Do you have a food you’ve loved since preschool?
That you’ve never grown tired of and think you never possibly could get tired of?
I absolutely do.
That food for me is peanut butter.
I loved it when I was three, and I love it still.
I’m incredibly loyal to peanut butter. Looking back on my life, I can’t think of a home pantry, apartment cabinet, or college dorm shelf that wasn’t faithfully stocked with it.
Me and peanut butter are best friends forever. And we go way back. When I was really little, I had a very particular method for eating my peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches:
Begin by eating all the crusts.
Next, pull the sandwich apart and eat the jelly side.
And last: enjoy the peanut butter side. Because it was very important to save the very best, most peanut buttery, bites for last.
When I want a special treat, most likely it will involve peanut butter.
And what pairs better with peanut butter than chocolate?
So my latest concoction honors this unbelievably heavenly pairing: chocolate oatmeal cookies stuffed with a peanut butter frozen yogurt filling.
These cookie sandwiches are delicious, creamy, sweet, and decadent.
And best of all – they’re a smarter, healthier dessert as well!
Here are all the ingredients you’ll need to begin.
A few of these ingredients are the keys to making this a healthier recipe. These include:
Heart-healthy canola oil. I cut out about three-quarters of the butter (full of saturated fat) used in a traditional cookie by substituting canola oil.
Whole wheat flour – this adds so much healthy (and filling!) fiber to your cookies and replaces most of the processed all-purpose flour.
Ground flaxseed – this is really something worth adding to baked treats. Ground flaxseed has high levels of lignans (strong antioxidants that can help prevent cancer) and omega-3 fatty acids (prevents inflammation that can lead to diabetes, heart disease, and cancer).
Bonus: you won’t actually taste the flaxseed, but it also has a lot of protein and fiber to make your cookies really filling and satisfying (unlike most processed peanut butter and chocolate candies, this offers instant portion control!)
Start by placing some butter (at room temperature), some granulated sugar, and some brown sugar in a food processor or electric mixer.
Pulse until the butter and sugar are combined.
Next add some canola oil, a couple of eggs, some low-fat milk, and some vanilla extract.
Pulse until the ingredients are combined.
Add some all-purpose flour, some whole wheat flour, some flaxseed, some unsweetened cocoa powder, a bit of cinnamon, and a bit of salt.
Pulse again to combine.
Lastly, add some rolled oats and pulse quickly one last time, just until the oats are mixed in.
Use a tablespoon to measure out exact tablespoons of dough.
Using a tablespoon really helps keep your cookies 1) evenly sized for perfectly baked cookies and 2) portion-controlled as well!
Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and press the dough down into flat, cookie-shaped rounds.
This dough has very little butter, so it doesn’t flatten out much while baking.
You just have to help it along a little.
Bake the cookies and allow them to cool to room temperature.
Meanwhile, place some vanilla nonfat Greek frozen yogurt on the counter for a few minutes to allow it to begin to thaw and soften.
As much as I love it, peanut butter is very high in calories and fat. So I keep the peanut butter filling ‘skinny’ by adding an equal amount of nonfat frozen yogurt.
Have you noticed the new Greek frozen yogurt in stores lately?
With only 100 calories in a half-cup serving, Greek frozen yogurt really lightens up the filling. And it’s so healthy: a serving provides 15 percent of your daily value of calcium, no saturated fat, 6 grams of protein (to keep you feeling full and satisfied), and probiotics (to keep your digestive system healthy).
If you’re having trouble finding Greek frozen yogurt, regular vanilla frozen yogurt works just as well.
Combine both the peanut butter and frozen yogurt in a food processor or blender until they’re well combined.
Spoon tablespoons of the peanut butter filling on half of the cookies.
Then place a second cookie on top, creating sandwiches.
These cookie sandwiches are so unbelievably delicious.
The creamy peanut butter filling is complimented perfectly by the rich chocolate and the soft, chewy oatmeal cookies.
And so full of healthy fiber and protein, they’re a dessert that’s actually filling, satisfying, and healthy too!
Oh, peanut butter.
Our love continues on.
Here is the complete recipe:
Those look mouthwatering. I’m kind of into “sandwich-style” cookies lately. I’m trying french style macarons for the first time and want to try these as well. Wish there was a way to modify macarons but alas, there is not. –You know two foods I’ve never grown tired of? chocolate and chicken. They are classics for me. I even made chicken in Mole the other day so I could have them together 🙂 BTW, I always enjoy your posts!
Oh yum, sounds like a macaron post is coming up soon! Can’t wait to read all about it 🙂
I like the ingredient list on these little babies … They look so cute and tasty!
Hi there, thanks so much! 🙂
These look out of this worl!! So creamy, so dreamy! I would love to have some right now with a glass of almond milk!! Foods from our childhood are the best, my favorites are still the baked goods my mom and grandma make for me!
So true! I finally tried almond milk this month and it’s delicious! I’ve got to get it into a recipe soon…
These look amazing, and I love that you made them lighter! Great recipe!
