Cheap Eats :: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

 

I saw this recipe over on Pinterest the other day and it looked good...really good! I've never made no flour, no butter cookies. I was intrigued! 

I had all the ingredients except for one...vanilla extract. I was not deterred. I decided to add an ingredient in that I know tastes amazing with Peanut Butter...maple syrup.

Here is the recipe...[with my notes]

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup creamy or chunky peanut butter [i used Jif Chunky]
• 2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla maple syrup or pancake syrup
• 2 large eggs
• 2/3 cup rolled oats [g-free if you want]
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips
• [I highly recommend adding 1/8 tsp salt]

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F

2. In small bowl mix together the oats and baking soda; set aside.

3. In a large bowl beat peanut butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla with an electric mixer until smooth, about 3 minutes. Mix in dry ingredients, then gently fold in chocolate chips.

4. Roll cookies into 2 inch dough balls and place onto cookie sheet 2 inches apart, then BARELY flatten the top of the cookie with your hand. The dough should be pretty sticky so if you find this method annoying, simply use a cookie scoop to drop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. The cookies may not be as round in shape and perhaps a bit thicker, but that’s okay, they will still be delicious. I used an ice cream scoop and dropped my dough onto the sheet. This way yielded only 10 cookies...and they came out huge! Next time, I would roll them into small balls as suggested.
[the dough being sticky is an understatement. It's like no other dough I've made, but so are these cookies. Don't be freaked out about it.]

5. Bake cookies for 9-11[mine went a full 11] minutes and remove when edges barely begin to turn a golden brown. The cookies may look a little underdone, but they will continue to cook once you remove them from the oven. Cool for 2 minutes on the cookie sheet then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. Makes 16-20 10 cookies.


Verdict

Not bad...but not great. It has a decent cookie texture, the lack of flour does make it a bit runnier in the middle (even though they were totally cooked).
Bigger issue, it needs SALT. There is no salt in this recipe and it tastes like it. A whole level of flavor is missing and salt really adds to the taste of peanuts and chocolate. Next time (if there is one, I'd add 1/8 tsp of salt, maybe 1/4 tsp).
All in all...add salt, make sure you don't make them as big as I did, and it should be a pretty good cookie fix for g-free peeps.