Tag Archives: Cookies

Morning Paper Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

The oatmeal cookie lid: one of many ways to keep warm this winter.


One of the greatest sources for food and drink recipes is the Wall St Journal. Who knew? Really, cocktails are their sweet spot, but they have a sophisticated spin on pretty much everything. Consequently, you don’t find a lot of cookies there, but when you do, you know they’re going to be good.

These cookies delivered, and turn out to be somewhat addictive, even for someone who is not a huge oatmeal raisin fan. It may have been the overdose of cinnamon, or the salt, or the plumped up raisins. It probably had little to do with the oats, but you never know. They even passed the suspicious kid test. 

I waited a long time to post these because the recipe, when strictly followed, asks you to leave the dough in the fridge for four days. Four DAYS. This is really handy for those tough Monday afternoons when you say to yourself, “Boy I feel like a warm oatmeal cookie…on Friday.” Needless to say, I have made many batches of these, and it took until today to achieve the recommended four day incubation.

Was it worth the wait? I did indeed notice the flavor was even better than the young, unseasoned cookies. BUT they are also really good with a one day rest, and even a zero day rest. I will leave the waiting up to you.

A few notes here: The mixer with the paddle attachment is real, as is the extra large egg. This dough is pretty crumbly, so pro mixing and the extra bit of egg both help. If you only have large eggs, just beat up another one and add a bit of it in. Then have yourself a hearty ¾ egg omelet or cook it up and add it to your salad. Or, if you are not pathologically averse food waste (as I am), just put it down the drain.

On cookie size: The original calls for a ¼ cup scoop. Those are massive cookies. I prefer to make mine golf ball sized and smoosh them as suggested, with a bit of parchment paper.

On refrigerating: It says to scoop them first. If you don’t happen to have that kind of real estate in your fridge, refrigerate the batter in a bowl and scoop just before baking.

Finally, on cooking time: 14 minutes was about right for my normal sized cookies, but start checking them at 12. Err on the side of underdone and they will firm up a bit as they cool.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

From Adapted by the Wall St. Journal from Sadelle’s, New York City.
Active Time: 10-15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour, plus 4 days for chilling dough
Makes: 14 massive cookies. Or wayyyy more normal sized ones.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup raisins
  • 1¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (yes this is a lot, and it is key!)
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1½ teaspoons fine sea salt
  • 1½ sticks slightly softened butter
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
  • 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 cups old-fashioned or rolled oats
  • 1 extra-large egg
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

 Method:

  1. Soak raisins in hot water for 30 minutes, then drain.
  2. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, sift together flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt.
  3. Using an electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars on medium speed until light and fluffy, scraping down frequently. Take care not to overbeat.
  4. Add flour mixture to creamed butter and sugar and mix on low speed until combined. Mix in oats, followed by drained raisins, egg and vanilla.
  5. Use a ¼-cup measure to scoop dough onto a parchment-paper lined baking sheet. (See note above. Golf ball sized makes a regular-sized cookie.) Flatten each blob with base of measuring cup or your hand and a square of parchment paper. Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and refrigerate 4 days (optional).
  6. To bake cookies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake until cookies are golden-brown on the outside but still soft in the middle, about 17 minutes (12-14 for smaller cookies). Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheet a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool.

A whole plate of yum, looking a little funky with a filter.

 

Classic Champion Chip Cookies

Pro move: Lila's got the tools of the trade—parchment paper and high tech oven mitts.

Pro move: Lila’s got the tools of the trade—parchment paper and high tech oven mitts.

Honestly, do you really need another chocolate chip cookie recipe? Apparently, yes! These come to you from US Ski Team rising star Lila Lapanja, who contributed mightily to my condo survival guide in Ski Racing. Lila’s mom Margie is the baking legend behind Margie’s Cowboy Cookies and the author of four cookbooks that meld life and kitchen wisdom with soul-satisfying recipes. Margie is all about comfort food, so of course her chocolate chip cookies would be good.

I am not sure what makes these so fool-proof, but they are. Maybe it’s the combo of margarine and butter, or the nice round numbers that make the proportions easy to remember even if you cut the recipe in half or in quarters; or the way dough stays soft and easy to scoop even if it’s in the fridge for a while; or the way they cook evenly and stay just soft enough when cool. I’m not sure what the magic is, but it just is. The next time you’re making a care package (surely someone you know needs a boost!) try baking these and you won’t go wrong.

According to Margie and Lila, these cookies will bring you good luck if you eat them the night before your ski races or at lunch between runs.

Champion Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup margarine, room temperature
  • 1 cup butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 6 cups unbleached flour
  • 4 cups chocolate chips*

(You can cut this recipe in half to make it more manageable. No calculator required!)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large (at least 13-quart) mixing bowl, whip up margarine, butter, and sugars until fluffy with an electric mixer.  Add the eggs, vanilla, and salt and mix well. (Slackers note—if a fork is all you’ve got just make sure the butter and margarine are soft and whip it good!)

