Oh dear readers, I apologize. It's been a while, hasn't it? Well. I feel more like myself this week than I have in awhile, because my self-imposed baking hiatus is over. I wish I could say I'm back to pre-holiday svelteness (ha hah hee hee ho ho), but, alas, the muffin top hangs tough. I've decided to move forward anyway. With real baking.
At the last posting, I was ready to embrace the world of low-fat muffins, coffeecakes, and the rest of their kin with gusto. But the truth is, I am not a lover of low-fat. Generally if it's low-fat, I don't want to make it, let alone eat it. Sure, on occasion there are a few good recipes out there (I stand by those Apple Pecan Muffins), but the reality is that substituting apple sauce for oil and swapping out egg substitute for whole eggs just doesn't produce anything that I want to sink my teeth into. (Which maybe is the point - the less you like it, the less you eat it?) I did give it the old college try, several times in fact, but the results were disappointing and definitely not post-worthy. So I decided to forgo baking for a few weeks to try and shrink my sweet tooth back down to size.
But not baking makes me sad and out of sorts. In the absence of flour, butter, and sugar, I attempted to entertain myself with home improvement projects and crafts. Yikes. Let's just say it was time to surrender the crow bar before I did any serious damage. So back to baking I went.
As most of you probably know, it's that time of year again, Girl Scout cookie time. One of my favorite Girl Scout cookies is the Do-Si-Do, those ever-so-tasty peanut butter sandwich cookies that are vaguely like a Nutter Butter (which is kind of odd, because I totally despise traditional peanut butter cookies). With them as an inspiration, I got to thinking. Surely there must be a way to make a homemade version of said Do-Si-Do. Maybe a nice little peanut butter oatmeal cookie with some peanut butter buttercream in between. Nutritious? Perhaps. Delicious? Most definitely! What can I say, folks? I'm BACK!
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
http://www.recipezaar.com/
Makes 5 dozen individual cookies, or about 2 1/2 dozen sandwich cookies
Ingredients
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup quick-cooking oatmeal
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In large bowl mix the butter, shortening, sugars and peanut butter. Add eggs one at a time. Blend flour, soda and salt then add to sugar mixture. Add oats, stirring til combined.
Form into 1 1/2 inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cook completely.
Mrs. Zimmerman's Peanut Butter Buttercream
1 ½ cups powdered sugar, sifted
¼ cup peanut butter
¼ cup butter, softened
½ teaspoon vanilla
Hot water or milk to spread
Combine peanut butter and butter in bowl of electric mixer. Beat until smooth. Add powdered sugar and mix until combined. Add vanilla. Add hot water (I like to use milk instead) until frosting is desired consistency - I usually add 2-3 Tablespoons or so, until the buttercream is spreadable.
To make the sandwich cookies, you obviously just spread the buttercream on a cookie, then sandwich with another. Tightly covered, they will keep for several days, but usually they're eaten long before that. Which is why I have no picture to share with you!!
