Best ever Oatmeal Chocolate Chip (or Raisin) Cookies

Well these cookies have lived up to the title!  My family has absolutely loved them!  We have a disagreement going though about which is better ~ raisin or chocolate chip!!  We are even thinking to try craisin or craisin chocolate chip???

These cookies are soft and flavorful and really are a great oatmeal cookie!

Best ever oatmeal chocolate chip cookie

(found on a blog that I forgot to write down! OOPS!)

• 1 cup butter or margarine softened
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 3 cups quick oats (or I did 2 cups regular oats)
• 2 cups chocolate chips (or divide your dough and do 1 cup raisins and 1 cup chocolate chips)

OK, the original recipe says that these taste better mixed by hand!  I looked away at these directions and used my mixer!  So you decide. but the thought of mixing all this by hand wasn't happening!  Just remember, we thought they were super good mixed in the mixer!

Mix your butter and sugars together.

Add in eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

Stir in your flour, then oats.  This is where I did do a little hand mixing.  I divided my dough in half and hand mixed in my raisins in one side and chocolate chips in the other half.  (If you find your raisins are hard, just soak them in warm water while you get the cookie dough made and it should soften them up!)

Bake at 375 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  They are done when they start turning golden brown in color.

Great on there own, with a glass of milk, or I really wanted to make an ice-cream sandwich with them!  YUM all 3 ways!

Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

OK I have taken a slight hiatus from posting new recipes.  This is not due to lack of trying new things, but lack of desire to sit at the computer!  See my computer in the kitchen died last fall and I have had to use the archaic old lap top that was bought ages ago and wasn't being used!  It is a pain to use and periodically just turns off!  I guess it is a good timer to monitor your Internet or computer use!!

Well, I made these cookies in April!  They were so yummy and definitely on my make often list, especially since I just bought the big jumbo jars of peanut butter at Costco!

The cookies are soft and the combination of peanut butter and chocolate are always a good combo in my book!  The other bonus in my eyes is that they make about 16-20 cookies!  Just enough to eat and not too many leftovers for my house!  My true love is a hot cookie out of the oven!!

Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

(www.browneyedbaker.com)

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 stick or 1/2 cup butter at room temp
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup oats
• 3/4-1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside!  (If you have an Allison's pantry dealer near you, you totally need to get there parchment paper sheets.  They come in sheets to fit your cookie sheets exactly!  I love it!  No curling sheets, cutting to size, etc!  Totally worth every penny!

Whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.  (I don't often set aside my dry ingredients, probably because I am too lazy!  So do if you like, she recommended it but I think I just added the dry ingredients a little at a time!)

Cream together the butter, peanut butter, sugar, brown sugar,and vanilla extract.  Do this for about 3 minutes.  Add the egg and beat to combine.  On low speed, gradually add your whisked dry ingredients (or add them a little at a time like I do!  Live dangerous!!).  Add your oats, and then chocolate chips.  The original recipe called for 1 cup, but I thought it was too many chocolate chips, so I adjusted my recipe for next time to 3/4 cup.  I would recommended to start with 3/4 and see what you think!

Use a large cookie scoop and drop your dough onto your prepared parchment lined baking sheets.  Place about 2 inches apart at least and bake for 10 minutes or until lightly golden.  Cool completely on your baking sheets and then store in an air tight container!

Enjoy some peanut butter chocolate goodness and no you are getting your oats as well!

Honey Oatmeal Bread

This bread has so far been my favorite homemade bread.  It has a great honey flavor and is moist.

I have been loving my wheat grinder and grinding extra flour to keep in my refrigerator to use in my pancakes, waffles, and any breads that I make!  I have even put a little in my cookies, cinnamon rolls, and pizza dough the other night!

A great recipe to use whole wheat in and one my whole family loves!

Honey Oatmeal Bread

(http://www.tastykitchen.com/)

• 4 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 3/4 cups flour
• 4 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 cup oats
• 1 egg

In a medium saucepan, melt your butter and honey together.  Remove from heat when butter melted and add your water.  Make sure mixture is not too hot so you don't kill the yeast and then stir in your yeast.  Let this mixture sit for about 10 minutes or until your yeast is all bubbly.

In your mixer, using the dough hook, combine salt, yeast mixture, 2 cups whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour.  Beat for about 2 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.  Gradually beat in your egg and 1 more cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup white flour to make a thick batter.  Keep beating for about 2 minutes. 

Stir in your oats now and 1 more cup of wheat and 1 cup of white flour.  Knead with your mixer until the dough is smooth and elastic.  If you find it is really sticky, you might need to add more flour.  I have ended up adding almost 1 cup more of flour when making this bread.  Add your flour slowly so not to add too much.

Place your dough in a greased bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 hour!  I always cover my dough with a clean kitchen towel.  I absolutely love my oven because it has a proofing cycle and it helps raise my bread so well!!

