Wow is that title ridiculous. But I wasn’t putting the REAL name up there. They take that stuff seriously.

My absolute favorite Girl Scout Cookie has been, as far back as I can remember, the Do-si-do. Crispy peanut butter cookies, peanut butter frosting. Tagalongs were a close second because of the chocolate, but the Do-si-dos were always my thing.

Unrelated: I think they make those damn cookies smaller every year so they can keep the price the same but give you less cookies. Just up the price of the damn box…we’re still going to buy the crack cookies. We are weak! Give us our cookies, dammit!

I went to my friend Michelle’s house a few days ago to visit and she gave me a cookie she made for her daughter to take to school and we were discussing how to make it flatter. I ate the cookie and it tasted so very similar to the cookie part of a do-si-do, we discussed ways to make hers flatter, but my inner baker was distracted. It wasn’t crisp, the cookie I was eating wasn’t supposed to be, but the oatmeal peanut butter flavor was exactly like a do-si-do and the texture, although not crisp, was similar because of the oats. My inner baker began composing a recipe on my drive home because as anyone knows Michelle lives in the middle of nowhere so I had plenty of time…I kid! I kid!

First time I made these was tonight & I made up the recipe as I went along. I’ll be honest they aren’t exactly what I was shooting for, but they are freaking tasty. Like tasty enough HART ATE TWO OF THEM! and I am posting the recipe. I will make these again with a couple of recipe adjustments, I will not be satisfied until I have recreated that which the Girl Scouts may or may not have laced with narcotics! They are SO close but they are still more chewy than crisp – I will also be honest and say that is not really an awful thing, its just not the nostalgic thing, and I will use the smallest scoop I have for a more petite cookie, these monsters are, well, monsters. If you love peanut butter cookies, and they are my favorite, these are some next level monsters.

A note about some super sweet tools any baker should have in their arsenal – portion scoops. Many people think they are ice cream scoops. Not really. They are color coded on the handles are are all a set measurement. This is wicked helpful when baking. I use 4 of them regularly: Gray – 4oz or 1/2 cup, Blue – 2oz of 1/4 cup, Black – 1oz or 2 Tbsp, Purple – .7oz or heaping tablespoon. The bigger ones are great for measuring things, like peanut butter, with much less mess and the smaller ones I use for drop cookies. Makes them look perfect. Mine are old & beat up a little but they still work!

Now the cookie is an oatmeal peanut butter cookie. I put the oatmeal in a baggie and beat the snot out of it with a rolling pin to pulverize it a little. Yes. I could have pulsed them in a food processor. But I’m not cleaning the food processor for a couple pulses of oatmeal. I’ll beat with a rolling pin, thank you. I also decided that I should add some peanut butter chips. I feel this was a good decision, even though it laughs in the face of Girl Scout tradition, they are really good.

I made up a quicky peanut butter frosting to go in the middle of these. Its actually a take on the center of a buckeye, it’s just whipped a little thinner due to the addition of some water. This is a very deliberately simple recipe that is also meant to be dense; sandwiched in a cookie light & fluffy is not generally the goal so it won’t squish out all over the place when you eat it.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookie w Peanut Butter Filling

• 1 cup Butter, room temp
• 1 cup Light Brown Sugar
• 1/2 cup Dark Brown Sugar
• 1.5 cups Peanut Butter, I use Jif creamy – the best imo
• 2 Large Eggs
• 1 Tbsp Vanilla
• 1.5 cups Flour
• 1 cups Oatmeal, not quick cooking & beat up with a rolling pin
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• pinch of Salt
• 1 12oz bag Peanut Butter Chips

Preheat the oven to 375 and line 2 trays with parchment paper. You will also need a bowl with some granulated sugar in it to toss the cookie dough balls in.

Cream the butter & both sugars until light & creamy. Add the peanut butter, scrape the bowl and mix until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs 1 at time, mixing well between additions then add the vanilla. While the butter is creaming measure all the dry ingredients (except the chips) into a bowl and combine with a whisk.

Add the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix until completely combined on low speed. Remove from the mixer and fold the chips in by hand.

I used a black scoop, about 2 Tbsp dough balls the size of a walnut, and made almost 4 dozen cookies. I scooped them into a bowl of sugar, tossed them to coat and placed them a dozen at a time on to a half sheet tray. I used a fork to press them down in a criss cross pattern, like a traditional peanut butter cookie.

Bake for 12 minutes and the cookies are cooked through. Let cool on the tray for a couple  minutes to set up then transfer to cooling racks to cool completely.

Once they are totally cooled spread 3 Tbsp or so onto the back of a cookie and sandwich with another. They are beyond good as they are…but then I was thinking about what would happen with a chocolate drizzle…but thats another blog post. And sugar coma.

They aren’t exactly what I set out to make, I will recreate the Do-si-do of my youth eventually, but these things here? These may be the kind of thing peanut butter cookie lovers dream about.

Peanut Butter Filling

• 4 Tbsp Butter, room temp
• 1 cup Peanut Butter, again – Jif creamy
• 1 light cup powdered sugar
• 6-8 Tbsp water

I used my hand mixer. Cream the butter & peanut butter until smooth. Add the powdered sugar, mixed until totally combined. Start adding water 2 Tbsp at a time, mixing well between additions, until it gets creamy. When its spreadably creamy use it to fill the sandwich cookies. There should be enough for some light sampling :)