Peanut Butter and Honey Ranger Cookies

I follow a chat list and one of the boards that I follow is dedicated to food (surprising, right?) Many of the people on that list have food blogs and I get a lot of inspiration from the recipes that they make. Recently someone posted Ranger Cookies and I remembered how much I like them. I couldn’t remember if I had made them for my blog and I had, way back in September 2008!

Since I had ranger cookies on the brain, I wanted to find a variation to make. My husband and I are big fans of using honey, in fact we pick up different flavors of local honey at the farmer’s market when we can. We came across this recipe on the National Honey Board’s website. They had this variation and I thought it sounded interesting. I had made peanut butter and honey cookies years ago and I love, love, love that combination! Those flavors coupled together with ranger cookie flavors (oats, coconut and crispy rice cereal) sounded really interesting.

This recipe makes a ton, so you may want to cut the recipe in half. I was a little short on honey (ironic!) but I figured the 1-1/4 cups that I had would be plenty. Once these were baked and I tasted one, I felt like they were a little one-note. They were sweet but needed something, so I decided to drizzle the cookies with chocolate. That was what they needed, just the slightly bitter flavor of semi-sweet chocolate.

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup peanut butter
1-1/2 cups honey
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups crispy rice cereal
2 cups oats
1 cups flaked coconut
Chocolate, for drizzle (if desired)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats.
In a large mixer bowl, beat the butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add honey, beating until light and creamy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually the flour mixture to the butter mixture, mixing until blended. By hand, stir in rice cereal, oats, and coconut.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart. Flatten to 2-inch circles. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes or until cookies are golden and set. Transfer cookies to wire racks; cool completely. Drizzle with melted chocolate, if desired.

Recipe adapted from The National Honey Board