Wednesday, March 25, 2009

Oatmeal Cookies: Take 2

Yesterday I was bored and decided to try another oatmeal cookie recipe. I made a healthy oatmeal cookie a few months ago (before my blog) with apple sauce and it wasn't bad for a healthy cookie. This time around I didn't have apple sauce but decided to give it a go with butter. I, of course, cut back on the butter but I think it changed the texture of the cookie. The taste is great, but they are far too crumbly. They even cooked in a ball and didn't 'melt' down during cooking like typical cookies. I couldn't bring myself to take pictures because I was so perplexed by the crumbly texture. I guess if I had given in on the full amount of butter it might have helped the texture. Oddly, the recipe calls for cooling the dough for an hour before cooking. I think this gave the dough the extra crumbly texture. You don't need to chill dough unless it's a cookie than will run during cooking--something oatmeal cookies are not known to do.

Oatmeal (Almond) Cookie

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups quick cooking oats
Raisins or nuts (optional-- I used raw almonds and liked the extra nutty flavor)

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, cream together white sugar, butter, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs on at a time, then stir in vanilla.

2. Combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. If you are using nuts or raisins, mix into dough, combing well. Cover, and chill dough for at least one hour.

3. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease cookie sheets. Roll the dough into balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets.

4. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes approximately 36-60 cookies, depending on how large or small you make them.


As I was blogging about this my mom called to report back that she actually really liked the cookies!! Mom's seal of approval on cookies means a lot, especially since I'm not an avid baker. She said we'll play around with the texture to perfect it, but the taste is there. Thanks Mom! =)

On an aside, I saw a recipe using apple butter and I think that would make a great cookie! I'm trying that recipe next and, hopefully, it'll turn out better visually and texturally than this batch!

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