Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. What's better than a perfectly simple peanut butter cookie recipe, or a plateful of warm from the oven chocolate chip cookies, or tender oatmeal cookies dunked in a tall glass of milk?  All three of course. These large, soft, lightly sweetened peanut butter cookies are loaded with chopped peanuts, oatmeal, and chocolate chunks. 

We have been going through a lot of cookies around here lately. I don't know why... Maybe it's the crisp fall weather. Most likely it's because everyone in this house is managing busy, somewhat chaotic schedules. My husband and I have 3 children, aged 20, 18 and 15. The 20-year-old is living happily in his own apartment in Denver, working and going to school. When he was at home, he ate his fair share of cookies - especially peanut butter cookies, snickerdoodles, and chocolate chip cookies, which he loved so much that he learned to bake them himself around the age of 13 just to ensure their constant supply.

But lately, his sisters and their friends (and my husband) are giving him a run for his money.

I love having an entire afternoon with nothing more to do than bake cookies.

But most days, that is not the case. Mostly I try to squeeze cookie baking in-between catching up on email, making dinner, doing the dishes, paying bills, returning voice mail, helping with homework, talking a teenager off a hormone-induced edge... you understand, I know you do.

And yes, I KNOW cookies aren't essential to our survival. I know that it's extraordinarily easy to just pick up a package of cookies at the store. I ALSO know that processed food is probably not something any of us should eat much of, and that my teenagers (and my husband) are less likely to stop at the corner gas station for a package of highly processed junk food if they know there is something delicious at home.

Ok, ok. I'm NOT saying that homemade cookies are health food. I AM saying that I could tell my kids all day, every day to "please not eat any sugar or junk food today, darling", and it would be a complete waste of time. I'm not an idiot. It's one thing when they're toddlers and, as their parent, you can pretty much control everything they eat. It's a whole other animal when they can drive themselves wherever they want to eat whatever they want.

I also want my kids to understand the difference between junk food, packed with 50 different ingredients, most of them unrecognizable, and real food, made with a few real ingredients. It's always been my hope that they would learn what it means to feed themselves quality - which is often more expensive and takes longer to prepare - over the convenience of cheap, quickly accessible quantity. And do you know what? I think it's working.

For our son's 20th birthday, he asked for a standing KitchenAid Mixer, with which he has turned out batch after batch of peanut butter cookies and chocolate chip cookies as well as homemade tortillas and homemade dinner rolls. Also, his favorite food is chicken pot pie, made entirely from scratch, including the pastry crust. I am positively BURSTING with pride. Here he is, learning to make tortillas. So cute.

So anyway. Back to busy schedule cookie baking. When I just want to whip up a quick batch of cookies, my go-to varieties are: Peanut Butter Cookies, Chocolate Chip Cookies and Oatmeal Cookies. Sometimes I get crazy and add chocolate chips to the peanut butter cookies, or roasted almonds to the chocolate chip cookies, or replace the all-purpose flour with oat flour and add sour cherries to the oatmeal cookies. What can I say? I'm just a wild and crazy gal.

Regardless of extra additions, these staple cookie recipes are always on standby for a reason. They're quick and easy to make, and require ingredients that we almost always have stocked on the pantry. This recipe for Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookies simply combines them all into one large, delicious, homemade cookie. There's something for everyone in there.

I don't know why I didn't think of combining them sooner. After all, chocolate and peanut butter should really be it's own food group. (Aside from chocolate, of course, which is obviously already it's own food group.)

Adding in the oatmeal just raises the bar. These are large and substantial, with decent amounts of protein and fiber and a minimal amount of sugar. They are perfect for ravenous kids just home from school, or busy college kids rushing out the door to work or to class with no time to sit down for a meal. And, of course, if you just want a bite or two, they are the perfect cookie to break in half and share.

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