Oatmeal Cookies - Saucer Size

After being away for over a week, it was a little difficult to get back into the whole baking routine. But more about that in a bit.

This recipe today came from a little local magazine that we have here in the Bucks County area. I was flipping through it a few weeks ago and found this recipe for Oatmeal Cookies , saucer sized. The article and recipe is from Pam Anderson who is a former resident of New Hope, PA and was executive editor of Cooks Illustrated Magazine.

I have a great recipe for Oatmeal Raisin cookies that everyone likes but, I thought I'd try this one, just to compare. Recipes for Oatmeal Cookies vary almost as much as recipes for Chocolate Chip Cookies, some chewy, some crispy, some with raisins, nuts, spices, or even chocolate chips!

This one actually lists many of the previously mentioned add ins. You can swap out the chocolate chips and use any kind of nut you like or you can substitute the dried cranberries with dried apricots or, of course, raisins.

The cookie had a kind of caramel flavor, probably from the generous amount of brown sugar. It was a slightly thick cookie and crunchy on the outside and chewy inside, which is a perfect combo to me! And, I loved it with the dried cranberries. I didn't use chocolate chips, but I bet they'd be good in it.

So start by mixing your dry ingredients together in a medium bowl.

Then in a small bowl, mix the eggs, salt and vanilla.

In a large bowl, mix butter, oil and sugars and stir the egg mixture into this.

Stir in the dry mixture...

Then stir in the add ins you choose.( I used toasted pecans and dried cranberries).

Drop onto parchment lined baking sheets. I used my large cookie scoop.

Ok, before I get to the recipe, I thought I'd show you a few photos of The Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida. In all the million times I've been to the Palm Beach area in Florida I don't recall ever having been to this amazingly beautiful resort hotel. I really think I would have remembered!

Henry Flagler built what was called The Palm Beach Inn in 1896. But that one burned down. Then he built another less than a year later. But in 1925 that one burned down! The one that stands today took less than a year to complete, which boggles the mind considering how grand it is. They actually modelled the building after the Villa Medici in Rome.

A beautiful view of the ocean out one of the huge windows.

The hand painted ceilings are incredible!

One of the side porticos.

Just keep walking straight to the ocean. After this winter here in the Northeast, these beautiful flowers and palm trees were a welcome sight!

Ok, let's get to the cookie recipe.

Oatmeal Cookies - Saucer Size ( Makes about 18 large cookies)

1 1/4 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. baking soda

3 cups old fashioned oatmeal

2 large eggs

3/4 tsp salt

1 tsp. vanilla

14 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 cup granulated sugar

1 cup packed light or dark brown sugar ( I used light brown).
1 cup dried cranberries

1 cup chocolate chips or 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut into small chunks. ( I subbed pecans).

Adjust oven rack to highest and lower middle positions. Preheat oven to 350.

Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.

1. In medium bowl, mix flour, baking powder, baking soda and oatmeal.

2. In a small bowl, beat eggs, salt and vanilla.

3. In a large bowl, mix butter, oil and sugars.

4. Stir egg mixture into sugar mixture til smooth.

5. Stir in flour mixture, then stir in cranberries and chocolate.

6. Using a 1 1/2 oz. ( 3 tbsp.) spring action scoop, scoop 6 balls of dough onto each sheet.

7. Bake til golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes. (Mine took only 15 minutes and I baked only one sheet at a time), switching positions of the sheets and turning them around after 12 minutes.

8. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

**Note: Substitute 1 cup toasted walnuts or pecans, coarsely choipped, or 1 cup toasted slivered almonds for the chocolate.

Substitute 1 cup chopped dried apricots or 1 cup raisins for cranberries.

