When we were kids, the summer didn’t end without me and my sister spending an afternoon watching some terrible movie or marathon. The Legend of Billie Jean. Meatballs. Fifteen and Pregnant. An all-day Facts of Life marathon. Something we could talk through. And snack through. One particularly inspired afternoon, Mom made us eggrolls to peck while we watched The Birds.
Now that summer is winding down, I find myself gravitating toward bad movies. Really bad movies. Movies starring people like Nicolas Cage. One afternoon, surrounded by moving boxes and things to do, Jeff and I halted all progress for Con-Air. It was no Fifteen and Pregnant, but few things are.
About halfway through the movie, I realized the Snack Fairy wasn’t coming, so I started making this week’s Tuesdays with Dorie pick: Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters. Yes, they’re easy enough to prep and bake during commercial breaks. The ingredients are pretty obvious, but the spices – cinnamon and nutmeg – give the cookies a little sumpin-sumpin. You could easily make this recipe your own by adding crushed peanuts, M&Ms, coconut, toffee bits or (God forbid) raisins. And I’m pretty sure they’d be delicious with a little softened ice cream or marshmallow fluff sandwiched between them.
A word of warning: once you start eating these cookies, it’s hard to stop. I ate four before breakfast. And then I packed the rest into a tin and sent them to work with Jeff. It’s OK to indulge in guilty pleasures, as long as Exhibit A isn’t your third buttock.
Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters
Slightly adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking: From My Home to Yours”
Makes about 60 cookies
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup peanut butter (not natural)
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, or 1 1/2 cups store-bought chocolate chips or chunks
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking soda, spices and salt.
- Working with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, peanut butter, sugar and brown sugar on medium speed until smooth and creamy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition, then beat in the vanilla.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients, beating only until blended.
- Mix in the chips. (If you have the time, cover and chill the dough for about 2 hours or for up to one day.)
- If the dough is not chilled, drop rounded tablespoonfuls 2 inches apart onto the baking sheets. If the dough is chilled, scoop up rounded tablespoons, roll the balls between your palms and place them 2 inches apart on the sheets. Press the chilled balls gently with the heel of your hand until they are about 1/2 inch thick.
- Bake for 13 to 15 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back after 7 minutes. The cookies should be golden and just firm around the edges. Cool on wire racks.
- Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.
Storing: The cookies will keep at room temperature for about 4 days. Wrapped and frozen, they’ll be good for 2 months.
[ad name=”space”]
Snack fairy?! You have snack fairies?!!! Some days I’d be happy to have a kitchen-cleaning fairy, but I’d trade them all for a snack fairy. And let’s don’t talk about third buttocks please. That’s getting a little too close to the truth.
Gorgeous batch of cookies!
Your cookies look fab. I just posted my pics and mentioned that mine turned out fairly flat, so I am eyeing your chunky beauties with envy and lust. And hunger.
The worst Nicholas Cage movie ever was on here Saturday night: Valley Girl. I wish I’d had some of those cookies to wash it down. Instead, I noshed on salted almonds. When they ran out I changed the channel.
You had me at “all day Facts of Life marathon.”
I checked out the recipe and I’m going to give it a go, definitely.
Dana, you’re right about Valley Girl. It’s so awful it’s great.
I love the legend of billie jean! Your cookies look so good, I wish I had made them this week too!
“You take the good, you take the bad, you take it all and there you have…”
Facts Of Life marathon, I can live with. Nic Cage movies? Ew. I’m more about chasing good sci-fi right now, as we have Battlestar Galactica on our Netflix queue right now. ;) However, I’m with you on the raisins… God forbid, indeed.
Re: your comment on my blog… HOORAY for labelmakers. Another friend of the OCD. :)
Er… since I can’t edit my comment, please forgive the overuse of the phrase “right now” when talking about sci-fi. :)
I gave some serious thought to adding some heath crunchies that I had left over from my banded torte last week. But in the end I left them out. I did add pb chips and baked half with the dreaded raisins (and dried cherries). The recipe is quite flexible – like the grabbers were.