After it has doubled in size, punch your dough down and turn onto a floured surface.  Cover your dough with your bowl and let sit for about 15 minutes.

Shape into 2 loaves and place in your greased bread loaf pans.  Cover again and let rise for about 1 hour. 

Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until the tops of your bread is golden brown.  Try not to eat it all warm, but soo yummy when it is warm with jam and butter, or forget the butter and just jam or even plain!!

No-Bake Cookies made into Shapes

I am pretty sure this is not an original idea, but I needed to make a treat and thought why not make no-bakes in a cookie cutter mold??

Well it worked out better than I expected!  The only thing you need to worry about is working fast.  By the time I got to my last group, the cookies were starting to set up!

A fun way to make cookies into shape and an easy way when you need something quick!  Here is the recipe I used, which is actually already posted on the blog.  It is a good recipe if you haven't tried it!

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Jamie Cooks it up!

4 cups sugar

6 tbsp cocoa

1 cup butter

1 cup milk

1 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup crunchy peanut butter (I only had creamy and used that)

6 cups quick oats (add 7 cups if using regular oats) ~ substituted 1 1/2 cups 6 grain mix for 1 1/2 cups of the oats.  Good extra way to get more grains!

Put the sugar, cocoa, butter, milk, and salt in a large saucepan. Over medium high heat, bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. When it comes to a boil, start stirring constantly for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and add your vanilla, peanut butter and oats. Stir in around until it is all incorporated. (I added the vanilla and peanut butter and then stirred until the peanut butter was melted. Then I poured this on top of the oats in a bigger bowl and stirred it all together.) It might be a little thin at first, but it will set up!

Drop by large spoonfuls into your cookie cutter onto wax paper. When you have the desired amount in your cutter, carefully remove the cutter and you shoud have your shape!  Work kind of fast so the cookie mix doesn't set up too fast in your bowl.  If you don't have wax paper, just spray cooking spray on cooking sheets and that will work too! Let the cookies cool and set up for about 20 minutes, then you are ready to eat!!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I found this recipe last week when I had some left over oatmeal from canning a 25 lb bag.  I was in the mood for oatmeal cookies and decided to search the blogging world to find a new recipe.  I think this has become my new favorite oatmeal cookie.  The cookie was moist and chewy, not crunchy and hard like sometimes happens.  I am now replacing my last recipe with this one!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

found on www.bakingbites.com

• 1 cup butter, at room temp. (I used 1/2 cup margarine and 1/2 cup butter)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cup oats
• 2 cups chocolate chips (I used about 1 1/2 cups)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line your baking sheets with parchment paper.  I did this and it was very easy clean up.  I am not sure why this is needed.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until mixture is light in color.  Beat in the eggs 1 at a time.  Then add the milk and vanilla.

In another bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Gradually beat in the flour mixture to your butter mixture.  (I hardly ever put all the dry ingredients together.  I usually add the baking soda, powder and salt first and then add the flour a little at a time)

Stir in the oats and chocolate chips on slow speed or the recipe recommended by hand.  Refrigerate for 30 minutes before cooking for a puffier cookie.

Drop balls of dough on prepared cookie sheets, placing about 1 1/2 inches apart so they have room to spread.  Bake for 10-13 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center.

Cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

White Chocolate-Peanut Butter Chip Oatmeal Cookies

I haven't made these in a while and I don't know why since they are a really good cookie! They are moist and filled with oatmeal~which for some reason makes me feel healthier!

I substituted part of the white chocolate chips with peanut butter chips and really like this combination!

White Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

(allrecipes.com)

• 1 cup butter (I used 1/2 cup butter, 1/2 cup margarine)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsps vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups oats
• 1 cup white chocolate chips
• 1 cup peanut butter chips

Cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix together. Add the oatmeal and white chocolate chips and peanut butter chips.

Place on cookie sheets and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes!

Oatmeal Muffins

I have the King Arthur Flour All-Purpose Baking Cookbook!

I have to admit I haven't used it a lot! I am now trying a new goal to make bread every Monday. I am now looking at this book alot!!

It has more than just bread recipes, although the info on bread and recipes is WOW! Maybe a little overwhelming with all the info, but definitely good info!

I found this muffin recipe and it turned out really good. These aren't a sweet muffin but they do describe them as a "low-calorie treat"!!

Plan ahead, because you do soak the oatmeal in buttermilk over night! They are worth it and I know low-calorie treat doesn't include putting butter on top, but that is totally worth it too!

Oatmeal Muffins

(King Arthur Flour Bakers Companion)

• 1 cup oats
• 2 cups buttermilk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 4 tbsp melted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup raisins ~ Optional!

In a small bowl, combine the oats and the buttermilk. Cover and refrigerate overnight!

