Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Baking sense!  I know people say that baking is a science but I'm not so sure.  Have you ever had anyone tell you that they could taste the PASSION in your cookies?  I have.  Of course think about ratios when you bake but also think about what you want people to feel when they eat your food.  Food should awaken you, tantalize you, inspire you.  Even a cookie can do that. 

This is a recipe adapted from an Betty Crocker cookbook my grandmother gave me in my early twenties.  Its been a great guide for my baking adventures and its where I first started experimenting with changing up recipes that I thought were good but needed an extra special sumpin'. When I did I really found the passion in baking that has kept me at it ever since.


In this recipe, like all others, there is still room for some experimentation and a place for personal passions.  For me I learned that the quality of my ingredients changed my results and how I felt about the final product.  I try to use organic and local products whenever I can.  The fresher the butter the better.  I used my own homemade peanut butter for this batch.  I also use organic cane sugar or other evaporated organic cane juice products if  I can.  And they work in the place of brown sugar, just add a hit of molasses to recover some of that brown sugar flavor.  Muscovado, demerara, and turbinado sugars all work well with this recipe.  I've tried all of them with good results, however, to me, they taste less sweet than a refined white or brown sugar does.  So if you do use them taste the batter and add more if you like a sweeter cookie.  There are a ton of other sugar substitutes out there too, all with their own unique characteristics and taste.  Experimenting is the best way to know whether you prefer agave syrup to maple sugar or honey to corn syrup.

I used demerara and dark chocolate chips in this batch which resulted in a cookie that was a tad less sweet and more angled toward adult taste buds. Also because this is a recipe with whole wheat flour and oats, flax seed would make a good substitution for the eggs (1 egg: 1 tablespoon ground flax seed mixed in 3 tablespoons water and let to stand 10 minutes). Butter can also be replaced (1:1) with a vegetable oil if you want to make these vegan. So bake and cook to your passions, whats important to you and what you want to get from each batch.


The Basics:
1. Mix cookie dough
2. Bake
3. Eat


The Recipe:
1 1/4 c. softened butter
3/4 c. peanut butter
1 1/2 c. brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs
1 c. whole wheat flour
2 c. rolled oats
1 c. chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)


Method:
1. Mix butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar until uniform.
2. Mix in baking powder, vanilla, and eggs.
3. Add flour and oats to the mixture.
4. Mix until uniform consistence, then add the chocolate chips.

5. Form batter into 2 inch round cookie shaped forms and place on a cookie sheet.  These cookies do not spread out on the pan much so they don't need more than 2 inches space from each other.

6. Place in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 8-10 minutes.
7. Remove cookies when the bottoms are slightly browned.
8. Once they are cool on the cookie sheet remove from the sheet to a plate for serving or into a air-tight container for storage.

ENJOY!