Basic Oatmeal Cookies

On Saturday night, the weather was icky which made going out sound dreadful.  We've been pretty obsessed with Draw Something lately, thanks to my brother (it's a terrible addiction don't even start!) which inspired me to want to play Pictionary.  At the last minute, I was able to organize a few friends to come over and join us for an exciting game night!




We had such a wonderful time.  We started with CatchPhrase (if you have an iPhone, download Phrase Party and you don't actually need to buy the game!), and then moved onto Pictionary, Charades, and a game I'd never played before - Chinese Telegraph.  You can find a great explanation of how to play the game on Jenna's Everything Blog.  Next time you gather a bunch of your friends, I highly recommend playing this game.  I had to pull out a box of tissues because I was laughing so hard.  It was one of my favorite Saturday nights in a long time - I hope we'll get to have another game night again soon!



Since I threw the gathering together pretty quickly, I felt bad that I hadn't made many treats for my guests.  I am usually pretty good about keeping the ingredients for baked goods in the house, so I decided to throw together some cookies.  I wanted a pretty basic recipe so I went to my reliable Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.  My college roommate always used this cookbook, so when a Border's was going out of business I picked up a copy of my own and I love it!  I had all of the ingredients for these Oatmeal Cookies, as well as about 1/4 bag each of chocolate and butterscotch chips, so I quickly threw a batch together.



What a great recipe!  They're super easy to make and tasted delicious!  These are chewy cookies, but I bet if you took them out halfway through baking and gently banged the cookie tray on the oven door before putting them back in, they'd flatten out and turn out crispy if you're into that.  I don't usually add cloves or cinnamon to my oatmeal cookies but I will from now on.  They added a new level of flavor that we all really enjoyed.  Even though I only had 1/2 cup combined of chocolate and butterscotch chips, I thought they were the perfect amount to prevent the cookies from being too sweet or too chocolately (yes, I just said that.  I'm not a huge chocolate lover).  These were a great cookie that I could throw together in no time with the ingredients I had on hand!




Basic Oatmeal Cookies
slightly adapted from Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook

Ingredients
3/4 c butter, softened
1 c packed brown sugar (I used light)
1/2 c granulated sugar (or Vanilla Sugar)
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4-1/2 tsp ground cloves
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 c all-purpose flour
2 c rolled oats
1/4 c milk chocolate chips (optional)
1/4 c butterscotch chips (optional)

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment (or, even better, a beater blade) beat the butter on medium speed for 30 seconds.
3. Add the brown sugar, granulated (or vanilla) sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cloves and beat on medium speed until combined.  If you don't have a beater blade, make sure to scrape the sides down with a spatula. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
4. Add in the whole wheat flour and beat on low until incorporated.  Add AP flour, 1/2 c at a time, and beat on low until incorporated.  Add the oats and beat for 15 seconds or until incorporated.  If desired, add chocolate and butterscotch chips (or anything else, like raisins or craisins) and stir with a spoon until mixed throughout.
5. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons 2 inches apart on a cookie sheet (optionally lined with a silpat mat or parchment paper).  Bake 8-10 minutes (mine actually needed closer to 12 min but they were a little big) until the edges are golden brown.
6. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minute then transfer to a wire rack to allow to continue to cool.

Bizcocho de Chocolate y Chipotle and Crispy Oatmeal Cookies

Today I needed 2 desserts.  One is for a Mexican-style supper my co-worker is having and another is for a friend who could use a little butter-and-sugar-and-chocolate-goodness.  I even remembered to take some photos - although the first several were from my Blackberry... someday I'll upgrade and take wonderful photos.

Before I show you what I made, I have to share with you some of my exciting new kitchen equipment.
Starting with....

AHHHHH. SO LOVE IT.  I have been wanting one of these for so long.  I was turned on to cookteen's blog by her sister's friend from school, who happens to be my best friend since I was about 2.  Reading her blogs about new attachments and using her standing mixer had made me desire one more than ever.  Thank goodness for my amazing aunt who made the dream come true!  Isn't it gorgeous?






Also - in case you thought I had normal oven mitts... you were wrong.
Check out these babies....

They are silicon (my mother swears by silicon oven mitts) but also have a separate glove finger for your index finger.  Given that my thumb is still not so strong after being hit by a car severely dislocating it a month and a half ago, the use of my index finger comes in mighty handy.

(I'll save the x-ray for another time, I am trying to convince you to eat here.)






And with these tools I created two desserts.

For the Mexican supper I made...
Chocolate Chipotle Brownies courtesy of Emeril Lagasse.

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon plus 1 cup butter (2 sticks)
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon ground chipotle chile pepper (I used a chipotle seasoning, which also had salt etc in it, simply because I couldn't find ground chipotle)
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup chopped Mexican chocolate or semisweet chocolate morsels

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Grease and flour an 11 by 7-inch baking pan or dish with 1 teaspoon of the butter and 1 tablespoon of the flour.

Heat the remaining butter and the unsweetened chocolate in a saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until melted.

In a medium bowl, stir together remaining flour, sugar, cinnamon, and ground chipotle. Add sugar mixture to melted chocolate mixture, stirring to combine.

Add eggs, mixing until smooth. Stir in chopped chocolate or chocolate morsels.

Pour mixture into the prepared baking pan or dish.

