More to Chew On
Mistakes do not often yield great product...but even though it's not a probable result, at least it's a possible result. Such is perhaps why I stumble through life gripping lightly onto that truism, along with some other ones such as, it's better to be pleasantly surprised than constantly disappointed. Luck, however, is rarely on my side and mistakes often are, well, just mistakes.
Which is why it makes very little sense that, even though the logical part of me sees the improbability behind it all and is all "No sir, no way," there's a strong small irrational part of me that still believes strongly that some errors somewhere may lead to the next greatest thing in the world, or open the door for a new profitable path. And furthermore, it makes even less sense why there is certainly a part of me that purposely tries to make mistakes, just to see where they lead. Whatever conscious is at work here doesn't see it so much as optimism or luck or faith, I think, but more a masochistic childishness of which I just can't let go. You know, mistakes can be awfully fun, even though you know there is pain later down in the road. They can also be awfully tiring, and one too many leaves you in a seemingly endless spin.
Good news is, metaphors don't extend that deeply into the food world for me...not in any masochistic sense at least, unless it's some heart healthy thing where I gorge down cookies even though I know my arteries won't thank me for it later. Baking (and cooking) are odd little tangents in my life that let me into the world of productivity, even though it is in a sense false. I baked cookies this weekend instead of doing laundry and instead of studying, and the trade-off is buried somewhere in the pile of clothes and dust bunnies next to it. Anyways, I made these cookies without any particular recipe in mind other than the last batch of cookies I made (chocolate chip cookies featured in the left jar of the picture...those are the last remaining ones, they sure went awfully fast). I slid these oatmeal suckers into the oven expecting one thing, and I got another, which in this case, turned out to be a happy mistake.
Oatmeal cookies usually bring to mind warm spicy feelings of cinnamon and raisins, soft thick cookies with a little bit of chew and that vaguely healthy "I'm eating oatmeal!" thought. At least, those were my initial intentions when I first set out to make these, spurred on by a fear of the ever diminishing pile of chocolate chip cookies in the chocolate chip cookie jar. One peek into the oven 5 minutes in told me I was going to get something entirely different at the end of the road paved with good oatmeal intentions. If this is the cookie recipe that led me to hell, then I am happy...this is one hellishly good ice-cream sandwich cookie.It's an exceedingly chewy flat cookie that's almost candy-like, that bends and tastes even better the next day, that chews perfectly with ice cream and goes really well with coffee for breakfast. It's still full of oatmeal and nuts (I'm partial to cashews and peanuts, but the more traditional route would probably be walnuts or pecans) and cinnamon spice flavor, but its texture is just unlike any oatmeal cookie I've ever had. See the picture below? It's really got bending capabilities, and it's so thin in some parts, that the light peeks through the cracks of caramel sugar. I think one of the reasons the cookies spread out so much is because of the brown sugar, or perhaps more flour is need and more granulated sugar. Also a note, a medium egg is around 50 g, so you're looking for around 110 grams of egg here (remember, it's less than 150 g because one of the eggs is missing its whites; an alternative is just to use 2 large eggs at 57 grams each, might be an option that yields a less flat cookie). Nevertheless, although I've got a lot of suspicions as to why this cookie turned out this way, in the end, it doesn't matter.
Cookie jars are now all full and life is set to go again.
makes about 48 small cookies
3/4 C salted butter
1 1/4 C light brown sugar, packed
1/2 C white sugar
1 TB vanilla
2 medium eggs
1 medium egg yolk
2 C flour
1/2 TB cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 1/2 C oatmeal (quick cooking oats)
1 1/2 C nut of choice, or raisins
As usual, preheat the oven to 375 degrees, or do this after the batter is prepared. Place your cookie sheet in the oven if you are super concerned about all your batches looking exactly the same.
Melt butter and let it come to room temperature. Mix your light brown sugar with white sugar (you can probably just do 1 C brown sugar if you want it to spread less and be more crispy, less chewy) together, and then add the butter and cream together. Then add your eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract, beating the wet ingredients together for at least 3 minutes or until the mixture looks fluffy.
Add your 2 C flour, cinnamon, and baking soda, lightly mixing and folding in the flour until the mixture comes together. Don't over-beat. Finally, add your oatmeal and nut of choice (I used 1 C of honey-roasted cashews, though candied peanuts would also work wonderfully. It's a little less than I wanted and you can tell in my pictures that the cookies aren't full of nuts). Put the batter into the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour.
I think next time I will add some dried blueberries. I try to stay away from raisins and chocolate because the dog is crazy about cookies and will sit patiently beneath the table while I am making cookies to catch any flying batter. He also expects to get to lick the batter out of the mixing bowl and off the beaters when I'm done. Spoiled brat, he is. Still though, I don't want to give him kidney failure with raisins or poison him with chocolate (my favorite cookie is chocolate chip so it's kind of hard)...so oatmeal cookies like this are a win-win for almost everyone, especially since this recipe yields so many.
Comments
Post a Comment