Saturday, 26 January 2008

• (Super Delicious) cookies for dinner.

  Ever have one of those days when everything is just a little off?

  Today was one of those days for me.  I didn’t get much sleep last night, and, as a result, woke up on the proverbial wrong side of the bed.  The biggest symptom of my off-ness was that I couldn’t figure out what I wanted to eat, for any meal, all day long.  The pinnacle of the day’s edibles was a truly heinous Monte Cristo sandwich.  A good Monte Cristo is a joy.  This was a lukewarm, soggy mass of low-quality deli meat and squidgy cheese.  Shudder.

  Anyway, the title of this post is accurate.  After several hours of recovery from the aforementioned Monte Cristo, I feel finally ready to take the edge off my hunger.  This time, though, I’m determined to eat something really tasty.  My fridge is nearly empty; tomorrow is grocery day.

  My options are limited, but, lo and behold, I have in my possession all the ingredients to make my favorite oatmeal cookies.  And oatmeal is good for you.  Especially with a glass of low-fat milk and an orange.  Right?  Right.

  This recipe in its original state can be found here.  I highly recommend AllRecipes.Com---a great site for recipes of all kinds.  I have used this particular recipe, with almost no tweaks of my own, for a couple of years now, and it’s pretty freaking fantastic.

  Super Delicious Soft Oatmeal Cookies

  
  

  1 cup butter, softened

  1 cup white sugar

  1 cup firmly packed brown sugar

  2 eggs, at room temperature

  1 teaspoon vanilla extract

  2 cups all-purpose flour

  1 teaspoon baking soda

  1 teaspoon salt

  1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice

  3 cups quick cooking oats

  1 ½ cups chopped walnuts, or a blend of any other mix-ins

  Put softened butter in a mixing bowl (preferably the bowl of a standing mixer) and cream with both sugars.  Cream until fluffy, and slightly lightened in color.  Meanwhile, crack your eggs into a cup and stir the vanilla extract gently into the eggs.  Add eggs, one yolk at a time, to the mixer…if both yolks go in at the same time, don’t panic.  Just give it an extra few moments to make sure everything is well blended.  Scrape the bowl down several times during this process.

  In another bowl, mix flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon/pumpkin pie spice.  With your mixer on the lowest setting, add flour mixture ½ cup at a time, giving it a few seconds to blend after each addition.  Finally stir in the oats and any mix-ins you’re using.  You may need to use a wooden spoon and some good old-fashioned elbow grease for this last step, as the dough can be very thick.  Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for about an hour.

  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.  Put parchment paper on your cookie sheets.  Scoop the dough into walnut-sized balls, roll them in your hands briefly to smooth them out, and line them up 2 inches apart on your cookie sheets.  Flatten each cookie with a fork.

  Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in your preheated oven.  Let the cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.  Repeat process until all the cookie dough is gone.  This recipe is supposed to make 24 cookies, but I always end up a little short.  Probably because the cookie dough is so dang tasty in its raw state.     (Of course, if you're concerned about food-borne illness and bacteria---and if you're pregnant, elderly, or have a compromised immune system, you probably should be---don't eat raw cookie dough or anything with raw eggs.)

  Notes:

  First off, invest in some parchment paper.  I guarantee it will make all your baking adventures 1,000% easier.

  Second, you can add any mix-ins you like.  Just stick to the 1-1 ½ cup measurement.  The dough can’t handle much more than 1 ½ cups of goodies.

  Third, watch your cookies closely.  I have found that 8 to 9 minutes is all they need in my oven.  Your oven may be a little different so don’t set a time and walk away, or you're headed for disappointment.  You need to take these cookies out of the oven when the edges are just turning golden brown and the centers still look a little raw.  This is absolutely critical!  The cookies will continue to cook on the sheet for several minutes after you remove them from the oven; this means you will get a nice soft, chewy center.  Leave them in until they look done, and you’ll end up with dried out oatmeal crackers.  Use your first cookie sheet as a guide; then, on future sheets, if you want to set a timer and make yourself some chocolate milk or a Tom Collins while you wait, go ahead. 

  These cookies are well-worth a try.  Thanks to Barbara for sharing her fabulous recipe on AllRecipes.com.

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