Dried berries of any sortsuch as cranberries, blueberries, or cherries
Diced dried fruit such as pineapplemango, or papaya, raisins, or dates
Chocolate or peanut butter M&Msany kind of baking chip such as peanut butter or white chocolate, toffee bits
Chopped nuts of any sort- cashewspeanuts, walnuts, almonds and pumpkin seeds are all great
Crushed chips or pretzelsany flavor
Instructions
Spray or grease cookie sheet or sheets, and preheat oven to 350˚F.
Cream together peanut butter, butter, molasses and vanilla in a medium bowl. Once soft and creamy, stir in eggs one at a time.
Separately, in a large bowl, blend together sugar, rolled oats, flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and wheat germ until there are no large clumps.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix gently until fully incorporated. Add 2 cups of mix-ins, and stir gently to combine.
Drop cookie dough in golf-ball sized portions onto baking sheet(s), leaving about 3 inches between cookies, as they will spread.* Bake for about 8 minutes.**
Remove cookies from the baking sheet and lay them on a brown paper shopping bag (cut it open and lay flat for a larger working space). This will help absorb any grease.
Notes
Nutrition calculated without optional mix-ins.
*6 large cookies can easily fit onto a baking sheet at a time.
**For soft, chewy cookies, remove when the edges of each cookie is golden brown and the middle is still gooey. It will look like the cookie isn't completely done in the center, but as they sit they'll finish cooking and collapse to create a dense, chewy, moist texture. Allow them to sit on the cookie sheet, on a wire rack, for for about 3 minutes. Don't leave them longer than 5 minutes, or they'll stick! For crispy cookies, leave them in the oven for about 10 minutes total, until the entire cookie is golden brown and the middle looks done. Crispy cookies can be removed from the pan immediately.
When removing cookies from baking sheet, wipe the spatula clean between batches. This will make it easier to slide under the soft cookies without breaking them.