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combine the buttermilk and oat mixture, brown sugar, butter, egg, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Gently stir in the flour and raisins ~ the mixture will be very thick at this point!

Scoop into 12 greased muffin cups and bake for 20 minutes (watch this, mine were done at about 15minutes) or until the tops are light golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Remove from oven, let cool for 5 minutes on a rack and turn out on a rack to finish cooling!

MONSTER Cookies

Every month, we get the privilege of bringing snack to my son's preschool class. We were thinking together of something to bring, when we saw these amazing cookies. Of course the M&M's caught his eye, but they were fun for us to make together and a great preschool snack :) They don't have ANY flour, so they have a texture similar to a mix between a no-bake cookie and a soft granola bar.

Ingredients:

3 eggs

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups peanut butter, smooth or chunky

3/4 cup white sugar

1 1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

4 1/2 cups oatmeal (not instant)

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup M&M's (I used mini ones, they worked really good without being too overpowering)

Directions:

Mix eggs and sugars in a bowl with a spoon until well blended. Add softened butter and peanut butter and mix until smooth. Add vanilla and salt and mix again. Dump in oats and sprinkle soda and powder on top of oats. Mix well. Fold in chips and candies. Scoop cookie dough in balls on cookie sheet. Bake at 350 for 8 minutes or until edges are lightly brown. Let sit on cookie sheet for 3 minutes before removing.

Outrageous Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Skookie

I have had this recipe for a while and finally decided it was time to use it! I found it on the everyday food storage site maybe a year ago and I don't know why I have waited so long to make them! They were super yummy and even made great cookies too!

She described these as a family tradition to make while her boys and husband were at conference meetings. She tops hers with ice-cream and sundae toppings.

We topped ours with whipped cream and caramel and loved every bite! We did share them, because your eyes are usually bigger than your stomach!

Outrageous Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Skookie

Suzanne Eliason-Utah's Down Home Cook Off Winner

(http://www.everydayfoodstorage.net/)

• 2 cup oats
• 1 1/4 cups flour (she used wheat flour)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs (2 tbsp dehydrated eggs + 1/4 cup water)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup (or 2 bars) milk chocolate bar - broken into chip size pieces (we both used chocolate chips)

In a medium bowl combine oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, combine butter and peanut butter and mix until smooth. Beat in sugars until well blended. Add eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix until well combined. Stir in chocolate pieces and then refrigerate dough for 1 hour or more.

Preheat oven to 375. Spray a Camp Chef Skookie pan (or whatever small pan you have) with cooking spray (if you are just making cookies, make as usual and cook for 8-10 minutes)

Add a handful of dough to pan and press to about 1/2 inch thickness and leaving dough about 1/2 inch from side of pan. You can see from my picture how much the cookie moves, so make sure to follow this direction. Fill your pans and bake for 10-15 minutes or until cookie becomes light golden brown. (She recommended putting your smaller pans onto a cookie sheet)

Top with ice cream, caramel sauce and hot fudge and enjoy!

Ranger Cookies

I can't believe this cookie isn't on here yet! Todd is going hunting and made a special request for this cookie! I thought sure, everyone loves it. Then someone asked me if it was on the blog, and I thought sure I have made these lots!

Well I guess I haven't made them enough because the recipe wasn't on the blog!

So here it is and it is a great recipe and one of our favorites!

Ranger Cookies

(my sis in CA who got it from a lady in her ward!)

Cream together:

• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup butter (may use 1/2 butter and 1/2 shortening)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla

Add:

• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt

Mix together well with cream mixture.

Add:

• 1 cup chocolate chips (I used 1/2 chocolate and 1/2 butterscotch)
• 1 cup coconut
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup cornflakes (I didn't have any so I used rice krispies and they still turned out great!)
• Chopped walnuts (optional)

Bake on Greased (which I forgot to do and they didn't stick on my cookie pans) cookie sheet at 350 for 10-12 minutes. (I used my small cookie scoop and mine were done in about 9 minutes)

ENJOY!!!

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

I was surprised to find in the cookie section we had no recipes for no-bakes! These cookies are not always my favorite, but are great when it is summer and you don't want to use your oven! I found this recipe on http://www.jamiecooksitup.blogspot.com/ and they looked so yummy I had to make some! They are just as good as I remember and a great easy treat for the kids and all their friends!

No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Jamie Cooks it up!

• 4 cups sugar
• 6 tbsp cocoa
• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup crunchy peanut butter (I only had creamy and used that)
• 6 cups quick oats (add 7 cups if using regular oats)

Put the sugar, cocoa, butter, milk, and salt in a large saucepan. Over medium high heat, bring it to a boil, stirring occasionally. When it comes to a boil, start stirring constantly for 3 minutes.

