Healthier Mini Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies—12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies

The cookie I’m sharing with you this week for 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies is one that came about when I was just having fun throwing things together with a peanut butter and oatmeal cookie in mind and I didn’t even know if these would turn out.  I think they turned out great and decided to share it here for reference when I want to make them again.  These  Healthier Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies just happen to be whole grain, lower in fat and they have flax meal (and some water) in place of the egg. 

I’ve never used flax instead of egg before, but wanted to try it and these seemed like a great cookie to try it with.  I would never know these were missing an egg.  I wouldn’t even know these had whole wheat (pastry) flour.  They are wholesome with oats and also use a natural peanut butter and Bestlife butter.  I didn’t think of it in time to try some alternatives for the sugar, but I think I’ll do that another time for sure.

After making the dough, I decided to make them quite small and then thought it would be fun to put a little chocolate M&M in the center of each one.  I think I started thinking about small cookies after seeing Anna’s recent post for these mini peanut butter chocolate chip toffee cookies at Cookie Madness.  I have made mini cookies before and love most of all that there are so many.  That is what I think makes them perfect for holiday cookie trays.  A few on each plate go a long way!

I made a smaller batch (since I wasn’t sure if the amounts of things I was using was going to work out) and still got about 40 cookies.  These are perfect one-bite cookies, though they work in 2-3 bites for me.  You could add some mini chocolate chips instead of the M&M or Reese’s Pieces would be good, too.  They are small enough that I would just put one on top like I’ve done with the M&M.  If you left the chocolate out (which I did on some and they were great), would these be vegan?  I’m not sure about the Bestlife butter, I believe it is vegan, but I’m not sure.  I also made these in a bowl, stirring by hand, easily without having to use an electric mixer.

Healthier Whole Grain Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

4 tablespoons Bestlife buttery baking sticks (or another butter substitute), softened

4 tablespoons natural peanut butter (64 grams)

1/3 cup granulated sugar (

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 tablespoon flax meal (in a small bowl, combine the flax meal and water)

3 tablespoons water

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1  1/4 cups old fashioned oats

1/2 cup M&Ms or other candy or mini chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line two baking sheets with Silpat or parchment paper.  Set aside.

In a bowl, combine the Bestlife butter and the peanut butter and whisk together until combined.  Add the sugars and stir until well incorporated.  Add the vanilla and flax/water mixture.  Next add the remaining ingredients—flour, baking soda, salt and oats, and stir with a  wooden spoon until well mixed.

Taking about a teaspoonful of dough, roll it into a ball with your hands.   Set them on a baking sheet (probably 20-24 cookies per sheet).  Flatten each ball of dough just a little and press a candy in to each one.  Bake for 12 minutes for crisp-chewy cookies or for only 10 minutes for a softer-chewy cookie.   Let sit a couple minutes on the baking sheets, then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.  Makes 40-48 cookies.

It’s week 5 already!  Are you ready for the holidays?  Our weather is getting colder so it’s just a matter of a few shorts weeks and we’ll all be jingle belling—ready or not!