Bake until the center is set, 35 to 40 minutes.

 And then remove from the oven...

Cool completely and then cut into small squares.

Review:  This recipe was super easy to make.  The brownies had a subtle hint that you couldn't quite put your finger on, but they weren't so spicy that you couldn't use them as a normal brownie recipe.  I'll update when I get the final review from everyone - but I thought they were pretty good!  I could have cooked them a couple minutes longer (45-50 min) and they would have been fine, they still seemed a little fudgy.  Overall, a unique twist on the traditional brownie (and an easy way to make them from scratch!); an easy dessert (way easier than flan) for a Mexican-themed party.

Rating: 4 - JAMMY

And then for my lovely friend....

Crisp Oatmeal Cookies adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup flaked coconut (optional, I didn't include them but they'd be very good in it!)
• 1/2 cup morsels - I used a combination of white chocolate and semi sweet chocolate.  Butterscotch or peanut butter chips would also work well.

Instructions: 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease cookie sheets or use a non-stick sheet.

 

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and brown sugar. 

 

Mix in the egg and vanilla until well blended. 

 

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt (ahh there were our friends missing from the ingredients picture...)

 

Stir flour mixture into the batter until well blended. 

 

Mix in the oats, coconut (if using) and morsels until evenly distributed. 

 

Roll dough into walnut sized balls.... (now I'm allergic to walnuts, so what size are they??)....and place 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. 

Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are lightly browned. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Review: I'll just say it - this is my new go-to cookie recipe.  I'm a huge fan of adding oatmeal to any cookie, and for many years the "Oatmeal Scotchies" recipe on the back of the Nestle Butterscotch Chips has been my standby favorite.  These were better.  They didn't have quite as much oatmeal which was actually very good and had a lot less butter than many other recipes (which often call for 2 sticks).  The original recipe called for shortening but I've never cooked with shortening in my life so I did a simple conversion of 1 cup shortening=3/4 cup butter.  Thank you, Google! The girls, AB and ED, really enjoyed them as well - they went great with Guacamole and the Bachelorette!  These will definitely be made again, especially in the new standing mixer!

 I officially need to stop baking and start running now.  The next few recipes will need to be low fat!  I did pick up some lovely golden beets and fresh lettuce at the farmer's market this weekend!!

yelleBELLYboo

Pistachio White Chocolate Chip Cookies

 So my aunt is one of my very favorite people in the world.  She is one of my close friends and I adore her.  And she must like me a lot too, because she got me a standing mixer for graduation!  It's very wonderful, so when this recipe was emailed to me by a listserv I subscribe to called "great recipes by M.R. Baker" I thought it was a wonderful excuse to try it out.

Pistachio White Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Ingredients:
•    1 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
•    1 cup of sugar
•    1 cup of dark brown sugar, packed
•    2 eggs
•    2 tablespoons of milk
•    2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
•    2 1/2 cups of flour
•    1 teaspoon of baking soda
•    1 teaspoon of baking powder
•    1 teaspoon of kosher salt (regular salt will suffice)
•    1 cup of rolled oats
•    1 1/2 cups of coarsely chopped pistachios, raw and unsalted
•    1 1/2 cups of white chocolate chips

Instructions:
1 Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream the butter and sugars together on
high speed for three minutes.
2 Add the eggs, milk, and vanilla and beat for 3 minutes, being sure
to scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure even mixing.
3 In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder,
salt, and rolled oats. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture
slowly, being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl
once or twice to ensure even mixing.
4 Fold in the pistachios and white chocolate chips. Drop heaping
teaspoonfuls onto parchment lined cookie sheets, add an extra
pistachio or two on top of each bit of dough for decoration if
desired.
5 Bake for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to set up on the
cookie sheets before moving to a baking rack to cool completely.
Makes 6 dozen.

So I made a few adjustments.  First, I halved the recipe.  As you can see, it still made about 19 big cookies.  Second, I couldn't find raw, unsalted chopped pistachios.  Instead of scrapping the pistachios (which is, logically, what I should have done, I used salt & peppered roasted pistachios.  Probably not the best choice .... they didn't add great flavor.

Also, I used a trick that my mom's college roommate taught me... although it didn't work quite as well as normal because there were too many chips/pistachios for the batter.  About halfway through cooking, I take the baking tray out of the oven and rap it, I mean REALLY RAP IT. LOUD!  At least when this is done with the recipe on the back of the Nestle Chocolate Chips, it makes them so thin and crispy and DELISH!  This time, less of a wonderful effect.

Review:
Mind you, I'm a HUGE white chocolate fan and I really like pistachios, so I was expecting great cookies.  The concept - great.  The cookies had I used raw, unsalted pistachios - probably could have been pretty good. The reality (and I am convinced that raw, unsalted pistachios are hard to find... how do they crack open if you don't roast them??) - not so good.  The peppered pistachios probably made it even worse.  They had too much flour I think and the white chocolate chips were incredibly sweet in a not-so-sweet cookies.  They make me want to stick with my oatmeal scotchies. (Now THAT'S a good cookie!)

It's was not good.

(but shhh don't tell my friends yet, because I think they'll be eating them tonight! Or I could spare them and leave the batch in the kitchen at work and hope they slowly disappear throughout the day....)

yelleBELLYboo