Peanut Butter/Chocolate Chip/Oatmeal Cookies

I'm always looking for new cookie recipes, because cookies are pretty much my love language. Sadly, too much of a good thing also makes me not fit into my clothes, so while I do love a good regular cookie, I'm always hunting for recipes that are a bit on the healthier side. (And no, not so I can eat twice as many. Most of the time.)

I know it's still better to eat a healthy dose of green beans than to have a cookie, but sometimes a girl just needs a smidgen of dessert, and my guess is you know what I mean! So when I happened upon these cookies on Pinterest, I pinned the recipe for later and "later" finally arrived a few weeks ago. I had the munchies on a Sunday afternoon, so I made the cookies and Ryan could not get over how good they tasted. Cookies that are a little healthy and a lot tasty? I call that a win! So with a few Shaffery modifications, here are our new favorite cookies!

Peanut Butter/Chocolate Chip/Oatmeal Cookies

* 1 cup crunchy peanut butter
* 2 Tablespoons of honey
* 4 Tablespoons brown sugar
* 1/2 cup plus 2 Tablespoons old-fashioned oats
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon baking soda
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 large egg
* 1/4 cup peanut butter chips
* 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, stir together peanut butter, honey, and brown sugar. Add oats, salt, baking soda, and vanilla extract. Stir thoroughly. Lightly beat the egg in a separate bowl and then add to mixture. Stir in peanut butter chips and chocolate chips. The dough will be thick and sticky, almost like no-bake cookies before they set up. Use a small cookie scoop to transfer the dough to a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 7-9 minutes. Cool completely before removing from tray.

A Few Tips

* The first time I made these, I used a natural peanut butter that is much softer. I've also used regular peanut butter. The outcome seemed to be the same in ease of stirring and consistency, regardless of which peanut butter I used. (The original recipe I followed did say not to warm the peanut butter or the honey, however, so I'll pass that tip along to you.

* If you would rather use creamy peanut butter, you can. I just like the extra texture of crunchy peanut butter.

* I have made these with both quick and old-fashioned oats and noticed no difference in taste or consistency, but I prefer old-fashioned oats just because they're bigger. (Weird recent quirk of mine.)

* I always use pure vanilla. Another odd Bekah-quirk.

* If you prefer, you could mix in things other than peanut butter chips/chocolate chips. You could use other kinds of nuts or dried fruit. I'll take the chips though, thank you very much.

* This is a pretty messy dough, so I would highly recommend getting a scoop. You could spoon it onto the baking sheet, but you'll just have extra mess to contend with.

* This doesn't make a HUGE batch, so that's nice. It won't be around forever. (Also it tastes so good that it won't be around forever.)

* I put parchment paper on my baking sheet for easier cleanup.

* These are really unbelievable warm from the oven with a glass of cold milk. YUM!!!!

* They harden up a little bit the longer they sit, but they don't get really crispy like some cookies do.