One Benefit of Adulthood

Is that you can eat what you want, when you want. Tonight for dinner I had cookies. Yes, for dinner. I know it was dinner because the cookies were accompanied by a glass of wine. And I was seated. Food + wine + a seat = dinner.

It was just one of those days. And I wanted to cook. Luckily, God presented me with the most painfully boring conference call I've been on in...oh...years. (Thanks, buddy!) I therefore had plenty of time to read my RSS feeds. One of these is The Kitchn via Apartment Therapy, which usually overwhelms me because at any one time there are 60+ new posts in the feed list. Information overload for sure.

However, today, I had nothing but time, sweet time. And I ran across this. Can you say yum?
I thought you could.

Having been burned before, I called Whole Foods in advance to confirm that they did actually stock sweetened condensed milk. Despite not having marshmallows, they do apparently carry preserved sugar-milk in a can and acted like I was an idiot for asking. Whatever, Whole Foods.

Here's the recipe. It does indeed make 4 dozen. Unless you eat 3 cookies' worth of dough. And then it makes 45. (It does, however, make a LOT more of the fudge than you need, just so you know.) Don't try to use all the fudge. Just like Brylcreem, a little dab will do ya.

Peanut Butter & Fudge Oatmeal Cookies
from TheKitchn.com



4 dozen cookies
1/2 cup unsalted butter, very soft
1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chocolate chips
One 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk




Preheat oven to 350°F and line two large cookie sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, mix the butter, peanut butter, and sugars. (You can use beaters, but it's easiest to just vigorously mix by hand.) (KATE'S NOTE: I am all for artisanal methods but the author of this recipe clearly needs to lay off the 'roids. Don't be hero: use a mixer, either hand or stand, to cream the sugars and butters. It does a better job of incorporating the butter.)  Mix in eggs and vanilla until thoroughly incorporated. Add the oats, baking soda, and salt, and mix thoroughly. Refrigerate the dough while preparing the fudge topping.

Mix the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in a small saucepan. Warm over low heat, stirring frequently, until the chocolate is completely melted. Stir vigorously to make sure the mixture is evenly mixed. Turn off the burner under the chocolate.

In-process chocolate mixture. I never said these cookies were good for you.
Although the can of sweetened condensed milk does try to claim it is a good source of calcium.

 Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll half of it into walnut-sized balls, pressing each one semi-flat on the cookie sheet. Top each ball of dough with a teaspoon of the warm chocolate mixture.

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes or until just golden around the edges. (Mine took twelve.) Remove from the oven and let cool on the sheets for a few minutes until they have firmed up enough to remove to wire racks. (You can remove the entire sheet of parchment paper and move the cookies to the rack in that way.)

Repeat with the remaining dough and fudge topping. (Warm and stir the chocolate over low heat if it has hardened too much to scoop.) Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.



Peanut butter and fudge. It's what's for dinner.



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