This is an excellent use of any tasty jam you have sitting in your fridge for a little too long. The peach rosemary jam I had from last year was lovely.

Crust:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups flour
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Streusel:

• 3/4 cup flour
• 2 TBSP sugar
• 2 TBSP brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 5 TBSP butter, softened
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 1/4 cups jam

Make Crust: Place all ingredients in the food processor. Process in long pulses until the dough is just formed, stopping and scraping the bowl when necessary. Remove dough from bowl and pat into a rough square.

Place dough between layers of wax paper and roll out to approximately 9×13″ and 1/4″ thick. Lightly grease a quarter-sheet pan or 9×13″ pan. Place the dough in the pan – the dough is forgiving and you can press it around to make it as even as possible.

Place dough in freezer for at least 30 minutes.

Make Streusel: In a small bowl, stir together flour, sugars, salt and cinnamon. Cut the butter into tablespoons and work into the flour mixture with your fingers until clumps form. Toss with vanilla and set aside.

Assemble and Bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spread 1 1/4 cups jam evenly over the dough in the prepared pan. Sprinkle evenly with the streusel.

Bake for 35 minutes, until the streusel becomes light brown. Let cool completely in the pan before cutting into bars.

Anyone that grew up in Iowa City will tell you that the monster cookie at Cookies & More in the Old Capitol Mall is the all-time greatest cookie. I have been testing monster cookie recipes for years trying to crack the code. I finally got it (it’s not an oatmeal cookie with peanut butter, it’s a peanut butter cookie with oatmeal). My sister-in-law, Katherine, tested the recipe and said the only thing it lacks is awkward adolescence and the mall smell.

If using Jif/Skippy peanut butter instead of natural peanut butter, add an extra 1/2 cup quick oats to the recipe.

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups natural peanut butter
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 cups quick oats
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cups M&Ms

Cream butter, peanut butter, sugars and honey together until very light and fluffy, scraping down the bowl as needed, until the mixture is uniform in color.

Beat in eggs, one at a time. Scrape bowl.

Sift flour, soda, powder and salt and add to mixer. Stir until well combined, scrape bowl and mix well. Add oats and chocolate chips and mix well, scraping if necessary. You CAN mix in the M&Ms at this point, but if you want to be able to see them perfectly on top, reserve M&Ms until you have scooped the cookies.

Using about 3 TBSP of dough per mound, scoop the dough into mounds on a cookie sheet or plate that you can fit in your refrigerator to chill. Press 5-6 M&Ms onto the top of each mound. Chill at least an hour, or overnight.

When ready to bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Transfer cookie dough balls to a parchment lined baking sheet, spaced about 3″ apart (you can roll them slightly into a more uniform ball at this point if you are into that sort of thing). Press each cookie down to flatten slightly.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edges are starting to brown. The center will look slightly under-baked. Cool completely on cookie sheets- they will fall apart if you try to remove them too quickly, but will firm up as they cool.

Repeat with remaining dough, or freeze dough balls and bake on demand. The cookies can be baked from frozen, you will just need to lengthen the baking time by 5 minutes or so.

I’ve been eating these breakfast cookies for about two weeks now. They are perfectly chewy and chock full of seeds, fruit and nuts. It’s safe to say they are a great “on-the-go” breakfast, but I wouldn’t know. I DO know that they are a great “going-nowhere-soon” breakfast.

• 3/4 cup toasted walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup almond butter
• 10 dates
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups old fashioned oats
• 3/4 cup pepitas
• 3/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
• 1/4 cup chia seeds
• 1/2 cup sesame seeds
• 1 1/2 cup assorted dried fruit (raisins, craisins, cherries, blueberries, chopped apricots, etc.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast walnuts until lightly browned for about 8-10 minutes. Let cool.

Combine almond butter and dates in a food processor and process until pureed. Add coconut oil, honey, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla and process until smooth.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, or by hand in a large bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Stir in oats, toasted walnuts, pepitas, coconut, chia and sesame seeds, dried fruit.

Add the pureed mixture to the oat mixture and stir until well combined. Let sit 30 minutes.

Using about 1/3 cup of dough for each ball, scoop onto lined or greased baking sheets, leaving about an inch between cookies. Flatten each cookie slightly.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15-20 minutes, until just starting to brown on the edges. Let cool completely.

These keep well for a week. Or you can freeze the scooped cookie dough balls for up to a month.

I was workshopping these cookies for awhile – the end result is soft chocolatey goodness.

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 3/4 cup cocoa
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup toasted walnuts, optional

Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar until very light and fluffy 5-10 minutes, scraping down the bowl as needed and mixing until the mixture is all the same pale color.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment.

Beat in eggs, one at a time, scraping as necessary. Add vanilla and mix.

Sift together cocoa, flour, soda and salt. Add to mixer and stir to combine well on low speed. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat for 30 seconds. Mix in chocolate chips and walnuts, if desired.

Scoop 3 tablespoon mounds onto cookie sheet, leaving 2″ between each cookie.

Bake 12-15 minutes, until the edges are firm and the centers seem a little undercooked.

Cool 10 minutes before removing from cookie sheets and baking remaining dough. Or scoop and freeze dough balls for up to a month -baking a couple from frozen at 9:30pm when you need a little something.