After dinner — and sometimes during, we all pull out various literature and read together in silence. Todd likes reading his stamp magazine, Fuzz looks at old Oriental Trading catalogs and I go through cooking magazines. Last night I was looking through an Old Taste of Home and found “Back to School Cookies”.
The picture caught my eye, but I also liked the snappy name “Back to School Cookies”. School doesn’t start for another couple of months, but I felt compelled to make the cookies anyway. The ingredients looked interesting. Instead of two eggs, the recipe calls for 4 egg whites. It also calls for Rice Krispies, flaked coconut and oatmeal – a combination you don’t see often in peanut butter cookies.
This morning I made a quarter batch and was very happy with the results. The cookies are flavorful, light and crispy. The only change I made was to use peanuts instead of nuts because with peanut butter cookies, I like sticking to “peanut” theme.
The original recipe said the yield was 12 dozen for cookies scooped with a rounded tablespoon. I used a generously rounded teaspoonful and got fewer than 2 dozen cookies, so the yield will probably be more like 8 dozen if you make the whole batch.
Peanut Butter Coconut Krispie Cookies (adapted from “Back to School Cookies”– From Taste of Home)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt (original recipe had none)
8 oz butter flavored shortening
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
4 egg whites
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups crisp rice cereal
1-1/2 cups chopped nuts or 1 ¼ cup chopped peanuts
1 cup flaked coconut
1 cup quick-cooking oats
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Mix together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt; set aside.
Cream the shortening, peanut butter and brown sugar in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in egg whites and vanilla.
Add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture and stir until mixed, then stir in the cereal, nuts, coconut and oats.
Drop by generously rounded teaspoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets. Flatten with a fork, forming a crisscross pattern. Bake at 375° for 8-10 minutes. Remove to wire racks.
Makes about 8 dozen
Ginny
Another winner! I love all of the molasses taste from the brown sugar with the peanut butter. And I wouldn’t have thought to add coconut to PB cookies but I’m sure glad someone did. Delicious!
Judy
I made a half batch, adapted, yesterday. I love the texture of these cookies. I did add some additional flavoring (cinnamon and creme de cocoa). This is definitely a keeper.
Janet
I made these today and they made about 5 1/2 dozen and I used the size 40 scoop. Tasty, thanks!
Julie
I made this on Saturday and they were a big hit!
Thanks.
Jackie
I made these this afternoon. They were a big hit. Don’t know where they got the 12 dozen figure from though. I used a small cookie scoop and got just over 5 dozen. Everyone loved them.
sharon
I have some leftover rice krispy cereal from a batch of rice krispy treats I made. Now I can put them to good use!
Anna
Randi, I’m thinking walnuts or pecans.
BB, peanut butter chips would be great!
Janet, thanks again for trying the Maya Gold cookies and I hope you like these.
Judy, I made a quarter of the recipe and used about 68 grams, so if you make the full batch, you’d use about 270. I love Fiber One, but I don’t think I’d put it in these cookies. The Rice Krispies add some airiness.
Judy
Hi Anna,
How many grams of flour did you use? Also, do you think I could substitute Fiber One for the Rice Krispies? Thank you.
Janet
I am heading out for rice krispies in the morning so I can make a batch of these! They look good, thanks!!! BTW, those Maya Gold Crackle cookies you tempted us with are—to die for! Thanks for those too!
bakingblonde
Those look and sound so yummy! I would probably substitute PB chips for the peanuts as I am not a huge lover of peanuts in my cookies. I prefer to eat them by the handful washed down with a beverage of choice while watching sporting events, haha.
Thanks for another winning recipe!
Randi
I wonder what they mean by “nuts”. What other nut would you use?
Anna
VG, you should try making them vegan. I’ll be flax could stand in for the egg whites.
Karen, that is so true. I’ll bet that’s how the lady who submitted the original version to Taste of Home came up with the recipe. Maybe she’d just made pudding or some sort of pastry cream.
Karen
Looks very tempting, and it’s always nice to have recipes to use up egg whites or yolks from other recipes.
VeggieGirl
What a great, intriguing recipe that you found!