Very Rich

...in calories. Stop drooling. Start baking.

A perfectly chewy peanut butter cookies with a lovely golden brown color, and the filling is a simple peanut butter frosting.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

Yield: about 18 sandwich cookies
Ingredients:
For the cookies:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
½ tsp. salt
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup quick-cooking oats

For the filling:
3 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup creamy peanut butter
1 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted
3 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:
To make the cookies, preheat the oven to 350˚ F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir together with a fork to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Stir in the oats until evenly blended.

Use a small cookie dough scoop to portion out the dough (about 2 teaspoons), rolling each portion into a ball, and place them on the prepared cookie sheet, a couple inches apart. Bake about 10 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking. The cookies will be light golden brown and slightly puffed. Let cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cook completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.

Once the cookies have cooled completely, pair them up by size. To make the filling, combine the butter, peanut butter, confectioners’ sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Cream together until well combined. Mix in the heavy cream until smooth and fluffy. Use a pastry bag fitted with a plain round tip to pipe a swirl of filling onto the flat side of one cookie of each pair. Sandwich together with the remaining cookie and press down so that the filling reaches the edges. (Note: This filling recipe makes *just* exactly enough to fill the cookies. If you like a large amount of filling or just want to be sure you have enough, you might consider increasing the amount of filling by 50%.)