Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

This craggy mountain of a cookie is tender, yielding and rich in peanut butter flavor with outcroppings of dark chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and oats.

Don’t be snobby about butterscotch chips. Peanut butter and butterscotch make a stellar combination.

Baking note: You may be a tad surprised to see how long I ask you to beat the butter and sugar together, a well as the eggs. It’s one of the secrets to the delicate crumb of these cookies.

Peanut Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: About 4 dozen

What You Need:

1/2 cup (45 grams) old-fashioned oats

1 1/2 cups (180 grams) all-purpose white flour

1 cup (113 grams) whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (8 ounces, 226 grams) butter, softened

1 cup (213 grams) light or dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups (405 grams) smooth peanut butter (I use Skippy Natural)

1 cup (236 grams) butterscotch chips

1 1/2 cups (250 grams) dark semisweet chocolate chips (I use Guittard)

What You Do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet or two with parchment paper.

2. This step is unnecessary, but I like to chop up the oats so they blend into the cookie better. I just pour the oats onto the cutting board and chop until most pieces are at least cut in half, if not thirds. You do what suits you.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

4. In a stand mixer, beat the butter, white sugar and brown sugar together on medium speed for 5—count ‘em—5 minutes. During those 5 minutes, stop the mixer at least twice to scrape down the sides and beater to make sure the mixture is blending evenly.

5. Add both eggs to the mixture, and blend on low speed for one minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. (This is definitely a cookie dough for which the ABC [‘always be scraping’] rule applies.) Raise the speed to medium and beat for a further 2 minutes, stopping to…yes, you guessed it, scrape down the sides.

6. Add the vanilla and peanut butter, and blend until creamy, about 1 minute. Guess what you need to do now? You need to give the peanut butter-covered spoon to the dog. He asked. Also: scrape down the sides of the bowl.

7. Add the flour mixture in two additions. Blend on low speed until just incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl (!), and then give the mixture the thrill of a whizz on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Add the butterscotch chips and chocolate chips and mix on low speed until evenly distributed. You might, possibly, um, want to consider scraping down the sides of the bowl. You know, just to make sure everything is evenly incorporated.

8. Scoop 2-inch balls of dough onto the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart Resist the urge to flatten them. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until ever-so-lightly browned on the outside. If you touch them they should feel ‘just’ firm. They should not appear damp on top.

9. Eat while warm, with a cold glass of milk. Eat while cold with a hot cup of coffee. Eat any way you gosh darn like, because if you are like me and my daughter, you will gosh-darn like them any way you eat them.