Recipe: Oatmeal, PB & Choc Chip Cookies

Christmas is upon us, time for holiday baking! Here is the first of about six cookie recipes I'll be posting. Its three drop cookie recipes blended into one and it is fantastic, we make these all the time, but especially at Christmas. One batch yields 6-8 dozen cookies, great for giving out as gifts to teachers, bus drivers, neighbors, etc.

Oatmeal, Peanut Butter, and Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 60-72 cookies

3/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsps vanilla
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 2/3 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips

1. Beat butter or margarine and peanut butter in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add granulated sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, and baking soda; beat till combined, scraping sides of bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla till combined. Beat in flour. Stir in rolled oats with a wooden spoon. Stir in chocolate chips.
2. Drop dough from a tablespoon, or #50 or #60 scoop, 3 inches apart onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Slightly flatten dough with your hand, if desired. Bake in a 375 oven about 8-10 minutes or till edges are lightly browned. Transfer to wire racks and cool. Store in an airtight container or plastic bag at room temperature up to 3 days.

I like to use parchment paper on the cookie sheets, makes clean-up a breeze. And I have one of those little scoops, it looks like a tiny icecream scoop, that is the only thing I use for shaping drop cookies. Whether you use a scoop or a spoon, cookies that are rounded and of the same size bake more evenly and yield cookies that are uniform in size and shape.