Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Sometime you just feel like cookies. Right now I feel overwhelmed by cookies. Although tasty and beautiful, typical Christmas-type cookies don't really do it for me. I don't like a cookie that leaves a greasy residue on my hand or that is sickeningly sweet. I decided to make some today, I'm not much of a baker, as reader of this blog know, so it's rare I even have cookie making ingredients. But thanks to those tasty bacon cupcakes last week, I had all the necessities on hand. These are a simple, wholesome cookies that have no butter and minimal sugars/sweetners. They are not the sweetest cookie, but they are quite satisfying and pair beautifully with a cold glass of milk or a warm cup of tea. Whole wheat flour, oat bran and oats combine to make these cookies quite dense and filled with fiber. The honey and peanut butter lend a lot of flavor and olive oil and applesauce replace butter. These took about 20 minutes to make and yield a smaller batch, about 30 tablespoon sized cookies.

Full recipe after the jump

Ingredients:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup oat bran
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp natural peanut butter (salt free if possible), I used chunky
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup raw honey
1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce
1 egg
2 tbsp splenda brown sugar for baking (or 1/4 cup brown sugar)

Step by Step Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 325

2. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, bran, baking soda, baking powder and salt

3. In another bowl, combine peanut butter, olive oil, vanilla, honey, apple sauce, egg and splenda

4. Using a rubber spatula, carefully fold dry ingredients into wet, don't overmix

5. The resulting consistency should be dense and sticky

6. Using a tablespoon, scoop out small balls of dough and place on a greased cookie sheet

7. Be careful not to overhandle the dough

8. Scoop out all dough onto sheet - this recipe yields approximately 30 cookies

9. Bake for 9 minutes

10. Remove, cool and serve!