Maple Sugar Ragamuffins

What interested me about this recipe from the March 2006 issue of Gourmet Magazine, besides the name, was the fact that the Ragamuffins took a fraction of the time a yeast dough cinnamon roll would take to make. I read all of the reviews that the recipe received and alot of bakers had good suggestions for adapting the original recipe, which I took into consideration when making mine for my March contribution for gourmetunbound.
I didn't have maple sugar so I used granulated sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon and I threw in a few dark raisins. I also added some orange zest, remembering last month's recipe.
Also, alot of reviews mentioned that the rolls unraveled during baking so I thought putting them into a muffin pan would help keep them together..and it worked!
The dough is more like a biscuit dough than a light, fluffy yeast dough but, still, delicious. And any left over can be reheated and they're just as good as first baked.
So, if you'd like to whip up a quick breakfast treat, this one would be great. One last afternote, I think an orange glaze would really make these extra special!

Throw the flour, maple sugar ( if using), baking powder and salt into your food processor and pulse to combine. Then add the cold butter and pulse til consistency is like coarse meal.
Transfer to a large mixing bowl and add zest ( if using) and milk and stir with a fork til a shaggy dough forms.

Dump the whole mess onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead a few times.

Roll out the dough to a rectangle and spread with the softened butter and sprinkle with maple sugar ( if using), or your cinnamon sugar mixture. Throw in some raisins and/or nuts if you'd like.

Roll up the dough and cut slices about 1" wide. You should get about 12 slices.

Here's where I changed the recipe and used muffin pans.

See, no unraveling!

Maple Sugar Ragamuffins

2 cups AP flour

1 tbsp. granulated maple sugar ( or substitute 1/2 white sugar, 1/2 lt. brown sugar and about 1/2 tsp. cinnamon)

1 tbsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

5 tbsp. cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

3/4 cup whole milk ( I used buttermilk)

Filling:

6 tbsp. unsalted butter, well softened

1 cup granulated maple sugar ( or substitute a mix of white granulated sugar, light brown sugar and cinnamon)*Note: You could also add some nutmeg and/or chopped nuts.

Preheat oven to 400 and line a 17" x 14" baking sheet with parchment paper. (Or use the muffin pans, well buttered)

1. Whisk, (or place in food processor), flour, maple sugar, baking powder and salt.

2. Blend in butter with fingers ( or processor) til it resembles a coarse meal.

3. Transfer to large bowl ( if using processor), and add milk and stir with fork til a shaggy dough forms.

4. Gently knead 8 to 10 times on a lightly floured surface.

5. Roll out to a 13" x 11" rectangle. Spread evenly with softened butter ( you can see from my photo that it kind of went on in clumps but don't worry, it all comes out okay!).

6. Roll up snugly. Cut into 12 slices and arrange cut slices down on baking sheet ( or place in the muffin pans). Sprinkle top with some remaining maple sugar mixture.

7. Bake til puffed, 18 to 20 minutes.

If you want to make an orange glaze, mix some confectioners sugar with some orange juice and a little bit of orange zest to a smooth, thin consistency and drizzle over slightly warm muffins.

Banana Bread

I had been thinking about making banana bread for a while and, as usual, my local grocery store had plenty of over ripe bananas, wrapped and ready to come home with me. I love that they sell fruits and veggies that are just past ripe at a fraction of the original cost. Some stores don't do that. I'm told they just throw them out! It seems so wasteful.
Anyway, I thought I'd try a few different recipes and see which I liked better. The first one is from Molly Wizenberg. I believe she has it in her book " A Homemade Life", which I really want to get around to reading some day soon! But I found the recipe here.
It sounded a little bit different, with the addition of crystallized ginger and chocolate chips.
I baked another recipe to compare and I'll try to post that one tomorrow..not promising!
I really liked this banana bread. It doesn't have any spices in it, such as cinnamon or nutmeg, like the other one. Kris really loved it! I did love the chocolate chips and the crystallized ginger gave it a little chewiness.
One change I had to make was that I bought a low fat yogurt by mistake so all I had in the fridge to use was creme fraiche that I'd made and that worked just fine.


Banana bread is an easy recipe to make because you do all the mixing in just a few bowls and it's all mixed by hand so you don't even have to drag out the big mixer.
Just combine all the ingredients together and stir.

Then throw in the dry and stir gently til it's all combined.

Pour the batter into your prepared pan and bake.

Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger ( adapted from Molly Wizenberg's book).

