Cooking Lesson #250: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies With Chocolate Chunks

… from the California Kitchen

How you doin’? When I was growing up, I used to think that oatmeal cookies were better for you than other cookies because they were packed with oatmeal. I would eat an entire package of Archway Oatmeal Cookies while all the time wishing they were chocolate chip. I then fell for peanut butter cookies—peanut butter is good for you, right? What’s a young man to do?
 
Well, fast forward many years… and, as an adult, I decided to combine everything I loved—oats, peanut butter and chocolate. Of course, there’s also lots of butter, sugar and flour to balance out the recipe.
 
After the Civil War peanuts became a subsistence crop in several southern states. This was before Jif and Skippy and no one knew quite what to do with them.
 
Do you know who invented the peanut butter cookie? It was invented by George Washington Carver in 1910, when Alabama's Tuskegee Institute published a peanut cookbook to promote the crop. Thanks, GWC!
 
In his book he shares 105 ways of using the peanut from Peanut Soups and Salads to Peanut Butter Candy and even Peanut Coffee. In Lesson #82 I shared Grandpa Max’s Private Reserve Presidential Peanut Brittle recipe that was a mainstay at T.R’s Sagamore Hill residence.
 
Prep time:  15 minutes
Chill time:  30 minutes
Bake time:  18 to 21 minutes
Yield:  24 cookies
 
Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening (I prefer to use Crisco)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup chunky peanut butter
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup of chocolate chunks
1 cup quick-cooking oats
 
Directions

1. Preheat an oven to 350⁰F.
2. Line 2 sheet pans with parchment paper.
3. In a large bowl, cream together shortening, butter, brown and white sugars and peanut butter until smooth.
4. Beat in the eggs one at a time until well blended.
5. Add in the vanilla extract.
6. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt; stir into the creamed mixture.
7. Mix in the chocolate chunks and oats until just combined. Do not over mix.
8. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
9. Using a 3-oz. or 1/4 cup scoop, scoop the dough onto ungreased cookie sheets and lightly flatten with a fork.
   
10. Bake for 18 to 21 minutes in the preheated oven, or until just light brown on the edges. Turn the pans and change the levels (if baking on two racks) half way through. Don't over-bake.
    
11. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack.
12. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

ChefSecret: 

• Chilling the dough helps keep the cookies from spreading and keeps them moist while baking. Use the bigger chocolate chunks so you can find pockets of melted chocolate in the middle.
  
• If you want smaller cookies, reduce the bake time to 10-15 minutes.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day: “Did you hear the one about the germ? Never mind, I don’t want to spread it around.”
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