all my favorite things in one cookie!

to be honest, this girl has been messing about in the kitchen almost on a weekly basis and figured that my adventures might be worth a quick blog post - not so much to showcase my culinary skills (or rather the lack there of!) but rather to share with all some pretty cool recipes that i have discovered... especially when my creations don't turn out quite as visually appealing as i would have liked but still manages to pass the taste test! *grin*

so to start the ball somewhat rolling, this past weekend saw me trying to follow a martha stewart peanut butter chocolate chip oatmeal cookie recipe. the moment i saw peanut butter, chocolate chips and oatmeal...i was sold (and hence explaining my excitement to share the recipe)! i mean...what more can one ask for in a cookie?

it turned out to be quite an easy recipe. i halved all the proportions just in case the cookies came out horrid, i'd only be stuck with all of 3 dozen cookies! but it turned out considerably well...given the fact that i didn't cream the butter and sugar as well as i would have liked and was slightly over eager with the chunky peanut butter portion. i also did swop the peanuts for raisins just cause we didn't have any at home, which i guess was a good thing if not the cookies might be overly peanutty! the end result was about 20 fairly large sized cookies which were slightly flat (due to the slight overdose on butter/peanut butter *blush*), but were still soft, chewy and tasted pretty good. although quick and somewhat easy, the process is most definitely therapeutic and i guarantee the cookies will brighten anyone's day!

thanks to martha!

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 farenheit. 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.