Oatmeal Currant Cookies

The L.A. Times has a wonderful list of recipes from bakeries and readers in the Los Angeles area and I thought I'd try a few of them, beginning with this cookie.

It's a little different in that it's made with pastry flour which is a type of soft wheat flour, a low protein flour, with reduced gluten and the texture is finer than all purpose flour. I went to several supermarkets but since I couldn't find pastry flour anywhere, I decided to make my own from a recipe I found online, combining all purpose and cake flour.

The cookies have a nice chewiness, but if you bake them too long, I found they get too crunchy. Now if you like your oatmeal cookies crunchy, then you can bake them longer, but if not, bake them for less time and remove them from the baking sheet once they come out of the oven.

The cookies call for currants, which we love, but, you can always just use raisins. And it has a hefty amount of cinnamon which gives them a great flavor.

I also found the cookie tasted a little too sweet so I'd cut down on the sugar a bit. But then, maybe it's just me...I've been on a diet the past three weeks and everything tastes too sweet to me!

Whisk together the dry ingredients in a medium bowl and set aside.

In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugars together for about 5 minutes.

Then add the eggs, one at a time, and beat in the vanilla.

Beat in the flour mixture a little at a time.

Then add in the oats and currants just briefly.

Stir the mixture well til it's all incorporated.

Place heaping small scoopfuls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet, then flatten each to about a 1/2" thickness.

The cookies will spread a bit when baked.

Oatmeal Currant Cookies ( from the Corner Bakery Cafe, posted in The LA Times)

Makes about 4 dozen cookies

3 1/2 cups (1 lb.) pastry flour (recipe below to make your own)

4 tsp. baking soda

3 tbsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 tsp. salt

3 sticks unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups plus 1 tsp. granulated sugar ( I decreased this amount to 1 cup total)

2 1/3 cups brown sugar ( I used light brown)

2 eggs

2 tsp. vanilla

Scant 4 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup currants ( or raisins)

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Preheat oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt and set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugars til light and fluffy, about 5 minutes.

3. Add in the eggs, one at a time til fully incorporated.

4. Beat in vanilla.

5. Beat in flour mixture, one spoonful at a time. (I just gradually added it in).

6. On low speed, mix in oats and currants briefly, then finish mixing with a sturdy spatula or wooden spoon to be sure it's all well combined.

7. Scoop generous amounts of dough, about 2 tablespoonfuls, onto baking sheet spacing 3" apart.

Flatten each to about 1/2" thickness.

8. Bake for approx. 14 minutes, til the edges are set and the center still looks a little moist.

**The original recipe says to bake 18 to 20 minutes, but this would have burnt my cookies.**

Oven temeratures vary so it would be best to test one or two first.

Cool cookies on the baking sheet for crunchier cookies.

Remove cookies from baking sheet for softer cookies.

To make pastry flour:

I used Joy of Baking's recipe. To make 2 cups of pastry flour, combine 1 1/3 cups ( 185 g) AP flour with 2/3 cup (90g) cake flour. ( Yes, you have 1/2 cup extra if you double this recipe!)