Hi Georgia, thanks so much 🙂
Oh Jen, I just love peanut butter, I eat toasted peanut butter sandwiches on Honey Wheat bread all the time without the jelly. These cookies look amazing! I like the fact that you put flax seed in them and Greek yogurt since I’m trying to eat healthier. I will have to try these out on the grand kids for after school snacks! Thanks
Joy
Well, those toasted peanut butter sandwiches sound like the perfect dinner to me! 🙂
It actually does not get much better than this – peanut butter, chocolate and oats? Talk about delicious delicious delicious 😀
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Exactly how I feel – win-win-win, right? 🙂
My little darling – they look awesome .. and all that job you had put into them. That picture with the 3 cookies nearly converted me … *smile – because there is nothing I hate so much as peanut butter or jam! Yes, oysters. Stunning photos and an excellent job – again.
What? A life without peanut butter?? I can’t even imagine! 🙂
*life …. is good *smile
Oh yum! I want to try this one! Chocolate and peanut butter in any form is good!
I second that! 🙂
Jen, these are so brilliant! I love everything in these cookie sandwiches…just wish I had some in my freezer at the moment. Do you deliver?! 🙂
Hmmm no that’s an idea I hadn’t thought of yet! 🙂
I am having such a hungry week and these would be perfect with my cup of tea right now!
The thing that would make these cookies even better – a cup of tea with them! Perfect 🙂
Ok, stop twisting my arm, I’ll try these !
(While living in Philly we became addicted to the greek yogurt, it was everywhere…)
I’m so addicted – it keep you feeling full for so long for so few calories!
Oh YUM! What a fun mix of flavors, and I adore that you used frozen Greek yogurt in the peanut butter filling! Take care, Terra
I’m loving frozen Greek yogurt! 🙂
Now that’s one serious filling in that smart, healthy cookie! I keep telling everyone how my son-in-law loves peanut butter…also, he prefers pies over cakes, so he goes straight for the filling or frosting on cakes & cookies. No doubt he’d lick the filling out first, but this cookie sounds so delicious, I know he’d polish off the whole thing!
Oh that’s too funny! What is it about peanut butter that makes it sooo addictive? 🙂
These sound SO good! I am a faithful peanut butter lover as well, and can’t think of a better treat! I love the fact that these cookies are a bit healthier too – although I would surely just use that as an excuse to eat more!
I know it. That’s always the problem with the healthier dessert right? 🙂
Oooh, this post is right up my street – I am happily addicted to ALL nut butters (I’m on a quest to try them all before I die). Looks just delicious, thanks!
That sounds like a very honorable quest, my friend! 🙂
That is a very inventive cookie! And it looks delicious!
Thanks so much 🙂
Yum! These look so good. And I had not seen frozen Greek yogurt yet – I’ll be looking during my next trip to the store for sure!
Not sure how readily available it is yet. It’s stocked in some grocery stores in my area.
As always, these look SO GOOD! I’ve nominated you for a Kreativ Blogger Award, over on Our Kitchen Inventions. Your posts never fail to make me hungry!!
http://ourkitcheninventions.wordpress.com/2012/05/01/thanks-diane-for-the-nomination/
Susan
This is a protien packed goodie! I was scanning the ingredients looking for what gave these that crunchy looking texture-flax and oats, great choices. Also, peanut butter which is something I reach for more than I would care to admit. Very creative and delicious recipe no doubt!
Thank you – I think oats and flax both taste so yummy with peanut butter 🙂
They might be skinny if you ate just one…but how could you stop at one. Yummy.
I know – that’s the one problem I haven’t worked out with these cookies yet! 🙂
How can these possibly be skinny? They look AMAZING.
Thank you! 🙂
………………
Chocolate.
Oatmeal cookies.
Peanut butter.
……..
I don’t need anything else, thanks. LOL You are a genius!
Haha glad we’re on the same page!
These look amazing! Love how their healthed-up to make dessert a little less sinful.
Yes, these are tasty and guilt-free too 🙂
haha I’ve even snuck a jar of peanut butter in my suitcase on vacation….its seriously my favorite! These cookie sandwiches look AMAZING! Omygoodness yum!
Bringing peanut butter along on vacation? Hmmm now that is a great idea in my mind! 🙂
Your undying love for peanut butter cracked me up…I actually didn’t start liking peanut butter until my 20s but now I have a magnetic attraction to it..can’t get enough, especially combined with chocolate. I love this post – adding flax seeds and greek yogurt is brilliant – definitely makes me feel like whipping up a batch is entirely justified!
Oooh I love peanut butter too! I can tell from these cookies, that you and I are going to be fast friends 😛
These looks delicious but I would substitute butter, coconut oil, or applesauce for the canola oil as I don’t believe canola oil is healthy. You can read up on that here: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/how-vegetable-oils-make-us-fat/ Thanks for sharing!
And here: http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/homemade-teriyaki-sauce/
I make my bf, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies or peanut butter choco chip cookies almost 3 times a week but I have never combined. This cookie looks so sinfully good, I will definitely going to make this really soon. Unfortunately though, Japan is not big on organic products, so I might need wait till I get my organic peanut butter 🙂
But thank you for the recipe.
Just to clarify, once you make these, you have to keep them frozen, right? (or else serve immediately) Because these are kind of like ice cream sandwiches more than they are like sandwich cookies that you can put in the cupboard (?)
Yes, you’re right – you should serve immediately or else store in a container and keep in the freezer. 🙂