I would be lying if I said there wasn’t a lot of anxiety. There is more anxiety than I could have ever thought was possible. And when I get anxious, I want something sweet. What can I say? I have a major sweet tooth. And I knew if I made my beloved Chocolate Chip Cookies, well, I’d have eaten a few dozen of them (not something my body needs right before Christmas gluttony).
But I’m not the only one dealing with the anxiety. John gets a giant gold star for the way he has handled his girlfriend moving six hours away. In fact, maybe a few gold stars because he has had to pick up a lot of slack (like helping me move and box my stuff…AGAIN), and listening to me stress, which I think would be hard on anyone. I got pretty lucky that we found each other. John loves peanut butter cookies (cookies that incidentally I really dislike, which in turn I never make for him). If there was anytime to make a treat, it was this week. So, I made 12 Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for myself, and the rest became these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies for my beloved boyfriend.
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from here)Serves: 12-14 (36-48 cookies)
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 3/4 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup chunky peanut butter
1/2 cup chocolate chips
Beat together the butter and brown sugar in a bowl. Beat in the egg and vanilla, until smooth. Add the flour, baking soda, and cinnamon. Beat until just combined. Using a wooden spoon, add in the peanut butter and oats. Then, stir in the chocolate (by this point the batter was very thick and so I just used my – CLEAN – hands). Chill the dough for about 30 minutes. Then, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Roll tiny balls of the dough and place onto a lightly greased cookie sheet. Bake them for about 10 minutes, when the bottoms are golden brown. Keep them on the hot cookie sheet another 3-5 minutes out of the oven, and then remove to a cooling rack.
The next time you need a quick Christmas cookie to bring to (yet another) holiday party or a sweet treat to get you through a tough week, these are it!
Until the next time my oven is on…
