In the Farmer's Kitchen...

In January Rick, kid #2 and two of our friends went to the Ft. Wayne Farm Show.  As usual, I sent some snacks, including our own version of "Monster Cookies".  Yesterday, one of our friends insisted that I give him the recipe. Apparently he had taken the extras home, and when he went to get one after work, they were all gone-imagine that!

We rarely purchase snack foods.  Can you imagine swinging by the gas station and picking up snacks and drinks for a family of 7? That would cost almost as much as a weeks' worth of groceries.  More importantly, we don't need to be eating all those artificial colors, flavors, and preservatives.

Here is my version of Monster Cookies.  This is a gigantic batch, so you may want to halve it if you don't have a very large mixing bowl.

12 eggs    
4 c brown sugar, packed tight
4 c white sugar
1 lb butter
1 T pure vanilla
8 t soda
3 lbs natural peanut butter
3 packages Ghirardelli chocolate chips
19 cups oatmeal

First, cream the sugars and butter in your mixer.  I use a kitchenaid, and it can handle this first part well. 

 

 

Next, mix in the eggs and vanilla.

Pour the mixture into your large mixing bowl, add the peanut butter and mix.

Add soda and mix.

Finally, add oatmeal and chocolate chips. Mix well.

Because I use regular rolled oats, natural peanut butter and butter (not margarine) I let this sit overnight in the fridge.

Use an ice cream scoop to portion out cookies and slightly flatten on cookie sheet.  I prefer to use parchment paper for easy clean-up.  Bake in a 350 oven for 10-12 minutes.  As the cookies cool, they will set up.  Get your freezer bags ready-there's going to be a lot!

I like to use quality ingredients for taste and to avoid artificials.  I make this cost effective by buying organic oatmeal in a 50lb bag from country life natural foods.  From Sam's club I buy butter (2.12/lb), brown sugar (7lbs $4.48), white sugar (25lbs $9.84) and pure vanilla extract (16 oz. $6.88).  Ghirardelli chocolate chips use pure vanilla, and you can get them at Sam's (.22/oz), but recently our local Kroger had an excellent sale over the holidays that matched that price, so I stocked up there.  They also had natural peanut butter for $1.88 each (the lowest I have seen), so I have at least 6 months worth in my cubard right now.

 

 

Enjoy....now and later!