Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Why does it feel like I'm on a verge of a heart attack when I eat these cookies? Could it be the 1/2 cup of butter? .. or maybe it's the 1/2 cup of peanut butter.. whatever the case may be, I'm sure I should have used reduced fat peanut butter... but these cookies are definitely fatty... and oh so delicious. I remember the good ol' stressful days of college where my favorite everyday snack had to consist of a peanut butter and honey sandwich. I needed the fat and protein from the sandwich to get me through my classes or work. It was easy on my stomach and I never got sick of it. I went through so many jars of peanut butter... and nearly 5 lbs of honey in just one year.. :-)... anyway.. I just wanted to say.. I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER. :-D

I wanted to make cookies for me today. "For me" haha, yes, I had the habit of making things and not really eating much of it these days. I've definitely cut back on my baking significantly. I might or might not start baking more, depends how I feel.... but yes, here are my Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies.... (I was going to make a whipped peanut butter frosting and make sandwiches then dip them into chocolate... but.. I want to live til I'm at least 80, so I'm going to try to cut back on all the unnecessary fats... I mean there's already 1/2 cup butter AND 1/2 cup peanut butter in these cookies!!!!)

These were supposedly a knock off from the Girl Scout's cookies. I don't think I've tried it. I've passed by the Girl Scouts kiddies on Bruin Walk a lot, but resisted the urge to spend so much on those extremely fatty and sweet cookies. I also don't really buy packaged cookies anymore because of the sugar contents... I'm not a health nut, but so many of these prepackaged foods truly make me realize why America is getting so large. The original recipe is on allrecipes.com, I cut the sugar amounts in half, and it was still plenty sweet. These were heart-stopping good cookies... I've had 4 already... feeling kind of weak.. but going to go out and eat another one... it's like a crunchy nutter butter.... ahh.. I wonder how amazing it'd be with the filling.. and chocolate!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Makes 24 cookies

1 stick butter
1/2 cup chunky peanut butter (can probably be reduced to 1/3)
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1-1/4 cup quick cooking oats

1. Preheat oven at 350 degrees. Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars in a large bowl for 3 minutes.
2. Add in egg and vanilla, and beat until combined.
3. Mix in flour, salt, baking powder, soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, with a large spoon until combined. Add in oats. Stir until mixed.
4. Using a medium sized cookie scoop, scoop out desired amount onto a cookie sheet, use the tines of the fork to create a criss-cross pattern, cleaning the fork and dipping it into the flour helps the fork from sticking to the cookies.
5. Bake for exactly 10 minutes, or until the edges are slightly brown. Cool completely on cookie rack.