Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yeah, That's a mouthful to say... It's also a mouthful when you shove two cookies at a time in your mouth. AMAZING. Easily my new favorite cookie, Easily.

I made these about a week ago because I was sick of Halloween candy and was in the mood for something sweet and baked. Luckily, that morning I was visiting one of my favorite foodie blogs (Mel's) and I just had to make them when I got home from work. 

Since I didn't want to binge and eat the entire batch, which yields about 4 dozen, I put them in baggies and stuck them in the freezer. ... Now, I had good intentions. However, I took a baggie of cookies out of the freezer every day. Oh well, I tried. Right?

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 large eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup quick oats

2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1- 12 oz. bag milk chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl of a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer) cream together: butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until the batter turns light in color, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the flour, oatmeal, baking soda and salt.

When it is mostly combined add in the chocolate chips and mix until well combined. Scoop out cookie dough onto a sprayed cookie sheet, I used bakers joy - my favorite! Space the cookies 1-2 inches apart. 

Bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned and still soft int the center. Remove the cookies to a cooling rack. Grab a cup of cold milk and go to town! 

Fyi, make sure you eat one while the cookies are still warm, with a nice crunchy outside and gooey center. OH. MY. GOODNESS. I might make these again today (since I've already cleaned out my freezer stash).

Notes: 

Like I already pointed out these can be frozen for later and they are excellent! I also made these again and I used a cheap (store brand) chocolate chip and it just wasn't as good with the peanut butter as the Nestle chocolate chips I used the first time. 

Recipe: Mel's Kitchen Cafe

Ann's Sugar Cookies (THE BEST)

These are by far the most amazing, soft, melt-in-your-mouth sugar cookies in the entire world. Seriously...no, SERIOUSLY. This recipe is one of my mother-in-law's gems. Give these a try today, you won't be sorry.
As and added bonus you can freeze these bad boys for later. This is good if you are having a big party, have a tendency to eat all the cookies you bake in one sitting or just want to save some for later.

INGREDIENTS:
Cookie:
1 lb. margarine, room temperature
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking powder
6 cups all-purpose flour

Frosting:
1 square margarine (8 tbsp)
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups of powdered sugar
If needed: splash of milk to bring the frosting to the consistency you like.

DIRECTIONS:
Mix the margarine, eggs, sugar and vanilla until well combined. Add the baking powder and flour and mix well. The dough will be very soft.

Dump the dough out on a well floured surface and roll to a little over 1/4 inch. Cut out with your favorite cookie cutter and place on a greased baking sheet (I use bakers joy spray - AWESOME stuff).

Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit, for 5 - 7 minutes.  You do not want these to brown so make sure you check at 5 minutes and then evaluate how much time you'll need to add. A good way to check the cookies is by lifting one cookie off the sheet and looking at the bottom. It should start to crisp and have little circles/air bubbles on the bottom.  After they are finished baking let cool.

After the cookies have cooled mix together one square of melted margarine, vanilla and powdered sugar. At this point you can also add fun colors. If the frosting is too thick add a splash of milk. If the frosting is too thin add a little powdered sugar until it become the consistency you like.

NOTES:
If freezing be sure to let the frosting harden a bit before stacking the cookies on top of each other. This can be done by putting them in the refrigerator or by letting them sit out on the counter until fully cooled.

RECIPE: Ann, the wonderful mother-in-law.