Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with M&Ms

In an effort to please everyone at once, I created a cookie that hit on all our family favorites – peanut butter (husband), oats (me) and M&Ms (the kids). I particularly like the texture created by using a combination of ground oats and whole oats. Needless to say, these babies didn’t last long around here.

  • 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup turbinado sugar
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 2 cups old-fashioned oats (not the quick cooking kind), divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup M&Ms candies, plus more for baking

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Using a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars at medium-high speed until combined and slightly fluffy. Reduce the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time. You may need to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula once or twice. With the mixer continuing to run, add the vanilla and finally, the peanut butter. Stop the mixer while you prepare the dry ingredients.
  • In a medium bowl, combine the flours and 1 cup of the oats. Using a blender or a small food processor, grind the remaining cup of oats very finely until they are almost a powder. Add the ground oats to the dry ingredients along with the baking powder and salt. Stir carefully to combine.
  • Return the mixer to medium low speed, then add the dry ingredient mixture 1/2 cup at a time. When the flour and oat mixture has been fully incorporated, fold in 1 cup of M&M candies by hand.
  • Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using two teaspoons, place dollops of the dough on the sheet about 2 inches apart. You may need to use your fingers to shape the cookies just a bit. The cookies will not spread out when baking, so I like to use dampened fingers to round the rough edges into a ball. If there are dollops without many M&Ms, add them to the top at this time pressing gently to adhere.
  • Bake for 15-16 minutes on the middle rack. Use a spatula to place baked cookies on a cooling rack. Enjoy!
  • Quick Tips
  • 1. We typically eat natural peanut butter, but it seems that anyone who knows a thing about baking (i.e. not me) stays away from natural peanut butter for baking. My guess is that it has something to do with the separation of the oil. I used Planter’s creamy peanut butter for this recipe and it worked beautifully.
  • 2. I don’t actually like to have a batch of freshly baked cookies lying around to taunt me. I put one half of this batch in the freezer so one day in the not-too-distant future, we can have “freshly baked cookies” with no work and no mess. Simply line a baking sheet with parchment and place the cookie dough along the pan as if you were going to bake them. Pop the sheet in the freezer for about an hour, then put the frozen balls of dough in a zip top bag. Be sure to label it with the name and date to remind yourself what’s inside. You might also consider writing the baking instructions right on the bag for anyone who finds the bag while rifling through the freezer and wants a hot cookie pronto: “Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.”

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 16 minutes

Number of servings (yield): 24 – 28 cookies




One response to “Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with M&Ms”

  1. Mary mygreendiet.com says:
    January 31, 2012 at 3:57 pm

    these look yummy. I love that there is a bit of whole wheat flour, oats, and peanut butter. not all bad! thanks

    Reply

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