested recipe, and my favorite cookie recipe.  Anyway, I decided not to mess with perfection, and to use that as a base recipe and add chocolate chips and extra dry roasted peanuts.

This did not disappoint the pregnant lady.  It was everything I had hoped and dreamed for.

I still remember the first time I tried it, over at my husband’s parent’s house.  My father-in-law made them and offered me some and I have been hooked ever since.  This cookie is so soft, the perfect combination of oatmeal and peanut butter, salty and sweet, and they last for DAYS in an airtight container.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup butter, at room temp
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup peanut butter (I use crunchy)
2 eggs

2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup quick cooking oats (make SURE you use quick-cooking)
3/4 cups of chocolate chips, chunks, etc.  (I used mini chocolate chips)
1/2 cup of smashed dry-roasted peanuts (optional)
DIRECTIONS:

Cream together butter and sugar

Add eggs and cream together

Add a whole cup of glorious crunchy peanut butter. Good stuff like Jiffy or Skip, none of that healthy natural stuff.  You’re making cookies, not protein bars.

Add dry ingredients. Mix.

Add oats, and mix again until combined.

Smash up some peanuts in a ziplock bag with your rolling pin.

Stir peanuts and chocolate chips into the mixture by hand.

Scoop into one inch balls with a cookie scoop or a tablespoon.

Flatten slightly with a fork.  Sprinkle with more granulated sugar.

Bake at 350° for about 8 minutes. Pull out as soon as the edges are slightly brown.  They will continue cooking on the cookie sheet.

Do not overbake.

Enjoy!