A few weeks ago, I clicked on the recipe image for rainbow vanilla cheesecake bars on Pinterest. Their bright and cheerful colors immediately caught my attention, but as I read through the blog post, the writing and stories captivated me even more. The warm and familiar feel, the welcoming tone, and the cute tale quickly turned me into a regular reader of Jocelyn’s well-known blog, Inside BruCrew Life.
Then at the BlogHer Food Conference in Miami this past weekend, I spotted her at the hotel across the room and smiled like my usual friendly self, yet I was absolutely positive she wouldn’t recognize me. Compared to most of the other bloggers attending, I was fairly small and definitely far from famous!
But Jocelyn smiled back and walked over, giving me a huge hug like an old friend and asking how my flights had been. Yes, me… Little ’ol me… I was completely floored and ecstatic!
When I finally read over the detailed conference agenda that first night, I realized Jocelyn was on the panel for the closing keynote session! Two day later at breakfast, I noticed her standing in the back and waved. After coming over to say hi again, she quietly mentioned she already felt butterflies in her stomach and planned on relaxing all day so she wouldn’t get too nervous. With the ballroom as big as a football field and filled with hundreds of bloggers and PR reps, sitting on stage to talk sounded as scary to me as the monsters on Halloween!
But when we sat down at the tables that evening and watched the 4 panelists settle into the armchairs on the platform, Jocelyn looked poised and collected, speaking eloquently and offering valuable tip after tip. I scribbled down a full page of notes—I was really happy to absorb her advice!
As one of my blogging role models—someone who balances work and family and health and life, yet still always comes up with creative ideas—I was so grateful to have the opportunity to meet her. With her sweet personality and compassionate nature, I wish we lived closer so I could bump into her more often!
Just like Jocelyn, these Cherry Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies are classy and sweet. The tangy cherries really shine again the irresistible hearty oat and peanutty backdrop, and the thick honey keeps them unbelievably soft and chewy. With their cozy flavor and texture, nobody will believe that they’re low fat and contain NO butter, refined flour, or refined sugar!
Like in my other clean-eating cookie recipes, it’s incredibly important to measure both the whole wheat flour and oats correctly. Use a light hand with the spoon-and-level method to prevent measuring out too much. (For a quick refresher, see my Baking Basics.) An excess of either ingredient will dry out your cookies, instead of resulting in the soft and chewy texture that we want.
For this easy recipe, I skipped the butter and coconut oil and simply used peanut butter as the main fat source. You’ll only need ¼ cup. It adds a light peanut taste—not too overpowering—and balances nicely with the earthy oats and bright cherries. It practically makes these healthy cookies taste like a dessert-style PB&J!
Chilling is mandatory. Due to the extra liquid in honey, the dough is initially very sticky, and chilling gives the oats time to absorb more of that moisture. Leave the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, but if chilling longer than 1½ hours, cover the top with plastic wrap.
Note: For the cookies in these photographs, I chilled the dough for just 30 minutes.
You’ll bake these at 325°F, slightly lower than typical cookie recipes, because honey caramelizes at a lower temperature than brown or granulated sugar. The dough spreads a lot, so drop it into rounded scoops—basically as tall as they are wide! (Although if you chill longer than 1½ hours, you may need to flatten them slightly.)
After 11-13 minutes in the oven, pull them out! They’ll look and feel underdone, but leave them on the warm baking sheet for 15 minutes. This extra time allows the centers to cook through without turning the outsides crisp and crunchy. If baked this way, your cookies will stay soft for over a week—if they last that long!
After explaining that they were clean-eating friendly, I actually shared one of these Cherry Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies with my body-builder seat neighbor on the airplane this past weekend. (Yes, he participates in shows and competitions!) As he chewed his first bite, his eyes widened and he paused. I had to reassure him twice that they were whole wheat and fit into his diet before he happily gobbled down the rest.
Yes, they’re that good! So go bake a batch, grab a glass of milk, and head on over to say hi to Jocelyn! ♥
The bright, tangy cherries really shine against the cozy peanutty and oat background! These cookies will stay extremely soft and chewy for an entire week if stored in an airtight container between sheets of wax paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, stir together the peanut butter, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the honey until thoroughly incorporated. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in 3 tablespoons of diced cherries. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. (If chilling longer, cover with plastic wrap, ensuring it touches the entire surface of the cookie dough.)
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.
- Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops on the baking sheet. (If chilled longer than 1.5 hours, flatten slightly.) Gently press the remaining diced cherries into the tops of the cookie dough. Bake at 325°F for 11-13 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Notes: It’s VERY important to measure both the oats and flour correctly. (Click on the links above for a refresher on how to properly measure them.) Too much of either will dry out your cookies, instead of resulting in the extra soft and chewy texture we want.
To make your own instant oats, pulse 1 cup of old-fashioned oats in a food processor 5-8 times.
For all other questions regarding the recipe, including ingredient substitutions, please see my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ + Video page.
{clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
Sounds like BlogHer was a blast, Amy! Wish I could’ve gone this year. PB&J is one of my favorites, I would love these cherry/PB cookies!
Thanks Sally! It would’ve been so fun if you could’ve come, but I know you’ve had lots of travel this spring between weddings, your cookbook, and your birthday. Hopefully next year — I really want to meet you in person! 🙂
Isn’t Jocelyn one of the best? She is so real, and yet so talented! What a treat to get to meet her in person! And, I would love to be introduced to these cookies, too … do you deliver? I feel like this is going to be a cookie for breakfast kind of day!
YES! It’s rare to meet a blogger that real and talented and still sweeter than sugar. I feel so lucky to have met her in person! And… I SO wish I could bake and deliver cookies! I’m really hoping to someday, once I earn enough money to open a storefront or something. That’d be a dream come true!
These look great! Healthy enough for breakfast, no? 🙂
I don’t see why not! 😉
Yum! Do you think it would work to sub with PB2?
I haven’t tried it, so I’m not sure. The cookies are already fairly low in fat and calories, if that’s what you’re concerned about! 🙂
I feel like I’ve known you forever, so it’s so strange when I read that you’ve never met Jocelyn. Like, of course they know each other! It’s so funny. 🙂 These cookies are great – I so need to try some of your clean eating cookies!
So true!! I feel like everyone I’ve met through blogging should already know each other, and then I’m shocked when they don’t. Too funny! 🙂 And next time I bake a batch of clean eating cookies, I’ll be sure to let you know and see if we can use that as an excuse to meet up! 😉
Bloggers are ALWAYS so friendly I LOVE it!! What a great meeting in real life story ha! I think you are a bigger deal than you give yourself credit for though, your blog is fantastic my friend! I also would love to eat an entire platter of these cookies, they are actually somewhat similar to the ones I posted today. HA!
Awwww thank you so much Brittany! You’re so sweet and full of compliments, and I really, really appreciate it. 🙂 Great minds think alike, which is definitely proof that we need to meet in person — and soon!!
Ok, you are seriously the cutest, and I am so glad we had a chance to meet at the conference!!! And yes, I did recognize you right away. Believe me, going up to people I don’t know is something I have to force myself to do every time I’m anywhere! Next time let’s definitely chat more! I feel like I was so distracted all weekend with my session waiting for me. I am so glad the session was helpful and that it made sense. LOL! I was just trying hard to keep it together and not get teary eyed…that usually happens when I have to speak in public! It would be such a blast if we did live closer and could just bump into each other all the time! I would make sure to find you on cookie making day…these look awesome! I love that they are healthy too…score!!!!
Aww you’re so sweet Jocelyn!! Meeting new people is hard for me too. It’s easy to overwhelm us introverts with so many strangers at conferences and events! If only they gave you the Keynote in David Lebovitz’s spot… Then we could’ve chatted all Saturday! 😉 But you did absolutely amazingly, and I’m so proud of you for sitting up there on stage. You’re a true inspiration! And anytime you feel like moving out to California, I’ll go house-hunting for you to make sure we live close enough to share baked goodies! 😉
I can’t wait to hear about the conference!! It sounds like you had such a great experience and met some wonderful ladies!!
Thanks Andrea! I definitely did. I felt so lucky to meet so many amazing women!
they look yummy!
Thanks Dina!
Can we use the regular steel.cut oats instead of the instant oats? Thank you 🙂
No, I don’t recommend using steel-cut oats. They don’t act the same in baking recipes as instant oats, so the cookies won’t turn out with the proper texture. I’m excited to hear what you think of the cookies Ana Isabel! 🙂
Instant oats are not found easly in Portugal, so I had to use steel-cut oats, and the coockies turn out pretty good 😀
I’m glad you enjoyed the cookies! 🙂