Raisin hater and proud of it! I’ll take those toffee bits. Yum! Your cookies look delish. Love the tin! Great job!
Clara @ iheartfood4thought
15 and pregnant, that’s the one with Kirsten Dunst, right? If my memory serves me correctly.
Your cookies look yummy, I can’t blame you for eating 4 before breakfast. I couldn’t stop eating these either.
Con Air is a bad movie?
I agree – hard to stop at one of these!!
great pic! Yeah, it’s hard to stop eating these yummy cookies. I should’ve given them to my hubby and get him to bring to work instead of eating most of them. ;-)
yummy cookies and Valley Girl. It’s only better if you watch it on the VCR. Do they actually have the Facts of Life on DVD? I’m so there!
Cookies make any bad movie seem almost watchable :)
Yummm, your cookies look great!
and i agree, they’re kind of addicting..verry dangerous.
great job!!
<3
Awesome picture — your cookies look great! Maybe I would have liked mine better if I was watching young George Clooney on the Facts of Life while eating them.
You are right, it is hard to stop eating these cookies. That’s why mine went to the office!
Oh, bad movies and baking!
Like Lori, I want a snack fairy. =) Though actually, I’d go for the kitchen-cleaning fairy, since I actually like making the snacks. Your cookies look great!
Whoa. Now that sounds fun. I can think of no better way to consume a cookie like this.
I didn’t have enough chocolate chips, so add some M&Ms to mine. No one could tell the difference! ;) I gave a dozen to my neighbor to protect myself from myself.
that tin looks so inviting! i didn’t LOVE these but i’m with you – once i started eating them, i could not stop!
amazing cookies! and aren’t we glad that they could be churned out in a jiffy?
Your cookies look delicious. My daughters actually snuck a few before breakfast.
I actually love to watch the birds, since I’m a huge fan of Hitchcock. I had two cookies yesterday for breakfast. I love the look of yours packed in a tin. I gotta watch out for that third buttock. TWD should have a disclaimer about weight gain.
I love how they look all packed up in that tin! I’ll admit we had them for breakfast. Two days in a row. :)
oh HELL YES! Thanks for stopping by my post too – don’t let the man get ya down. Love your cookies…are you sure Exhibit A you reference is a BAD thing???
these cookies would get me arrested. i would cut somebody before i parted with them.
raisins=sacrilege
Hard to stop… You mean we’re supposed to stop? lol! Your cookies look fabulous, I’d have a few right now.
Geesh…took me forever and a day to get over here to check out the fun and frivolity you provide for us every week. It was worth the trip as always as I so love thinking of you noshing and watching bad tv…how fun is that! Cookies look great…nice little shot of them in the tin and all, my granny used to pack them up like that with the bit of waxed paper (“Now, don’t throw away that waxing paper…you can use that for something else…” OMW we should be so frugal these days, right?). Thanks for jogging the memories, and reminding me that jogging and cookies go together like…well…NOT like a third buttock, that’s for sure! See you next week!
We liked them as well! Having them for breakfast would have been good! Why not?:)
I keep waiting for the dinner fairy to come along and take care of things, but he/she’s been a no-show so far! And I’d love a Facts of Life marathon! Cookies look good.
Oh, all these movies are awesomely bad. I’ll add “Men Don’t Tell” to the list. It’s the one with Judith Light as a husband-abusing wife. Who’s the boss now? ;)
What about “Too Young to be a Dad”? ;-)
Why didn’t I think to eat my cookies for breakfast! Great idea. Your cookies look nice in the tin.
These cookies sounded so good & smelled so good, but sadly, the taste was just so-so. Who would have thought peanut butter could subtract from a cookie's goodness? I love peanut butter cookies & I love oatmeal cookies, but I learned today that I don't like the combination. (But I love you website & remain an avid fan.)