Last week, I kicked off October with a homemade Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew and my answer to a Pumpkin Muffin from Dunkin. I wanted to show you that you can enjoy seasonal treats without having to sacrifice your low waste ideals or shelling out $5 for a cup of coffee.

This week, I’m continuing the series by making my own Hocus Pocus cookies.

Hocus Pocus is everywhere this season, even break and bake cookies! Nestle couldn’t resist jumping on the bandwagon and offering Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies. What do these cookies have to do with Hocus Pocus? Absolutely nothing! They are simply sticking the Sanderson sisters on some cookies hoping to make some money off a fan favorite movie.

Now, as savy, smart consumers, we will not be swayed to buy cookies just because they are using our favorite holiday movie to sell it, right? RIGHT!

Especially since Nestle is ranked #3 in the list of Top 10 Companies Contributing to Plastic Waste. Only Cocacola and Pepsi outranks Nestle for creating the most plastic pollution. That is sad! Having that information in the back of my brain, do I really want to buy a pack of mediocre cookie dough because it features Hocus Pocus?

Pass.

I can make it way better anyways!!!

So, I decided to tackle these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies and make them low waste so I can have my cookies AND keep the environment clean. #halloweenwin

Better Than Nestle Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

original recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction

Modification and low waste swaps added by me and indicated in italics. For a complete list of Low Waste baking swaps, please see my original post.

• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup refined coconut oil, softened to room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar (I used light brown)
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature*
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 and 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup of Rainbow Drops or bulk M&M- like candies**

Instructions

1. Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl using a hand mixer or a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the coconut oil on medium-high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed, about 2 minutes. Add the eggs/flaxseed, peanut butter, and vanilla and beat on high speed until combined, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides and up the bottom of the bowl and beat again as needed to combine.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix on low until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, add the oats. Once combined, fold in 1 cup if chocolate chips and 1 cup of rainbow drops. Once combined, if you feel you need/want more add-ins, add the remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. I found that using the full 2 1/2 cups, in addition to the oats, resulted in a very filling-heavy cookie and preferred the 2 cups. Use your own judgement here. Dough will be thick and sticky. Cover and chill the dough for at least 20 minutes in the refrigerator (and up to 4 days). If chilling for longer than 1 hour, allow to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes before rolling and baking because the dough will be quite hard.
4. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
5. Scoop balls of dough, 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie, and arrange 3 inches apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes until lightly browned on the sides. The centers will look very soft.
6. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
7. Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Notes

* To make this vegan or if you want to eat the dough, replace each egg with a flaxseed “egg” (1 TBSP ground flax + 3 TBSP of water = 1 egg. Mix the flax and water and let sit for about 10 minutes to thicken). If you are planning on just eating the dough, make sure you also bake your flour at 350 for 5 minutes.

** I fully appreciate that not everyone will have access to bulk Rainbow Drops. I really lucked out when I found my co-op not only stocked them, but the colors really lent themselves to Halloween cookies since there were a lot of orange and purples. It was a Halloween miracle! If you can’t find this or something similar without packaging, just add an additional 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. I know the appeal of break and bake is the ease so I tested freezing these ahead of time. I froze them for about a week and baked them for the same amount of time and they came out great. I would suggest rolling the dough out into balls and then freezing them for a few hours on a baking sheet. Once they are frozen, store the frozen dough in a large ziploc bag or stasher bag. This prevents the dough for freezing together and makes it easy to bake when you are ready.

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Now, if you will excuse me, I have a cozy blanket, a warm beverage, some gooey cookies and Thackery Binx waiting for me. Let me know if you make these or if you have any questions on how to make them zero waste!