Best Ever Skippy Peanut Butter Cookies

This recipe is an oldie but a goodie. Seemingly ordinary peanut butter cookies get a treatment of oats and M & Ms - the Christmas ones are best, but you can make these year round with regular M & Ms, too. These cookies are crisp, intensely flavorful and are sure to be a big hit at upcoming Christmas parties and other miscellaneous holiday gatherings. If you have a stand mixer, I highly recommend using it, because once you get all the ingredients together in the bowl, it gets very hard to stir by hand.

Best Ever Skippy Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup Smuckers Natural chunky peanut butter

1 cup sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 eggs

1 tsp. pure vanilla extract

1 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. kosher salt

1¼ cups flour

2 cups quick oats

1 (12 oz.) bag plain holiday M & Ms (red, green & white ones)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and peanut butter until smooth and uniformly blended. Add the sugars and blend well.

Add the eggs one at a time, then add the vanilla. Add the dry ingredients until everything is well-blended. 

You can choose to make these immediately or you can chill the dough (overnight is best) and make them the next day. I prefer to make them after the dough has chilled.

Drop by teaspoonfuls (or use a small cookie scooper) about 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

Remove the cookies immediately to racks and let cool completely.

Makes around 6 dozen