Yesterday afternoon I had a crazy urge to bake some cookies-don't know why, but all I know is that I wanted to bake! I went to the kitchen, took a quick inventory, then proceeded to look up a recipe. I went with wanting to make peanut butter oatmeal cookies and of course as soon as I started Googling a billion recipes came up. I settled on a simple recipe from Hungry Healthy Girl, but of course as I do with all recipes, I changed it up. Sooo, here's my version:
Ingredients
1/2 all-natural peanut butter aka PB (none of that Skippy wannabe natural kind, the only ingredients should be peanuts and maybe a little salt. That's it)
3 Tbsp sugar (I used raw sugar)
3 Tbsp maple syrup (again, the real kind)
2 Tbsp oil (the recipe called for coconut oil which I wish I had because that would taste amazing I'm sure-but didn't have any so I just used canola)
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 cups plain, quick oats
1/3 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
Make em'
1. Preheat oven to 350 F and line baking sheet with parchment paper or lightly grease with oil
2. Cream the PB, sugar, maple syrup and oil (I still don't have a mixer, so I used the good ol' fork and arm action, seemed to work well minus my sore arm) then beat in egg. Add in baking soda, cinnamon and oats and mix well. Gently fold in chocolate chips
3. Drop by the spoonful onto baking sheet and gently flatten with a fork
4. Bake at 350 F for about 6-8 minutes. Let them cool slightlyl on the pan, then transfer to a plate...or your mouth...whatever
Goes without saying that these cookies were so good! I especially loved the texture-nice and chewy, and I personally like "fibrous" cookies which I got with the oats. Now I will say that these are not super peanut buttery (sorry Susa), actually I can hardly taste the peanut butter...but regardless they are still yummy. And next time I will def be adding even more texture and crunch-thinking walnuts or pecans, raisins, maybe some flax meal...the possibilities are endless :)
If by now you're wondering if these are "bland, healthy cookies", ummmm possibly, minus the bland part. While they're not super sweet they're definitely a "better for you" treat to have than say a box full of Pocky's (I'm looking at you TZ).
Any way, if you're looking to make cookies that are not crazy high in fat, sugar and overly processed ingredients, well then give these suckers a try. They're fairly low in sugar, made of whole grains and have a little protein, plus, there's chocolate involved and they're Cali & Lukie-approved :)