Blend the baking soda and baking powder into the flour and tap into the creamed mixture on low speed. Mix until it comes together. Stir in the chocolate chips with a strong wooden spoon.

Line a cookie sheet with baking parchment and scoop the dough with a small (1- to 2-ounce) ice cream scoop or with a large spoon. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes (depending on your stove…), until lightly golden in color with tiny cracks on top of the cookies. Note your baking time for the rest of the batch. Makes about 4 dozen 2-ounce (Mrs. Fields’-size) cookies.

* Yes, there is a secret to this recipe: the chocolate chips. My favorite baking chips are, have been, and will always be Hershey‘s…or Trader Joe’s. I like to use half semi-sweet and half milk chocolate. On festive occasions, try tossing in white chocolate chips, a few toffee chips, or mini-kisses.

 

 

Snowy Mountain Top Chocolate Crackle Cookies

Pure as the driven snow!

Pure as the driven snow!

You don’t need to look far to find snowy mountain tops in these parts. This winter has brought snow storm, after snow storm, after snow storm to the northeast. It just keeps coming and it’s great. Right out the front door is waist deep powder and more of the fine white fluffy stuff is on the way. I saw this recipe for ‘snowy mountain top’ chocolate crackle top cookies and I thought…. “bingo”! It says it all.

We took these cookies back country skiing this past weekend. They got eaten at the top of a run where it was hard to transition due to the waist deep powder (see photo below). But the cookies helped us power through and the skiing was phenomenal.

This recipe comes to you from one of my favorites, Whitewater Cooks, which is a collection of recipes from the Fresh Tracks Café in Nelson, British Columbia.  That is where I was supposed to be this week but due to the poor snow conditions out west and the great snow conditions here, we made a last minute change of plans and cancelled our trip. This is as close as I’ll get to the Fresh Tracks Café this week, but at least I’m skiing fresh tracks (literally!)

Ingredients

8 oz. semi sweet dark chocolate
1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup milk
1 cup icing sugar

Method

Coarsely chop chocolate and melt over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool.

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Beat butter and light brown sugar until fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add the cooled melted chocolate. Add flour alternatively with milk. When the dough comes together shape into flattened disk and wrap in plastic. Chill for at least 2 hours, until the dough is firm.

Using a heaping teaspoon of dough, shape into 1 inch balls. Roll each ball in icing sugar until completely coated. If an cocoa colored dough is visible, roll in sugar again.

Place cookies on a parchment covered cookie sheet 2 inches apart. Make sure they don’t roll around when you put them in the oven. Bake at 350 degrees until flat and the sugar coating (snow) splits, 12 to 15 minutes.

Let them cook completely and then store in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Truly waist deep

Truly waist deep

Hedonist or Healthy….. You Decide

Cookies Hedonist or Healthy Wooden BoardEvery Christmas season I get this desire to make and eat a lot of cookies. If you are like me, you have a hedonist side thinking butter, sugar, rich, and gooey. And then you have a healthy side thinking oats, dried fruit, nuts, and light. My inability to make a decision on which to make had me make a batch of each. For the hedonist side, I made these salted toffee chocolate squares (your mouth is watering right now, I know it is). These are in the same family as Edie’s infamous crackle bars with slightly different ingredients. For the healthy side, I made these flourless peanut butter granola balls. Both were delicious, but I’m sure you can guess which ones were devoured first. Yes, the salted toffee chocolate squares — but no surprise there.  

For more cookies, here are some ideas…

Crackle Bars
White Peppermint Meringues
Cowboy Cookies 
Salty Malty Krispy Treats
Coconut Macaroons
Reese’s Redemption Cups
Peanut Butter Krispy Fudge Bars

Salted Toffee-Chocolate Squares

Ingredients

14-16 store bought graham crackers
1 bag (8 oz) toffee bits
1 1/2 cups raw almonds, toasted, then coarsely chopped
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 tsp coarse salt

Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line large rimmed baking sheet with parchment. Place graham crackers in a single layer on sheet, edges touching (cover entire bottom of sheet with graham crackers). Sprinkle toffee bits and toasted almonds evenly over graham crackers.

Bring sugar and butter to a boil in a small saucepan. Reduce heat, and cook at a rapid simmer, swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is syrupy, approximately 2 minutes. Immediately pour over graham crackers. Bake until sugar is bubbling, approximately 12 minutes. Immediately sprinkle chocolate bits and salt evenly over graham crackers. Let cool, then cut or break into pieces.

Flourless Peanut Butter Granola Balls

Ingredients

1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup natural peanut butter
2 Tbsp unsalted butter (I used Nature’s Path)
1 cup crisped rice cereal (I used Kashi brand)
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (not quick cooking)
1/4 cup dried fruit such as raisins, cranberries, or cherries

Method

Heat honey, peanut butter, and butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir until warmed through and smooth, approximately 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in cereal, oats, and dried fruit. Mix to combine well.

Drop mixture by the tablespoon into mini paper cupcake liners. Place on rimmed baking sheet and chill until set, approximately 15 minutes.