Peanut Butter Cookies 3 ways

Fall baking flavors are pretty obvious, pumpkin, cinnamon, oatmeal, cloves... but for me peanut butter is always included. This year I decided to play around with my peanut butter cookie recipe and see what else I could do with it which resulted in...
Dum da da duuum!!


Peanut Butter Cookies 3 Ways!!
That is peanut butter cookies prepared in an additional 3 ways... That's right my dear friend, 4 recipes out of one standard recipe... I'm pretty excited about this discovery.

First thing's first though, you need my Classic Peanut Butter Cookie Recipe...

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 (1/2 cup) stick room temperature butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 cup smooth peanut butter

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

Beat butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, add the egg, peanut butter and vanilla until combined. Add flour, salt and baking soda and mix completely.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes.

I think the easiest and most obvious addition to anything peanut butter is chocolate...
variation #1: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Add 2 cups chocolate chips once the classic dough is finished and complete the baking process as indicated in the classic recipe.

Oatmeal, oh how I love thee...
variation #2: Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies
Reduce the flour in the classic recipe to 3/4 cup and add 3/4 cup oatmeal. Bake at 375 for 13-17 minutes.

Peanut Butter and Banana, one of my most favorite flavor combinations on the planet.
variation #3: Peanut Butter Banana Cookies
Add 2 mashed bananas and increase the flour to 2 1/4 cups to the classic recipe (top with a dried banana if you're feeling fancy). Bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes.

In other news I think we've almost seen the last of the nasty bug we have all been fighting. Energy levels are slowly returning to normal, throats are feeling less scratchy and noses are finally starting to clear out. Such happy news!! Cheers! ... have a cookie.