6 tbsp. unsalted butter

2 cups unbleached AP flour

3/4 cups sugar

3/4 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed bananas ( approx. 3 bananas)

1/4 cup well stirred whole milk plain yogurt ( I used the creme fraiche)

1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Butter a loaf pan.

1. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.

2. In a large mixing bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.

3. Add the chocolate chips and crystallized ginger. Stir well and set aside.

4. In a medium bowl, lightly beat eggs with a fork. Add banana, yogurt, butter and vanilla. Stir well.

5. Pour banana mixture into dry ingredients. Stir gently til just mixed. Batter will be thick and somewhat lumpy but all the flour should be incorporated.

6. Scrape into prepared pan and smooth the top.

7. Bake 50 minutes to an hour or when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. If the top is getting too browned, tent top with foil.

8. Cool in pan 5 minutes. Then take out of pan and cool completely before slicing..if you can wait that long!

Nanaimo Bars

When I read this recipe in the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion and saw that it originally was from Nanaimo, a city on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, I thought it would be a perfect choice, kind of my nod to the Olympics!

I hadn't even looked up any info on this bar or noticed how many others had baked it and commented on it before I had made it myself. Then, after I had made it, I checked it out on line and saw many variations, the peanut butter one sounds good! Or, how about using mint flavor?

I couldn't wait to taste it and once it had done time in the fridge, I took it out to take a photo and took a bite. It really has a nice, creamy texture from the pudding filling and the chocolate layer on top adds a wonderful chocolatey silkiness ( using semi sweet Belgian chocolate doesn't hurt, either!). The only objection I have it that the bar seems very elegant and the graham cracker crumbly crust doesn't seem to go with the two top layers. It seems to need a less crumbly, more sophisticated crust, maybe something like a chocolate shortbread? The flavors and textures are better, I think, if the bar is at a cool room temperature, rather than straight from the fridge.

So, let's make Nanaimo Bars.
First make the crust by combining butter, sugar and cocoa in your mixing bowl.
Mix in egg and stir in coconut, walnuts, vanilla and crumbs.

Pat the dough into your prepared pan and bake 10 minutes.

Once it bakes and cools, make the filling and spread over top and refridgerate til chilled.

Once that has cooled, make the frosting and spread that over the top and refridgerate again til set.

Kind of alot of steps!

Nanaimo Bars ( from King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion)

Crust:

1/2 cup ( 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1/4 cup sugar

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, regular or dutch process

1 large egg

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts ( the recipe didn't specify how finely chopped but I took mine for a spin in the food processor til they were finely chopped).

1 tsp. vanilla

2 cups graham cracker crumbs

Filling:

1/2 cup ( 1 stick) unsalted butter

2 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp. vanilla

2 tbsp. instant vanilla pudding mix

2 tbsp. milk

Frosting:

1 cup chopped semisweet chocolate or chocolate chips

2 tbsp. vegetable shortening, unsalted butter or heavy cream

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9" x 9" pan or an 11" x 7" pan.

Crust:

1. In medium sized mixing bowl, combine butter, sugar and cocoa.

2. Mix in the egg, then stir in the coconut, walnuts, vanilla and crumbs.

3. Press the mixture into the prepared pan and bake 10 minutes.

4. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Filling:

1. In medium sized mixing bowl, cream butter, then add 1 cup confectioners sugar and the vanilla.

2. In a small bowl, stir the pudding into the milk and add to the butter mixture.

3. Add the remaining cup of confectioners sugar and beat til the filling is smooth.

4. Spread it over the cooled crust and refridgerate til cooled.

Frosting:

1. Melt the chocolate and shortening in a small saucepan set over medium heat or in the microwave. ( I used the double boiler method). Stir til smooth.

2. Spread the frosting over the chilled bars and refridgerate til chocolate is set.

3. Cut into bars, using a very sharp knife.

Chai Shortbread Cookies

I have the very good fortune to be set up on the weekend indoor Farmers Market in Stockton, NJ next to the fabulous Owowcow Creamery , selling some of the best..no..make that the best ice cream I have ever tasted. Their ice cream is made in small batches from local, all natural ingredients and the owner, John makes it all himself. The flavors are just amazing and I get to sample everything! They even pass out the almost empty containers for us all to polish off!

