Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

I decided that I am going to try to reign in some of that new-baker enthusiasm and be a little less long-winded with the blogging this week. I'll try to just let my cookies do the talking.

These chipsters were chosen by Stefany of Proceed with Caution. I thought these cookies sounded great. Peanut butter? Chocolate chips? What's not to like? My husband does not eat chocolate, however, and I really AM serious about trying to lose the last of the baby weight, notwithstanding the fact that I chose online baking for my hobby. So I decided to make half of the recipe with some other kind of chip besides chocolate so that I would not eat too many cookies. I thought about butterscotch or peanut butter chips, but ended up going with white chocolate chips because I found some in my pantry. Yes, he will eat white chocolate. He is a complex man.

There is really not a whole lot to making these -- it was a pretty typical cookie recipe. I used creamy peanut butter because I had several Costco-sized jars of it in the pantry, and I knew that crunchy peanut butter would get about as much use in this house as wheat germ and chambord. The dough mixed up REALLY wet and sticky:

so I decided to chill it as Dorie recommends. Chilling for the minimum recommended time (2 hours) would have brought me smack dab in the middle of my nighty-night time, so I waited until the next night to bake.

My cookies spread out and seemed kind of thin to me:

Does that mean my baking soda has lost its mojo? I admit to being completely ignorant about the science of baking. I still feel a sense of awe and wonder over the fact that the same white substance that does . . . something . . . in my cookie recipes can also clean my bathtub and eliminate odors in my refrigerator.

So my cookies were thin, and rather crispy. I have to be honest, I didn't love them. I mean, don't get me wrong -- they contain two sticks of butter, eggs, mounds of sugar, chocolate chips and peanut butter -- I sure didn't hate 'em. But to me, there was something vaguely weird about the flavor combination. I really think it was the cinnamon and nutmeg. They just didn't seem to work with the peanut butter, in my opinion, even though the peanut butter flavor was pretty subtle. It was like the cookies were having an identity crisis. Is it a peanut butter cookie? Maybe, but I had to close my eyes to be sure that I was tasting peanut butter. Is it a spice cookie? Perhaps, but then what's up with that peanut butter that I think I taste? Peanut butter and nutmeg is not the new peanut butter and chocolate. Just my opinion.

We look better than we taste:

My hubby really liked his white chocolate chip version, though, and some of my other tasters gave me positive feedback as well. I brought the chocolate chip ones to the mom with whom I share carpool duties. Now, I promise you that I am not the kind of person who says: "Thank you for all you do for me. Here are some crappy cookies." I think other people will like these cookies just fine -- I just personally did not love the spices with the peanut butter, and would omit them if I ever make these again. I am really interested to hear what the other TWDers thought of these. Maybe it was just me.

Also, I should mention that I tried to make the "Perfect Party Cake" on page 250 for my parents' birthdays this past weekend, and it totally flopped. It didn't rise and was really dense. I tasted it to see if maybe it would just be an aesthetic issue, but nope -- blech! Into the trash it went. I ended up picking up a carrot cake at Publix, where they actually know how to bake a cake. I sure wish I knew why I can't get my baked goods to rise.

So, this was a thin cookie and flat cake week around here. I had a few moments, when the clock was nearing midnight and I was faced with a sink full of dirty pans and an inedible cake, that I was tempted to hang up my apron for good. But, no -- must forge ahead. On to the Chocolate Whopper Malted Drops!

[And for me, that's "a little less long-winded."]