antiox monster cookies

Oh, Gramma Hase. She knew how to keep a kid from being underfoot. In the morning I would wake up and go down to what I think of as being a huge farm kitchen, but probably wasn’t as I was a kid, and while I was eating breakfast Gramma would be loading up an old small suitcase with my work items for the day. There would be various things to play with: an old umbrella, glasses, scarves, Casper the Friendly Ghost coloring book, crayons, and a vintage bakelite loose powder container filled with cookies… Monster cookies and then toss me outside on the porch to play.

Monster cookies were one of Gramma Hase’s staples. They were a hybrid of a peanut butter, oatmeal raisin and chocolate chip cookies. For whatever reason, monster cookies seem to have devolved to sugar cookies with chocolate cookies and M&Ms added in. It isn’t progress in the right direction flavor or nutrition wise. So, what I did was… fix it. I recreated my favorite childhood cookie as a denser, chewyer cookie, packed with organic tasty free-radical-ass-kicking-antioxidant-full dried fruits and chocolate.

2c peanut butter
1c unsalted butter, softened
4 eggs
3c old fashioned oats
1 1/2c whole wheat (or white) flour
1¼ teaspoons baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1c brown sugar
3/4c white sugar
2T sorgum or dark honey
1 1/2t vanilla extract
1t salt

1/2c dried blueberries
1/2c dried cherries, cut in half
8oz dark chocolate bar, cut into large chunks
4oz milk chocolate

Mix all ingredients to combine. I tend to use my hands but, then again, I love playing with my food. Portion out onto a parchment lined cookie sheet.

Bake in a prehead oven to 350°f; for about 17mins.