Flourless Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been very excited to share this recipe for you (along with the several others patiently waiting to go on the blog!). This recipe for flourless peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies was soooo easy. And the cookies tasted soooo good. Need I say more? Didn't think so. ;-)

This recipe was adapted from Amandeleine.

Ingredients:

-1 cup peanut butter (any kind will do, I think)

-3/4 cup granulated sugar

-1 large egg, slightly beaten

-1/2 tsp. baking soda

-1/4 tsp. salt

-1 cup chocolate chunks or chips (any kind; I used semi-sweet because that's all I happened to have on hand)

-3/4 cup quick oats (this was my addition; the original recipe did not call for oatmeal)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, stir the peanut butter, sugar, egg, baking soda, and salt until combined. Stir in the chocolate and oats.

Place the dough on prepared pans by the teaspoonful, placing the balls about two inches apart. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until slightly browned.

Simple (takes less than 5 minutes to mix the ingredients together!), delicious (pb & chocolate - always a winner, and the cookies were super soft and chewy), and on the healthy side as far as cookies go (oatmeal? pb? totally justified as health food)... ;-)

Peanut Butter & Bacon Cookies

Peanut butter. Bacon. Many people whom I know loooove both of these food items. But have they ever put the two together?!? Probably not. A few weeks ago I decided to make these cookies for a coworker's birthday. This particular coworker really has a thing for bacon. And peanut butter? Well, doesn't everyone have a thing for peanut butter (if you're not allergic, of course)?? Right. So if you like both bacon and peanut butter, chances are you'll like them together. And this cookie is proof that it's possible!

I found this recipe on an amazing food blog, Joy the Baker. If you've never checked out this blog, you must. It's wonderful! 

Ingredients:

-1 cup peanut butter

-1 cup sugar (1/2 white sugar, 1/2 brown sugar)

-1 egg

-1 tsp baking soda

-6 slices of bacon, cooked, cooled and diced

(I only had 4 strips of bacon when I made this)

(notice that these cookies are gluten free!)

Instructions:

Cook the bacon using your preferred method. Let cool on paper towels and once cooled completely, slice/dice/crumble the bacon into small pieces. My four strips of bacon equaled about 1/2 cup of bacon.

Grease cookie sheets and preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixer, combine the peanut butter and both sugars until well combined, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and baking soda, mixing again for about 2 minutes until well combined. Fold in the cooked bacon. Roll the dough into large walnut-sized balls and place on cookie sheet. If you'd like, roll each ball of dough in granulated sugar before placing it on cookie sheet. Also if you'd like, use a fork to make a criss cross pattern on each cookie. Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned. Let cool on a cooling rack. Or, eat them while they're still warm. :)

These cookies were quite yummy! They were a bit on the crumbly side as far as peanut butter cookies go - but it's definitely a good crumbly, I promise. The bacon flavor was subtle. If you're looking for a stronger bacon flavor, I'd recommend maybe adding more like 3/4 cup of bacon rather than 1/2 cup. But I personally enjoyed the level of "bacon-ness" in these cookies.

All in all, these were a winner! The sweet and salty combo was terrific. This was a fun, new recipe to give a shot. I have no regrets at all about trying this one. ;-)