My go-to cookie: Oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip (aka Izzy cookies)

It was another rainy day in Seattle....I needed a cookie. Not just any cookie would do. Sure, you could have a chocolate chip cookie, peanut butter, but this cookie....it has everything. I call these cookies "Izzy cookies" affectionately named after my friend Izzy. Izzy is a whiz in the kitchen...actually she is a whiz at just about everything....

Look at what she gave me for Christmas....

Homemade vanilla....yes, that's a vanilla bean pod in there.

These cookies call for a lot of vanilla (2 tablespoons) I think I'll use this homemade vanilla for these cookies.

I've made these cookies several times and have never had a mishap. Everyone who eats them, loves them! Such great flavor and texture. Oh! and the cookie dough.....I could save myself the trouble and just eat the dough.

Since I've made this cookie so many times and I feel comfortable with it, I decided to try something different. I thought I would try it with browned butter. Browned butter is great in cookies. It adds an entirely new element of flavor. I first learned about browned butter in cookies from Cook's Illustrated. I've made their browned butter cookie recipe and thought it was great. If you haven't tried it...I recommend it. For browned butter you do just that: melt the butter on the stovetop till it browns. It will literally turn darker and you might even see a few browned bits in the pan. There will be a nice nutty smell. It smells so heavenly, you want to just pour it in a mug and drink it., but I wouldn't recommend doing that. (NO! I haven't tried it!)

Be careful when adding browned butter to anything that has raw eggs. The butter will be very hot and you don't want to start cooking your eggs. Let the browned butter sit for a minute before adding to cookie dough.

Oatmeal peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup softened butter ( I browned 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 2 cups oats (your choice: quick cook or old fashioned)
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs
• 2 Tbsp vanilla extract
• chocolate chips (I've also had these with butterscotch and peanut butter chips. you can't go wrong)

Preheat oven to 350. Use a mixer to cream butters and sugar until smooth. Mix in peanut butter till combined; then add eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, whisk together oats, flour, and baking soda. Combine with your butter mixture until well mixed. Stir in your chips of choice. I only used about 3/4 of the bag of chips and I thought it was plenty, but feel free to throw in the whole bag!

Transfer dough to an ungreased cookie sheet. I like to make these cookies pretty small, just about a rounded tablespoon. Since they are small, I easily eat 17 and feel no guilt!

Of course, all oven times are different. I bake these for exactly 9 minutes and they turn out perfect. You may think they look underdone, trust me, they are perfect. You don't want to overbake these.

This recipe makes a ton of cookies....so feel free to share. Or not.

I was anxious to see how these cookies would taste with the browned butter. After my first bite, I couldn't taste anything different.

So I ate another.

And another.

Maybe one more?

No matter how many I ate, I didn't taste anything different. I think these cookies are already so flavorful and so full of texture, the browned butter just wasn't necessary. It didn't make the cookies taste any worse, but they are just as delicious without it.

If you're having a tough day or just want an awesome cookie, give this a try. Cookies, like good friends, make everything better! Thanks Izzy!

What's your favorite cookie?? (please make it for me!)