Well, last weekend, John made a Chai Cream flavor ice cream that he gave me to sample. It is my new favorite flavor, so far with the Pistachio Raspberry running a close second! But this Chai flavor inspired me to seek out a Chai Shortbread Cookie and I found this recipe on the Culinaryinthedesert blog which is from a Land O Lakes recipe, so he states.

I made half the recipe, to be sure the cookie wouldn't come out too hard for a sandwich cookie. I find that if a cookie that's made to take a filling is too hard, once you bite into it all the filling gushes out. Well, this cookie was just right. Using only confectioners sugar, it is soft enough to take the filling but not too soft for a shortbread.

The flavors of the chai really came through and the filling adds a kind of creaminess to the cookie. I think I'll try adding a little star anise to the next batch since it's another one of the ingredients in chai and not listed in this recipe. Now that I have this recipe, I'm going to adapt my toasted coconut shortbread recipe and then I can incorporate a lime filling..Yum! Stay tuned!

Chai Shortbread Sandwich Cookie ( adapted from Culinaryinthedesert)

Cookie:

2 cups AP flour

1/2 tsp. + 1/8 tsp. salt

3/4 tsp. cardamom

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. cloves

Scant 1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup confectioners sugar

Filling:

2 tbsp. half & half

1/4 - 1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder

2 cups confectioners sugar

4 tbsp. unsalted butter, softened

1/4 tsp. cardamom

1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1/8 tsp. ginger

Topping:

2 tbsp. confectioners sugar

1/2 tsp. unsweetened cocoa

Preheat oven to 325. ( I bake mine in a 350 oven and it was fine). Generously sprinkle granulated sugar on baking sheets.

1. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, salt and spices.

2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar til light and fluffy.

3. Add the dry ingredients and mix til all is combined well and begins to clean the sides of the bowl.

4. Shape dough into 1" to 1 1/2" balls and place on baking sheets. Flatten each one with a flat bottom glass dipped in sugar to 1 3/4" in diameter.

5. Bake 10 to 14 minutes. Cool completely on wire rack.

6. Filling: Stir half & half and espresso powder together in a small mixing bowl. Beat in confectioners sugar, a little at a time, then beat in butter and spices. Beat til smooth and creamy.

7. Add a teaspoon size dollop of filling onto one cookie and top with another.

8. Topping: In a small bowl, stir confectioners sugar and cocoa together. Sift over sandwiched cookies.

Toffee Crunchers Cookies

I noticed this cookie recipe from the King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Cookbook a while ago but I was in a hurry at the time and the one thing that kept me from making it then was the fact that there wasn't an egg in the recipe. Now, sure, I know, tons of cookie recipes don't include eggs, but not this kind of cookie recipe. So. that's why I put off making them til today.

I reread the recipe again, reading the directions also but didn't find any egg listed or used so I called King Arthur Flour in Vermont to ask..what's up with this recipe? And, sure enough, it was a typo! So, if you ever decide to make the Toffee Crunchers from their book, page 263, to be exact, remember to add one egg! Or just go with my recipe below.

The original recipe called for light brown sugar, but I only had dark brown so I used that instead. I don't know what difference it made..and I won't know til I make them again using light brown, but I don't think it changed the recipe that much.

What I liked about the cookie was that it has a wonderful toffee flavor and it's not too sweet, since there's no white sugar used. And it's rich, buttery and chewy and the potato chips add a little salty crunch. I used a small cookie scoop to form them and they came out about 3" across. The recipe also said to space 2 1/2" apart on the sheet because they spread, but I didn't find that they spread much at all. I think next time I make them, I'll make them bigger, using the large cookie scoop.
It's an easy recipe, too.
Just cream the first 6 ingredients in a mixer bowl.
Then add the egg and the flour.
I crushed the potato chips in a zip lock bag.

And added the crushed potato chips, cornflakes ( which I just crunched in my hands as I added) and toffee bits.

Then stir all the add in's into the dough ( I used my paddle. I tried mixing by hand but the dough was too stiff).

Scoop out using a cookie scoop or just a tablespoon and ...

