.oatmeal peanut butter cookie sandwich.

sometimes i approach baking with a specific goal in mind and other times i start out with a purpose and a question mark. the latter was the case this past weekend. a few friends, my husband and i were planning a weekend camping and river tubing trip. along with camping is packed grilling out, roasting marshmallows and now, some sort of baked goods.

as i pictured us sitting around our tents or floating down the river, cupcakes or cobbler somehow just didn't fit in with the vision. i figured that cookies were the best bet for a traveling treat. so, when i polled my fellow-adventurers with the question "what flavor cookie would you want for our trip?", i immediately got a vote for oatmeal. waiting patiently for about one hour (see, my patience is in abundance) for other responses, i then began looking into fun oatmeal cookie recipes.

being that i'd just recently made oatmeal cookies, i didn't want to go down the same road quite so quickly again. also, i had an itch to use some of the frosting i'd been storing in my freezer from other recipes. with all that in mind, i went into cookie sandwich mode.

what do you get when you mix a request with oatmeal with a desire to use up your peanut buttercream frosting?

oatmeal peanut butter sandwich cookies!
*adapted from savorysweetlife.com
ingredients for the cookies
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
8 tbsp unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup quick-cooking or old fashioned oats

for the center
i used peanut butter buttercream frosting i'd already made and frozen a few months back.

recipe
Preheat the oven to 350˚ F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir together with a fork to blend. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter, peanut butter and sugars on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Blend in the egg and vanilla extract. Add the dry ingredients and mix on low speed just until incorporated. Stir in the oats until evenly blended.
Use a small cookie dough scoop to portion out the dough (about 2 teaspoons), rolling each portion into a ball, and place them on the prepared cookie sheet, a couple inches apart. Bake about 10 minutes, rotating the sheet halfway through baking. The cookies will be light golden brown and slightly puffed. Let cool on the baking sheet 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cook completely. Repeat with the remaining dough. Once the cookies have cooled, pair them up by size.

when all the cookies were cooled, they got partnered up with the best twin cookie i could find. no one wants a cookie sandwich with one small oblong shape paired up with a large circular shape. that just wouldn't make shape sense. with every cookie matched to another, i then spread on the frosting to one while sandwiching the second on top.

while they looked adorable, i just crossed my figurative fingers (my real ones were busy at work) that they tasted as good as they looked. luckily, the peanut butter gods were smiling upon this baking endeavor and we had a portable yummy for our weekend getaway. they were a hit with the crew and now my mind is reeling about which sandwich cookies to try next.