Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookies

Almost directly adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen.

These cookies are seriously tasty and relatively healthy, though most people would never guess.

This recipe make three to four dozen cookies.


Ingredients

6 oz silken tofu (1/2 a package of the vacuum sealed kind. If you can't find silken, use the least firm you can get.)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup canola oil
1/4 cup soymilk
1 1/2 cups peanut butter (This is one 14- to 15-oz jar.)
2 cups dark brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla

3 cups quick cooking oats
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

white sugar for coating


Directions

Preheat oven to 350.

Sift together the whole wheat pastry flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Stir in the oats.

In a separate large bowl, cream together the peanut butter and sugar with a spatula or hand mixer until well combined, three to five minutes.

Throw the tofu, applesauce, soymilk, oil and vanilla into a blender. Whiz on high until completely smooth. Add this mixture to the sugar mixture and cream together until well combined. Fold in the oats/flour mixture.

Scoop dough with a tea spoon (the small partner to a soup spoon, not the measuring kind) and shape into balls with your hands. Roll thoroughly in sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets. Flatten the tops by lightly pressing with a fork in a criss cross pattern. (If you find the cookies are too sticky to press with a fork, you can either refrigerate the dough for a couple hours or just use the bottom of a glass.)

Bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool for two or three minutes and move them to a wire rack to cool completely.


Notes

I like to make the dough in giant double or triple batches. Either refrigerate the extra dough in tupperware for up a week; or refrigerate overnight, roll them into balls, and toss them a dozen at a time into ziplock baggies to freeze for up to two months for convenient later use. Defrost them for a couple hours or increase the bake time by a couple minutes.

Also, instead of rolling in sugar (or in addition to rolling in sugar) you can bake the doughballs without flattening, and then immediately after removing them from the oven press a piece of chocolate (or Hershey's Kiss) straight down into the middle of the cookie. Allow to cool completely before putting these cookies away.