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!

Snowballs: The Edible Kind

Being the holiday season, I partook in a common seasonal activity: cookie baking! The funny thing is that I'm, admittedly, not the biggest cookie fan. But I needed to give cookies to a coworker so I had to get over my cookie apathy. So we have Coconut Orange Snowballs.

Coconut-Orange Snowballs

recipe from epicurious.com

1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 1/4 cups sifted powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon coconut extract

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tablepoons grated orange peel
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake coconut on rimmed baking sheet until light golden, stirring occasionally, about 12 minutes.

Using electric mixer, beat butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, and both extracts in bowl to blend well. Beat in flour, orange peel, and salt. Stir in coconut. Cover and chill at least 1 hour and up to 1 day. Soften dough slightly before shaping.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Using 1 level tablespoon dough for each cookie, roll dough between palms of hands into balls. Place on prepared sheets, placing 1 inch apart. Bake until golden on bottum but pale on top, about 18 minutes. Transfer cookies to racks; cool 5 minutes. Place remaining 1 3/4 cups powdered sugar in bowl. Roll hot cookies in powdered sugar, covering completely. Cool cookies on rack.


Notes: Be careful when toasting the coconut! It goes from barely golden to dark brown very quickly! Mine did at first and I had to do a second batch that was usable!
The original recipe calls for a second coating in powdered sugar. I found they were sweet enough after one rolling, so taste yours first before double coating.

The picture on Epicurious is better than mine as my cookies were slightly bumpy and not smooth snowballs! Sadly I don't have an electric mixer so all of the mixing must be done by hand. Next time I may try to melt the butter first so as to better incorporate it into the dough. Or maybe Santa will soon bring me a mixer!!