My Secret Weapon: Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

People seem to like these a lot. I think they're my best cookie; they're certainly a favorite around this house. I've just made them for my family's BBQ this weekend so I hope they enjoy them as much as we do!

Here it is, the finely-honed, often baked, supremely tested masterpiece of my cookie world.

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Renee Tymn

1/2 C flour (King Arthur)

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 C superfine baker's sugar

1/2 C brown sugar (sometimes I use muscavado, but usually light brown is fine)

1 egg

1/2 C butter (Land O'Lakes)

1 tsp vanilla (madagascar)

1 C peanut butter (brands make a HUGE difference here...I use Jiff)

1 C quick oats

1 Tbsp honey (another surprise in flavors here...nobody can quite figure it out!)

6 oz chocolate chips (don't skimp here either...none of that tollhouse crap. Ghirardelli is my fave.)

Measure the flour and soda into a small bowl and set aside. In a stand mixer beat the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until combined, scraping the bowl if necessary. Add the peanut butter and honey and mix until combined. Add the quick oats and chocolate chips and mix until combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 and move a rack to the upper third of the oven. At this point I line a baking sheet with a silpat. I use a melon baller to measure out small scoops, up to 12 to a sheet. Then I roll them each ball in my palm to smooth, slightly smash the tops with my fingers, and pop them into the oven.

Bake for 13 minutes, a single sheet at a time. Let cool on the sheet for 2 minutes and then remove to wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container. I get 40 cookies out of this!

French Country Potato Salad

Another hit from the "Summer House" cookbook!  This turned out awesome...I made teriyaki chicken to go with it for dinner. Fast, easy, and delicious. You can also find the recipe online at the foodnetwork.com.

Lemon Blueberry Muffins

I was recently given a book called "The Summer House Cookbook", which I'm really enjoying. The whole point of the book is simple recipes that don't require any special equipment or ingredients so you can make them in your "summer" or "vacation" house (wouldn't that be nice?!) Anyway, I've made several simple recipes and they've turned out well. Today I made the Lemon Blueberry Muffins. I have to say, I'm not super impressed with them. Although they were easy, they just don't have a great flavor. I did forget to sprinkle the tops with "sugar in the raw" before baking which may or may not have made them much better. They are a good, simple muffin though. I think I just prefer the richness of butter creamed with sugar in my baked goods. I did like how easy these were though - no special equipment needed! I just used a wooden spoon to do the mixing.

Peach Shortcake

I love peaches. Ripe, slightly soft, sweet smelling peaches. I look forward to them in cobblers, mostly. However I was browsing my new online subscription of Cook's Illustrated and found a recipe for a Peach Shortcake. All my taste-bud-alarms went off and I just had to make it. I wasn't disappointed and this could be my new favorite way to have peaches! This dessert is not too sweet, and I love the addition of the peach-schnapps crushed peaches that soaks into the shortcake underneath the sugared peaches on top.

 *Recipe from Cooks Illustrated (I'm not sure I have the rights to reprint here and I'm not taking any chances!)