Place on parchment lined baking sheets.

Mine didn't spread as much as the recipe said they would.

Toffee Crunchers ( adapted from The King Arthur Cookie Companion Cookbook)

Makes 4 1/2 dozen ( I found didn't make that much. More like 45 - 48)

1 cup ( 2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups light brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1 large egg

2 1/2 cups unbleached AP flour

2 cups lightly crushed plain salted potato chips

2 cups Rice Krispies ( I used cornflakes)

1 1/3 cups toffee bits

Preheat oven to 375 and line baking sheet with parchment paper.

1. In a large miing bowl, cream together butter, sugar, salt, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder.

2. Mix in the egg, then the flour then gently stir in the add ins. ( I had to use the paddle attachment on my standing mixer again to mix til just combined).

3. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto prepared sheet spacing about 2" apart.

4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. ( Mine only took 10 minutes.)** Update** I checked the texture of the cookies after a few hours and they seemed a little dryer than before, so I suggest baking 8 to 9 minutes for a chewier texture).

5. Remove from oven and cool 5 minutes on sheet. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

*Note:

You can substitute 2/3 cup butterscotch chips and 2/3 cup chopped pecans for the toffee bits.

You can substitute 2 cups gently crushed cornflakes for the rice cereal.

Key Lime Bars in Coconut Crust

I tried very hard to get this recipe posted yesterday, as promised, but when I sat down at the computer at 10 o'clock last night, not only did I have trouble forming words into sentences, but I could barely keep my eyes open. Okay, enough excuses! This recipe is from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion Cookbook. It combines the flavors of coconut and lime and makes a wonderfully refreshing bar cookie. A kind of sweet and tart combo that is so very good. As a matter of fact, everyone who tried it today just loved it, so don't just take my word for it!
I especially love the crunch of the toasted coconut in the crust. I made one small change to the filling, which was to add some lime zest to give it more "punch". I halved the recipe and used a 9" square pan.


Begin by combining all the crust ingredients in a food processor, reserving 1 cup for the topping and press into the bottom of your pan and bake.
Make the filling and pour onto the crust.

Bake the bars and sprinkle on the reserved crumbs. bake another 10 minutes and that's it! Let it cool 1 hour and chill.

Key Lime Bars in Coconut Crust

Crust:

2/3 cup ( 5 3/8 oz.)brown sugar

1 3/4 cups (7 1/4 oz.)unbleached AP flour

3 cups ( 9 oz.) shredded sweetened coconut, toasted*

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. coconut extract

1/2 cup ( 1 stick, 4 oz.) unsalted butter, cut into cubes

Filling:

One 8 oz. package cream cheese ( reduced fat, Neufchatel, or full fat), softened

1 3/4 cups ( 12 1/4 oz.) sugar

Pinch salt

3 tbsp. ( 3/4 oz.) unbleached AP flour

4 large eggs

1/3 to 1/2 cup ( 2 3/4 to 4 oz.) Key lime juice or fresh lime juice, to taste

zest of half lime ( this is my addition)

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch, 11 x 11 inch or similar sized pan.

Crust:

1. Combine all the crust ingredients in a medium sized mixing bowl or in the bowl of a food processor. Mix or process til mixture is crumbly. Set aside 1 cup of the crumbs and press the remaining crumbs into the bottom of the pan.

2. Bake 16 to 18 minutes, til it's golden brown.

Filling:

1. In a medium sized bowl, beat the cream cheese til soft. Add the sugar and salt and beat til well blended.

2. Stir in the flour, then beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

3. Stir in the lime juice ( and zest if using) mixing til smooth. Pour onto the crust.

4. Bake the bars for 15 minutes.

5. Sprinkle top with reserved crumbs and bake an additional 10 minutes or til set around the edges but still slightly wobbly in the middle.

6. Remove from oven and let cool at room temp. for 1 hour.

7. For easiest slicing, refridgerate for several hours.

* To toast coconut, place in a shallow baking pan and spread in a single layer. Bake in a 325 oven for 8 to 10 minutes or longer if needed til nice light golden brown . Check toward the end to be sure coconut doesn't burn.*