Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies with Peanut Butter Ripple

Chocolate, peanut butter and oats. Basically covers all of my food groups. Not overly sweet, but enough of the salty/ sweet combo to really hit the mark. And with coffee? Done. These do require a bit of planning ahead. But, the recipe yields about 18 cookies, so you get a pretty decent stash for your effort! For best results, prepare your dough and peanut butter ripple the day before you want to bake/ eat the cookies. The peanut butter mixture will be much easier to add to the cookie dough after it has hardened in the freeezer.

Cookie Dough (needs chill time):

1 1/4 cups all purpose flour

1/2 dutch process cocoa powder (like Hershey’s Special Dark)

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp pink Himalayan salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tbs malted milk powder (optional)

1 cup butter, softened to room temperature

3/4 cup dark brown sugar (sub light brown)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chunks

1 batch peanut butter ripple from freezer

Peanut Butter Ripple:

1/2 cup smooth or chunky peanut butter

1/2 cup confectioners sugar

1 tsp salt (or to taste, if using unsalted PB you may want to add more)

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

To make the dough (make AHEAD):

Combine the butter and both sugars in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle, cream on medium speed, until well combined and the texture has become fluffy. This will take several minutes. Stop to scrape down the bowl and paddle well and continue to mix. Next, add the eggs and the vanilla. Again, beat the mixture at medium speed, stop and scrape all the way down to the bottom of the bowl. Continue to beat the mixture until it’s smooth and shiny.

In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, oats, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon.

Gradually add the dry ingredients to the mixer as it mixes on low speed. There will be clouds of cocoa coming out. Stop before it’s fully combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl well. Mix again for 15 seconds then add the chocolate chunks. Mix for another 15 seconds and stop. The dough will be very sticky and wet.

Scoop the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, and wrap up well to store in the fridge.  Recommended chill time is 24 hours for best results. Allow the dough to sit out on the counter for a few hours before baking.

Make the peanut butter ripple:

Combine the peanut butter and powdered sugar in a clean bowl of the stand mixer. Mix on low to combine, then increase speed to medium until well mixed and pourable. Add salt and vanilla to bowl and mix again. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and mix again for 30 more seconds. Invert a baking sheet and cover it with a sheet of parchment paper.  Spread the peanut butter mixture out over the parchment, using an off - set spatula, to create a fairly thin layer. Cover the mixture with another sheet of parchment and continue to smooth it out as much as possible. Place the sheet in the freezer until ready to bake the cookies. (For the mixture to be the least messy to work with though, freezing overnight is a good idea. It will still warm up as you add it to the dough, of course, but will help hold shape better. Melty still works fine though too.)

Ready to Bake:

Preheat the oven to 350F and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop out the dough, about a 1/4 cup at a time, rolling into balls in your hands. Take out the sheet of peanut butter. Using a butter knife, scrape off strips of the peanut butter mixture in little ribbons. If you have let it freeze solid, you should be able to break off pieces to work with. It will get warm and messy, but you can either power through with the mess, or pop the sheet back into the freezer to harden up again and then continue. The goal is to get a ribbon/chunk of peanut butter inside each ball of dough and have more on the tops of the cookies too. After rolling dough into a ball, open up the middle of the ball, pop the peanut butter in, and close the dough ball around it. Press some pieces into the top of the cookie dough as you space them on the baking sheets. The size and amount of pb you add, is up to you. I still had leftover ripple mixture. These cookies are pretty big, so give them some room on the sheet. 8-9 cookies per sheet should be good. Bake in the oven, one sheet at a time, for 15-18 minutes. Definitely check them by 15 min. The middle should still be soft, but edges should be firm. They will continue to firm up as they cool on racks. Cookies will keep at room temperature, wrapped well in plastic or airtight container, for 3-4 days. You could also wrap cookies individually in plastic and place in a zip top bag in the freezer for up to a month. You will never be mad about having cookies in the freezer. Allow to thaw on the counter before eating!