Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (Vegan)

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup canola oil
3/4 cup natural crunchy peanut butter [I used smooth peanut butter because I just can't stand the chunky kind!)
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup vanilla soy milk (Or vanilla almond milk)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Oven at 350°F. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.

Toss together the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oil, peanut butter, sugars, soy milk, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix. The dough should be very difficult and moist. Using about a 2 tablespoon cookie dough/ice cream scoop, scoop dough onto sheet, flatten some with your hand. You should have about 9 cookies to a sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes until cookies have puffed a bit and are lightly browned. Allow to cool for ten minutes (Or until firm enough to transfer) before moving off the cookie sheet.
This recipe make about 2 dozen huge cookies!

**Note-Although this is a vegan recipe, these cookies are amazing! They are very tasty and stayed chewy for the week it took our little family to eat them all. I even felt good giving them to my kids as a snack since they had natural peanut butter and oats in them!

"Sneaky Dad's Pudding"

Taken directly from the book "Becoming Vegan" by Brenda Davis, R.D. and Vesanto Melina, M.S., R.D.

1 1/2 cups frozen strawberries
1 banana, cut into 4 pieces
1-2 teaspoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons flaxseed oil (or fish oil)
3-5 tablespoons nut butter (almond, cashew, peanut, etc.)
2-3 tablespoons orange juice (or other juice like apple or carrot)
2 tablespoons soymilk, almond milk, rice milk or regular milk
1/8-1/4 avocado

Puree everything in a food processor until a pudding like consistency. Makes 2 very large servings.

**Note-this "pudding" provides a great source of protein, fiber, calories and healthy fat. So sneaky!

Easy Peanut Butter and Chocolate Eclair Dessert

1 pkg. (3.4 oz.) vanilla flavor instant pudding
1-3/4 cups cold milk
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tub (8 oz.) whipped topping, thawed
24 honey graham crackers
6 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate
3 tablespoons butter

Beat pudding mix and milk in large with whisk 2 min. Add peanut butter; mix well. Stir in whipped topping. Layer 1/3 of the grahams and half the pudding mixture in 13x9-inch dish, breaking grahams as necessary to fit. Repeat layers. Top with remaining grahams.
Microwave chocolate and butter in microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min., stirring after 1 min. Stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Spread over grahams.
Refrigerate 8 hours.

**Note-Incredibly delicious!

Chocolale Chip Ball Suprise "Cookies"

•1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
•2 cups creamy peanut butter
•3 cups confectioners' sugar
•3 cups crispy rice cereal, crushed (recommended: Rice Krispies)
•1 cup semisweet mini chocolate morsels
•2 (12-ounce) packages semisweet chocolate morsels

Directions
In a large mixing bowl, combine butter, peanut butter, sugar, rice cereal and mini chocolate morsels with an electric mixer. Roll mixture into 1-inch balls and place onto a parchment lined sheet pan in the freezer. (About 30 minutes or so-just so they don't melt/fall apart in the warm chocolate) In a double boiler, over simmering water, melt semisweet morsels. Stir constantly until melted and smooth. With a fork, dip the frozen balls in melted chocolate. Place on a cool cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Place in freezer for 5 to10 minutes until the chocolate has set. Store the balls in an airtight container at room temperature.

**Note-we ran out of chocolate coating so some of ours didn't have any-still delishious!
**Note-we also used melted white chocolate chips to coat and those were equally yummy.

Peanut Butter Cup Pie

1-8oz package of cream cheese, softened
½ c plus 1 T creamy peanut butter, divided
1 c cold milk
1 package (3.4 oz) vanilla instant pudding
2 ½ c cool whip topping, divided
1 chocolate pie crust
3 oz chocolate (either Baker's chocolate or chocolate chips work too)

Beat cream cheese and ½ c peanut butter until well blended. Add milk and dry pudding mix, beat 2 minutes. Whisk in 1 cup cool whip. Spoon into crust and refrigerate until ready to use. Meanwhile, microwave remaining cool whip and chocolate in a bowl on high, 1 ½-2 minutes, or until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is well blended. Check after one minute, stirring after checking. Cool chocolate completely. Spread the chocolate mixture over pudding layer in the crust (on top). Microwave the remaining peanut butter in a small measuring cup, about 30 second, stir. Drizzle over pie. Refrigerate 4 hours, or until firm.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup jam, desired flavor

Oven at 350. Cream the butter, peanut butter and both sugars until well mixed. Add egg and vanilla, mixing well. Add the dry ingredients and mix until completely mixed. Form dough into 1-inch balls and use your thumb to make a well in the center of each cookie. Drop about 1/2 teaspoon of jam in the center of each cookie. Bake 10-12 minutes. Cook 1 minute on sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Chex Muddy Buddies

9 cups Corn Chex, Rice Chex, Wheat Chex Cereal (or any combination)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a large bowl, pour cereal(s). Set aside. In a 1-quart microwaveable container, microwave chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter on high for one minute. Stir. Continue to microwave in 30 second increments until mixture can be stirred smooth. Stir in vanilla. Pour chocolate mixture over cereal(s), stirring until evenly coated. Pour into a 2-quart plastic bag. Add powdered sugar. Seal bag and shake until well coated. Spread mixture on wax paper to cool. Store in airtight container.