chocolate chip cookies

oatmeal chocolate cherry cookies

March 7, 2011 by rainyd01 16 Comments

Welcome to baby countdown 2011. With two weeks left to go, I’m in full thumb-twiddling mode. If you’re a mom you probably agree that the toughest part of pregnancy is waiting for the other shoe to drop. Not only are you huge and swollen, you likely have insomnia, need to pee every 3.5 minutes, are getting the living hell kicked out of your ribs, and are sporting my favorite pregnancy accessory: cankles. Worst (and best) of all, you know that your life is going to change forever at any given moment. It’s torture and incredibly exciting at the same time.

On the bright side, my cankles and I have had lots of time to bake during all this waiting. I’ve been biding my time trying to come up with the most killer oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe, and I think I’ve done myself proud. This particular batch uses dried cherries and dark chocolate chips—a perfect combination of sweet and tart.

To make them, you’ll need the basics: butter, white and brown sugar, flour, baking soda, salt, an egg, vanilla, cinnamon & nutmeg. For the oats, I use the regular old-fashioned kind (not quick-cooking or instant). I find that they don’t melt into the dough as easily and give more texture and crunch. Dried bing cherries and dark chocolate chips round out the ingredients.

To begin, fit your stand mixer with the paddle attachment. Toss in the butter and sugars…

…and cream together.

Beat in the egg and vanilla.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Add in two batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Mix in the oats.

I think dried cherries are just a tad big for cookies. Not only will you get smaller bites of cherry in each cookie if you chop them a bit, but you’ll get more bang for your buck.

Just a rough chop will do.

Stir in the cherries and chocolate chips. Cover dough and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. I pretty much refrigerate any cookie dough for at least an hour before baking—it gives the butter a chance to solidify again, which will allow the cookies to bake more evenly and retain more height in the middle.

When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat, and roll golf ball-sized amounts of dough between your palms.

Bake for 13-14 minutes, until lightly golden but not crispy.

I love the texture of these cookies—they’re soft but with a tiny bit of crunch from the oats. The tartness of the cherries combined with the richness of the chocolate is so heavenly that it might just send me into labor. *Fingers crossed.*

I’ll be sure to keep you updated as the days go by. Expect to see a sweet newborn picture up soon!

-RDG

Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies adapted from Betty Crocker

Makes approximately 30 cookies

Prep Time: 15 minutes plus 1 hour in refrigerator

Bake Time: 13-14 minutes per batch

1 c packed light brown sugar
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 c (2 sticks) butter, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 c oats (not instant or quick-cooking)
1 12 oz package dark or bittersweet chocolate chips
1 c chopped dried cherries

1. In a small bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.

2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the sugars and butter. Add the egg and vanilla and mix until evenly incorporated. Add the flour mixture in 2 batches, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition. Stir the oats, chocolate chips, and cherries. Cover dough and refrigerate 1 hour.

3. Preheat oven to 350F. Roll golf ball-sized amounts of dough between your palms and place on a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet at least 2″ apart. Bake one tray at a time for 13-14 minutes or until lightly golden around the edges. Let cool on a wire rack. Any unused dough may be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for up to one month.

a tale of two cookies

November 16, 2010 by rainyd01 4 Comments

One rainy afternoon, Lucy and I needed cookies and apple cider. It was just what the day required. Wanting to try something new, I dug out one of my trusty cookbooks, James Peterson’s Baking. Since Mr. Peterson is pretty much a recipe guru, I was curious how he would prepare something as simple and classic as a chocolate chip cookie.

Although they required much more butter and much less sugar than other cookie recipes, the ingredients were otherwise straightforward. And unlike my all-time favorite Compost Cookies, the dough came together quickly and was easy to work with.

My trouble with the recipe began during baking. I set my oven to 375F, lined my baking sheets with parchment paper, and dutifully measured the chilled dough into 2 tablespoon scoops as per the recipe. It said to press the scoops of dough down onto the baking sheet with a greased palm or the bottom of a drinking glass. I thought this was strange and would take the volume out of the cookies, but did so anyway.

After 12 minutes in the oven (not 15, as the recipe recommended), the first batch of cookies were—you guessed it—as flat as a pancake. Nearly burned around the edges, and so crisp that several broke when I moved them.

For the second batch I didn’t press the cookies down and simply placed the dough balls on the baking sheet. After 12 minutes, this batch came out better: taller, softer, and much, much more pleasing to look at.

I was a little stupefied. Did I mis-read the ingredients and do something wrong? Is my oven off by 50 degrees? And if I did everything right, how could such a well-respected cookbook contain such a crappy recipe?

Even these pretty, puffed-up cookies weren’t the best tasting. As doughy as they look, they were much too cakey for my taste. Don’t get me wrong—I didn’t expect this to be the ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe. I tried it to attempt something new, and new it was.

We’re not all perfect and we’re all prone to screw ups in the kitchen. This cookie debacle reminded me to trust my instincts when I’m cooking. I knew that I shouldn’t have pressed the cookies down just as I knew that the butter and sugar amounts seemed odd. But instead of going with my gut, I followed the recipe to the tee. It was uncharacteristic of me to do this—usually I tweak every recipe I use to my own specifications.

I was being who I loathed in the kitchen: the cook who doesn’t take risks, who takes recipes at face value, who is scared to substitute olive oil for extra virgin olive oil. Cooking can be an exact science if you want it to be. But it can also be creative, flexible and fun. I know what I like more than a cookbook does.

From now on I vow to keep screwing up. I already mess up at least one dish per week. Maybe I’ll make a new goal of two. I’m not going to learn a thing if I don’t attempt new recipes, experiment with ingredients, play with measurements. And isn’t part of the fun of being in the kitchen seeing what you can create, off the recipe page? I can’t promise my daughter the perfect chocolate chip cookies the next time she asks for some. But we’ll get there eventually through trial, error, and lots of tasty mistakes along the way.

-RDG

Filed Under: food Tagged With: chocolate chip cookies, cookies, experimenting in the kitchen, james peterson baking, kitchen mess ups, kitchen screw-ups, messed up cookies