If you love peanut butter as much as I do, then you shouldn’t forget to celebrate National Peanut Butter Lover’s Day. In honor of this holiday devoted to butter of peanut, I decided to make Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Caramel.
My inspiration for making this cookie came from my all-time favorite Girl Scout Cookie, the Do Si Do. If you’ve been hiding under a rock, it’s a peanut butter oatmeal sandwich cookie and it’s purely divine.
If you missed your chance to buy a box of them off the Girl Scouts in your area though, you can make these which, dare I say, are even better? I used the Classic Chewy Oatmeal Cookie recipe from The America’s Test Kitchen book called The Perfect Cookie.
I did a few things different though which I think you’re going to love even more. Instead of raisins, I added peanut butter and peanut butter chips. I also placed half of a soft caramel in the middle of each cookie, because caramel gooiness in the center of cookies is just heavenly.
And the result from these little tweaks? I had soft cookies with nice crunchy edges, a perfect combination! That caramel center was amazing too, with that gooey, buttery flavor that paired perfectly with the peanut butter and oatmeal flavors of the cookie. You’re going to love these!
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Caramel
Makes 2 dozen cookies
Ingredients
1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup (5¼ ounces) light brown sugar
1/2 cup (3½ ounces) granulated sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 large egg plus 1 large yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups (9 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
12 soft caramel squares
Directions
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. Whisk flour, salt, and baking soda together in bowl.
2. Cream butter, oil, sugar and brown sugar.
3. Whisk in egg, egg yolk peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Using wooden spoon or stiff rubber spatula, stir in flour mixture until fully combined, about 1 minute. Stir in oats and peanut butter chips, if using, until evenly distributed (mixture will be stiff).
4. Cut the 12 soft caramels in half. Divide dough into twenty-four 2-tablespoon portions. Place a piece of caramel in the center of each oatmeal cookie. Space dough balls 2 inches apart on prepared sheets, 12 per sheet. Using your dampened hand, press each dough ball until 2½ inches in diameter.
5. Bake cookies, 1 sheet at a time, until edges are set and lightly browned and centers are still soft but not wet, 12-14 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through baking. Let cookies cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack with wide metal spatula. Let cookies cool completely before serving.
