Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (No Flour/Butter!)

I often get criticized for making desserts that are too sweet; after all, my “food audience” generally consists of middle-aged Asian relatives with palettes unaccustomed to the sweetness of desserts typically served in the US (note that I did not say “American desserts”). With parents who are also borderline obsessive with health and eating what they consider healthy foods, I need to sparingly use butter, sugar, and anything that can possibly be deemed unhealthy.

Therefore, after looking at many diet dessert recipes and oatmeal recipes, I came up with the following for Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies that do not use flour or butter. Please note that I would much rather use more sugar, but the amounts shown below apparently satisfied the sugar-sensitive palettes of my Asian relatives. While I am not 100% satisfied with the sweetness level, the peanut butter flavor compensates for it. They are also super easy to make and use common household ingredients.

Ingredients:

½ c. peanut butter

1/3 c. light brown sugar

2 tbsp granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 egg

1/3 c. old fashioned oats

½ tsp. baking soda

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350˚F
2. Whisk together the oats and baking soda and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, microwave peanut butter to slightly melt it to a workable consistency. The stiffer it is, the better, but melting it makes it easier to mix it into the batter.
4. Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and egg to the bowl with the melted peanut butter. Make sure the peanut butter is not hot enough to cook the egg.
5. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and fold it in, making sure not to over-mix.
6. If the batter is too runny, refrigerate until stiff enough to shape. My batter was paste-like, so I did not refrigerate, but it would not have hurt to refrigerate a bit.
7. Shape into 2 inches (or smaller) balls, 2 inches apart
8. Bake for 10-12 minutes and cool for 2 minutes. 

These cookies spread a lot so try not to flatten them when shaping them. They are also quite chewy/cakey in the middle. I liked to bake them a bit longer (closer to 12 min) to give it the crisp edges, which are more cookie-like. If this is not sweet enough, feel free to add in semi-sweet chocolate chips. I also used chunky peanut butter to give the cookies a bit of a crunch, but creamy works too. Enjoy!