Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Dark Chocolate, Cherries & Coconut

Friends, these are not the prettiest cookies I’ve ever made.

 

In fact, when I made them for our first Ragnar team meeting, I almost didn’t serve them because I didn’t love the look, but as I kept reaching over, and over, and over for the pieces of the uglier ones I planned to throw away, I realized they were so delicious, I just had to save them, and post about them, pretty or not.

 

I don’t think I’ve mentioned it yet, but this February I will be running Ragnar Del Sol with 11 other amazing ladies! The line up includes Nicole, Karla, Melissa, Megan, Tara, Stacey, Jaime, Bety, Jennifer, Jenn, and Kelli. I am sosoSO excited! We had our first official meeting a couple of weeks ago, and did a potluck at my house, so of course I called dibs on making dessert. 😉 Tara and Jaime don’t eat gluten or dairy, so I wanted to make something that everyone would be able to enjoy.

 

So I did end up serving my visually-challenged cookies, and I’m even sharing them with you, because I love them. They are so chewy, and packed with flavor. In true Ari style, there is definitely a lot going on, which leads to my new longest title ever (I think?), but it all comes together perfectly in a way that rather than tasting each component, you taste the combination as a whole.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Dark Chocolate, Cherries & Coconut

• 1 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 3 tbsp apple butter
• 1 cup natural peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened almond milk
• 1 and 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 and 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• dash salt
• 1/3 cup reduced fat unsweetened shredded coconut
• 3 cups raw oats (use gluten-free if you care about that sort of thing)
• 6 oz good quality dark chocolate, chopped into chunks (I used 2 bars—a coconut dark chocolate and a sea salt dark chocolate)
• 3/4 cup sweet cherries, pitted and chopped

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.
2. In a large bowl, beat together coconut oil, apple butter, peanut butter, and sugars until smooth. Add almond milk, vanilla, baking soda, cornstarch, salt, and coconut, and beat until well combined. Fold in oats, followed by chocolate, cherries and coconut.
3. Use a small cookie scoop to drop batter onto prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart (these spread quite a bit).
4. Bake for 12-15 minutes until golden brown around the edges. Cool completely on baking sheet before transferring to serve.

**Notes: These cookies are very sticky. I don’t recommend sealing them for storage. You also don’t want to crowd them. They work best unstacked in a large Tupperware with the lid resting on top, but unsealed.