Peanut Butter Oatmeal Scotchies

Alright gang, what better way to get this thing started than with some cookies?

Okay, okay... easy question - the answer is clearly TWO types of cookies!!!

Well, I suppose it's more like one cookie, and a variation of it, but whatever. Let's get cookin'!

When asked if you want a cookie with or without chocolate,

the only acceptable response is "Yes."

Our journey begins, as many should and certainly will, in the bowl of my mixer.

Start with the butter (room temp please...) and peanut butter, and mix thoroughly.

Not the best moment for batter tasters to do their thing... 

From here, we add our sugars and leavening. I started with the white granulated sugar, then added (firmly packed) brown sugar. Today I used dark to bring a little more moisture into the mix. I like a softer type of cookie, one with a slight crunch but that is mostly soft once you get in to it. If you like a crunchier cookie, try changing it up and using light brown sugar. the little bit of lift in these is brought to you by twice as much baking powder as soda.

Make sure to level off your measurements.

Once the sugars and such are mixed in thoroughly, the batter will be very thick and just a little bit grainy.

A much better time than before for wandering kids, spouses,

neighbors, or other batter thieves to take a sample.

Add the eggs and as much vanilla as you see fit. I should clarify here that my awesome cook of a mom raised me to be a bit of an estimator in the kitchen - I'll do my best to kick that habit for the sake of publishing the exact recipe you need to make the tasty food I'll be posting in here, but when I eyeball something, I will at least let you know!  That being said - I normally go for a little over a teaspoon. We'll call it 1 1/2 teaspoons or 1/2 tablespoon.

The only way to lose, is not to play... 

Now we've reached the fork in the road. On one side we have a great butterscotch cookie, on the other side, we have a great chocolate butterscotch cookie. There is really no way to lose this game, but I would encourage even the die-hard chocolate lovers out there to try the recipe sans-chocolate - I promise it is delicious either way.

I used a digital kitchen scale to divide the batter dough batter evenly by weight.

I continued along the plain route first because I didn't want chocolate in the bowl of my mixer while trying to make the plain version last - this way  I can make 2 versions of the cookie without cleaning the bowl of the mixer between batches.

The next steps are very straight forward...

Gradually mix in the flour, then add the oats and chips of your choosing

For the chocolaty goodness version - before the flour mix in melted (then slightly cooled) unsweetened chocolate.

Next, use your trusty disher (you do have a disher, right?)

 Also referred to as a cookie scoop, ice cream scoop,

 server, and probably a bunch of other things...

I used one that was about 1.5 tablespoons in volume, to scoop out equally sized cookies onto a silicone lined cookie sheet. If you don't have a silicone pan liner, you can use a regular ungreased cookie sheet.

The spice of life.

Bake at 375** for approximately 8-9 minutes. until the cookies are slightly browned on the outside and a little soft in the middle.

Or until your kids, pets, or significant other come poking

 around wondering what smells so good.

As always, remove the cookies from the oven and let them cool for a couple minutes on the pan before removing them to a cooling rack.

Where to start?

Please leave a comment! I'd love to hear from you!

Here's the full recipe!
Adapted from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook 75th Anniversary Edition

Heat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.**

3/4 cup       Butter, Salted (one and one half sticks) at room temperature
1/2 cup       Peanut Butter, Creamy
1 cup          Granulated White Sugar
1/2 cup       Brown Sugar, Dark, Firmly Packed
1 tsp           Baking Powder
1/2 tsp        Baking Soda
2 eggs         Large
1 tsp           Vanilla Extract, Pure
1 1/4 cups   Flour, All Purpose***
2 cups         Rolled Quick Oats***
1 cup          Butterscotch Chips (chocolate or chocolate and peanut butter also work well)***

Optional - unsweetened chocolate. 3 oz. for whole batch, 1.5 oz. for half batch, as pictured.

1. Start by thoroughly mixing the butter and peanut butter together in the bowl of an electric mixer. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed
2. Add in the sugars, baking powder and baking soda. Mix thoroughly.
3. Mix in the eggs and vanilla
4. If making a chocolate batch, divide batter (if desired) and add in chocolate at this point
5. Gradually mix in flour until fully incorporated***
6. Mix in oats and butterscotch until evenly dispersed***
7. Place on cookie sheet spaced 2 1/4'' apart
8. Bake 8-9 minutes until edges are just browned - centers will still be soft when the cookies are done.
9. Remove from oven, and allow to cool on pan for 2-3 minutes before removing to cooling rack to cool completely.

Yield: approximately 4 dozen cookies

**For the sake of your taste buds and your unborn cookies, use an oven thermometer. When the preheat alarm tolls I found my brand new (well, 9 month old) oven to be off by about 8 degrees at this temperature. It was off by a lot more at higher temperatures. A decent model oven thermometer can be had for ten dollars or less at almost any grocery store.

***If doing a split batch use:
     1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons of flour in each batch
     1 cup oats in each batch
     1/2 cup chips in each batch (remember, a few extra chips never hurt anyone)