Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

At some time yesterday I read on Facebook that it was National Peanut Butter Cookie Day on June 12th.  I love peanut butter cookies, so this was just an excuse for me to fire up the oven and bake a batch.  One of my favorite peanut butter cookie recipes comes from America's Test Kitchen, but I saw that Peanut Butter & Company was selling Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies for the "holiday".  I love peanut butter, and I love oatmeal so I went in search of a recipe.

It didn't take long for me to find a keeper.  Allrecipes had one that had straight forward ingredients and the reviews were glowing.  I did however swap out the shortening and used butter.  I didn't have any shortening on hand, and I just usually prefer butter.  I have been known to have 20 pounds of butter in the freezer just in case of a baking frenzy.  I also didn't flatten with fork, they did fine on their own.

The result was a delicious cookie.  Could be adding this recipe to my make for Christmas present list.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups shortening
• 1 1/2 cups peanut butter
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. In a mixing bowl, cream the shortening and peanut butter. Add the brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla; mix well.
3. Combine oats, flour, baking soda, and salt; add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
4. Drop by the rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheet. Flatten with fork. Bake for 12 minutes or until done.

Crockpot Oatmeal

I pretty much like anything that contains oatmeal, mostly baked goods.  I had been craving oatmeal for breakfast for some time now, but the instant oatmeal had been in the cabinet for so long it tasted like the plastic package it was in.  What a let down.

So from there I browsed the internet for an oatmeal recipe that I could throw in the crockpot at night before I went to bed and wake up to a yummy hot breakfast.  There were many recipes out there, most of which had dried fruit, lots of sugar and made with half-and-half or cream.  I am trying to watch what I eat so I didn't want to take the health benefits of oatmeal and cover them with cream and sugar.  

I finally came across the right one for me, thank goodness I wrote it down that night because I had been unable to find it again to give that person credit, sorry.

Recipe

1/2 cup steel cut oats

1 cup low fat milk

2 cups water

1 tea salt

1 Tbsp butter

Put all of the ingredients into a heat safe bowl.  You are going to place this bowl into the crockpot and set the crockpot on low.  Pour water into the crockpot around the heat safe bowl about half way up the bowl.  Cover and go to bed.  About 8 hours later, because you should get 8 hours of sleep a night, your oatmeal will be ready.

I get 4 servings out of this, and each serving is 3 Points Plus on Weight Watchers.  Whatever toppings I add are additional.

This made enough oatmeal for me for 4 days.  I just put the leftovers in the fridge, and heated up my portion every morning in the microwave.  It reheated really well.  I added a spoonful of toasted walnuts and some maple syrup to flavor mine just the way I like it.

Cookie Swap

If there is one thing I really love around the holidays it is going to a cookie swap. For the past few years I have had a cookie swap at my house and attended one at my friend Barbara's too. You can never have too many cookies. I love to see and taste everyones Christmas best, and well to be honest I get mad when people bring something other than there best. I guess one would say I can be a bit of a cookie swap snob.

This year we had some really great cookies. Barbara's tri-colored layer cookies are always a hit, Beth's Hungarian Nut Rolls are delicious, and this year Arlene pulled out a great Chocolate Florentine cookie that I know I will be making soon, just to name a few.



I seem to make something different every year, this year I made some Danish Oatmeal. I love just about anything with oats, and the recipe was light and delicate.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup confectioners' sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup chopped pecans
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar, or as needed

Directions

Preheat an oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate large bowl, mix the butter, 1 cup confectioners' sugar, and vanilla until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Stir in the flour mixture; gently stir in the oatmeal and pecans and lightly mix until combined.
With a spoon, drop about 1 scant tablespoon of dough per cookie onto the prepared baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven until lightly browned, about 20 minutes. Let cool completely before sprinkling cookies with confectioners' sugar.

Carmel Apple Muffins

I had plenty of apples left from the apple picking we had done. I really wanted to make some sort of muffins with the apples but I couldn't find a recipe that appealed to me until I visited Chocoholic Anonymous to look at another recipe when this one caught my eye.

I made the batch and the house smelled abosolutely delicious. The recipe makes 24 muffins, more than this family could possibley eat which is okay for me because I just love to share my baked goods with my co-workers. They were a real hit for me and for them, this recipe is a keeper.

*Pecan Streusel Topping*
1/3 cup toasted pecans, chopped
1/3 cup flour
3 tbsp butter, room temperature
1/4 cup quick oats
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

*Muffins*
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cups diced apple
2 tsp lemon juice
3/4 cup sour cream
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup caramel topping
1/4 cup milk
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup + 1/4 cup granulated sugar (divided use)
4 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 tsp vanilla


Preheat oven to 350°F and grease 2 standard muffin tins (12 cups each) or line with paper muffin cups.

Place all of the ingredients for the pecan streusel topping in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or your fingers mix the butter into the dry ingredients until you have a mixture resembling coarse crumbs. Set aside.

In a small bowl mix together the diced apple, cinnamon, nutmeg and lemon juice until the apples are well coated. Set aside.

In a medium bowl mix together the sour cream and baking soda, set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together 1/2 cup sugar and the butter.

Beat in egg yolks two at a time, mixing completely after each addition.

Stir milk and caramel into the sour cream mixture.

Set your mixer on low and alternate adding flour and caramel mixtures. Mix just until combined; do not over mix.

In another bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Continue beating while gradually adding the remaining 1/4 cup sugar. Beat until stiff and glossy.

Fold 1/3 of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it. Fold in the remainder of the egg whites until just barely combined (some white may show in the batter).

Gently fold in the apple and spice mixture.

Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tins filling about 2/3 full.

Sprinkle about 1 tbsp of streusel topping over the batter in each cup.

Place the pans in the heated oven for 16-18 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out with a few moist crumbs.

Store in a sealed container.

Peach Crisp

Well after picking all of that fruit I needed to prepare some fruit desserts. The peaches were ripe right off of the tree so I figured that was what I should start with. I really love cobbler made with oatmeal and nuts. Crunchy crumbs with tender sweet fruit yummy.



The recipe comes from The America's Test Kitchen Family Baking Book.

Peach Crisp

Fruit
3 pounds peaches
1 tbsp cornstarch
1/3 to 2/3 cup sugar
1 tea lemon juice
1/4 tea almond extract

Crisp
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tea cinnamon
1/8 tea nutmeg
1/8 tea salt
6 tbsp melted butter

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix all fruit ingredients in a large bowl and pour into a 8X8 baking pan. Cover with foil and bake until fruit is hot and has released its juices, 20 to 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, pulse almonds, oats, flour, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together in a food processor until nuts are chopped. Drizzle with the melted butter and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand.

Remove fruit from oven and uncover. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the fruit. Bake the crisp until the topping is a deep golden brown and the fruit is bubbling, about 15 minutes. Let the crisp cool for 10 minutes before serving.



It can be served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. I actually just poured a small amount of heavy cream over the top for some extra creaminess.