Remove from heat and add your vanilla, peanut butter and oats. Stir in around until it is all incorporated. (I added the vanilla and peanut butter and then stirred until the peanut butter was melted. Then I poured this on top of the oats in a bigger bowl and stirred it all together.) It might be a little thin at first, but it will set up!

Drop by large spoonfuls onto wax paper. If you don't have wax paper, just spray cooking spray on cooking sheets and that will work too! Let the cookies cool and set up for about 20 minutes, then you are ready to eat!!

Makes 36 large or 70 small cookies!

Oatmeal Crispies

I thought these were very good oatmeal cookies! They were great because you can freeze or refrigerate the dough. I always love cookies when they come out of the oven and then they just are not as good! This ensures that you can make a few and then make more later when you want that hot cookie again!

Oatmeal Crispies

(from the pioneer woman cookbook)

• 1/2 cup pecan halves
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 cup packed dark or light brown sugar
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 3 cups rolled oats

Finely chop the pecans. Use a knife and with a rocking motion cut them, or I just used my food processor.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the shortening and sugars. Beat together until combined.

Lighting beat the eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl.

Add the egg mixture to the shortening/sugar mixture. Beat to thoroughly combine.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, salt, and baking soda.

Add the flour mixture to the wet mixture, stir until combined.

Dump in the oats and pecans and stir to combine.

(Variations - add dried cranberries and white chocolate chips, or add chocolate chips)

Divide the dough in half. Place each half on a sheet of waxed paper and form a roll 1 1/2 inches in diameter, wrapping the waxed paper tightly around the roll.

Chill the rolls until ready to use, up to one week. (or in the freezer for up to 3 months)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Unwrap the dough and slice the rounds about 1/2 inch thick. If dough is frozen, you don't need to thaw, just add 1-2 minutes to baking time.

Place on cookie sheet and bake for 10 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!!

Oatmeal

I had a few people want the recipe I have come up with for oatmeal. It is good ole oatmeal like you get from the oatmeal packets you buy at the store. I have tried for a while and this is what I came up with for how we like our oatmeal. We are fans of the maple and brown sugar. You can add what ever you like but this is a good base.
(and uses some food storage items:)

Oatmeal

6 cups quick cooking oats
1/4 cup powder milk
1 to 1 1/4 cup *sugar
(I put a heaping 1/2 cup brown and heaping 1/2 cup white)
1 tsp salt
Mix all together in a big bowl or container (or #10 can). Keep in an air tight container (I put mine in the fridge but it will stay good for up to 6 months in the cupboard). When serving, stir or shake container. Put 1/2 cup oatmeal in bowl and add 3/4-1 cup boiling water. I never make oatmeal in the microwave, it makes it too hot and always boils over. Just add enough water how you like it and let it sit for about a minute.

Add the following to the whole recipe not just each individual serving-
Maple and Brown sugar: I add 2 T powder maple flavoring. I found this on line at a spice store, if you can't find it or don't want to buy it, add a little maple syrup after it is cooked (and reduce the sugar).

Cinnamon: Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp pumpkin pie spice
I have also found at Alison's Pantry you can get mini cinnamon drops and they are just like the cinnamon in cinnamon roll oatmeal packets. They dissolve in the hot water. Yum!

Those are the only types my boys like but you can add raisins or dried apples before the boiling water if you like fruit in your oatmeal.

*you can always go less sugar and add it after it is cooked. If the sugar comes out at my house the boys put way too much on. I'd rather add it how we like it now and keep the sugar in the cupboard!

This makes 14- 1/2 cup servings (before you add water). The packets from the store are about 1/3 cup serving. The powdered milk in this recipe makes it creamy and yum. My family loves it and it is much cheaper to make it yourself. Enjoy!!

Cowboy Cookies

If you like a crunchy cookie, these are really good! They were Martha Stewart's cookie of the month for October.

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light-brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, cut into 1/4-inch chunks (1 cup)
3 ounces (3/4 cup) pecan halves
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter and sugars with a mixer on medium-high until pale and creamy, about 3 minutes. Reduce speed to medium. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in vanilla.
Reduce speed to low, and slowly add flour mixture, beating until just incorporated. Beat in oats, chocolate, pecans, and coconut until combined. (Dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.)
Bake until edges of cookies begin to brown, 11 to 13 minutes.

Makes about 5 dozen

Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal Cookies

Recipe from Cooking Light September 2008

1 cup flour
1 cup oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup flaked sweet coconut
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
___________________________________
Preheat oven to 350
Combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir with a whisk
Place sugars and butter in a large bowl and beat with a mixer at med. speed until well blended (about 2 min.). Add egg, beating well. Beat in vanilla. Add flour mixture to butter mixture; stir just until combined. Stir in coconut and chocolate.

Place cookies on a greased baking sheet and slightly flatten dough with fingers. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until tops are set and cookies are lightly browned on bottoms!