Peanut Butter Jumbles

This weekend, I was feeling a bit blue. So, I did what I always do when the blues hit – I got baking. I wanted to make a variation on a peanut butter cookie, because 1) I love peanut butter cookies, and 2) I wanted to try my natural peanut butter to see if the cookies turned out differently from what I get when I use my usual Jif.

I decided to do a jumble-sort of peanut butter cookie. I added oats, coconut, dried cranberries, and white chunks to the usual cookie recipe that I use. In addition, I cut the amount of butter used by one tablespoon. I probably totally made up for that with the coconut, but I wanted to see if the smaller amount of fat would make a difference in the cookie’s texture. Verdict? It was the same light, crisp cookie. My family wholly approved.

Peanut Butter Jumbles

Preheat oven to 375
1/2 cup, minus 1 TB of unsalted butter
1/2 peanut butter, either natural or traditional
1 – 1/4 cup of flour
1 cup white baking chips or chunks
1/2 cup of brown or raw sugar
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup coconut
1 egg, large
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt, I use kosher
*Optional – 1/2 cup of dried cranberries or cherries

Cream butter and sugars together with mixer until smooth. Add egg, vanilla, mix, then baking powder, baking soda, salt. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beat until smooth. Stir in oats, coconut, baking chips, and optional dried fruit.

Take a spoon of dough (about 1 inch diameter)  and shape it into a ball in your hands. (Refrigerate dough, it’s it’s hard to handle, chilled do stacks stuck together better). Place on a cookie sheet (line the sheet with parchment paper if you want, it’s easier at clean-up time), then use a fork to push dough down. Make criss-cross marks with the fork, tines one way, the lift, and place them down across the first set.

Bake the cookies in a 375 oven for 8-10 minutes. I go for the higher number of minutes, because I’m a fan of browned cookies.

Makes approximately 38-40 cookies.

Image credit: Michelle Smith