Peanut Butter Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Last weekend, we cleaned our alley. Okay, Noel cleaned the alley with some of our neighbors and I made these cookies for the after coffee party and chat. Details people, details.

I thought about starting this post with a picture of our alley, but then I realized some of you may read the blog early in the morning, and you really don’t want to start your day with trash and unidentified carcass. Yes, I said carcass. In fact, you probably don’t want to see those two things on this blog EVER, so I’m just going to leave it out always. But reports back from the alley indicated both were there.

Sadly, a gross alley is one of the not-so-joyous things about city living. When I was a kid and we had an alley, we rode our bikes and played back there. Maybe this is just a different type of alley, or times have changed, but the long and short of it was the alley needed major love.

And to thank those who were willing to go where I would rather not, I wanted to bring something a little special to the after party. Something that would be a good hearty snack for after the hard work these folks had engaged in, but would still feel breakfasty enough for mid-morning. After a perusal of my cookbooks, I settled on these cookies. I’ve really been grooving on peanut butter + oatmeal for breakfast recently, so no surprise that I gravitated to a recipe with both. The fact that the recipe only called for a tiny bit of whole wheat flour was a bonus.

I’m happy to report these were a hit…a just reward for my East Baltimore Alley heroes!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

These cookies are a bit flatter and crunchier than the average oatmeal cookie because of their lack of flower, but that doesn’t make them any less delicious. These are hearty enough to be a mid morning snack or after workout treat (we did both) but still peanut buttery enough to satisfy the peanut butter and chocolate lovers in your life. The original recipe called for peanuts but I left them out since I’m not a fan!

Ingredients:

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 semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

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

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 chocolate chips by hand.

Using a tablespoon or jumbo sized cookie scoop, drop balls of dough 2 inches apart on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies until golden brown and just set, 13 to 15 minutes. They will still look a little gooey in the middle but that’s okay. Let cool on sheets on wire racks 5 minutes. Transfer cookies to wire racks to cool completely.

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