Not Your Average Oatmeal Cookie from Cooking from a SAHM

Alyssa is spoiling all of you with her goodies!!!  She brought cookies this week - one of my favorites, oatmeal!

Happy almost weekend everyone!

Sheri



Good Morning Everyone,

Months ago I constructed a new oatmeal cookie :-) I love to experiment and I had some fresh berries on hand. So I came up with " Not your Average Oatmeal Cookie" :-) It was soo good.  Now if you do not want to add the chocolate chips you can substitute it for something else.  Now that its fall its so much better to turn the oven on :-) I really hope you enjoy this cookie recipe :-)

 

Not your Average Oatmeal Cookie

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 3/4 cups rolled oats

1/4 C. Walnuts

1/4 C. chopped cranberries

1/4 C chopped blueberries

1/4 C chocolate chips

1/4 C Raisins

Instead of the 1 Tsp of Vanilla I use 1 tsp of Coconut Extract

Directions

In large bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs and Coconut extract until fluffy. Stir together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture. Stir in oats and raisins, blueberries, cranberries, chocolate chips,walnuts. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Bake 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown.

 

 

Fresh Almond Milk is the best...but what do I do with the leftover almond meal?

I am on my fourth batch of homemade almond milk and I am in heaven!  I love the taste.  It has a much more pronounced almond flavor than store bought and it has a crispness to it that I am loving!  My vitamix makes it so much better than my old blender did, and I rationalize it's purchase so much with the reminder that things like this chip away at the cost little by little in savings both in lessened processing and chemicals, as well as cost.  But one part of the process really had me baffled.  What do I do with all of that wonderful almond meal left over?  I read recipes and discarded them one by one until finally I came upon a Chocolate Craisin cookie from Spicie Foodie.  Since I am a sucker for sweets, I had to give this one a try!  I did leave out the craisins because I wanted to experiment with something that maybe the daycare kiddos would eat, as well as hoping this could be something I could use on a long run for carb and protein refueling.  And they were pretty good.



I had to wash one down with some fresh almond milk too, and what a delicious combination that was!!  I wish my photo had gotten a better view of the cookies, but they were a nice texture.  Not too fluffy, not too dense and I think definitely a chewable texture to eat on the run, literally.  :-)  Next time, I might include the craisins, or at least raisins and I'm thinking of swapping out the ap flour for oat flour and make it more of an oatmeal cookie.  It could even be a raw cookie that way too.  So many possibilities!

 

 

 

 

Chocolate Fudge Cups

So, as far as I'm concerned, chocolate + coconut + almonds is a combination that could just about get me to do anything.  You know that commercial "What would you do for a Klondike bar?"  Yeah, well, Almond Joy candy bars are kinda like that for me.  So, as I was deciding last night what type of cookie to bring along to a run that a group of friends and hubby and I were doing, I happened to spy these on another page.  These were not the cookies I decided to bring to our run - I opted instead for a healthy oatmeal cookie studded with sunflower seeds- but I just had to make these. They seriously tasted like I was eating an almond joy but without the guilt of knowing I ate a candy bar.  Win for me!

They're called Coconut Fudge Cups in the Betty Crocker Cookie Book, but the hubby is not a fan of the texture of coconut, so I made two kinds - one with coconut and almonds and one with just almonds.  Both are pretty tasty!

Fudge Cups

Adapted from Betty Crocker Cookie Book

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 oz cream cheese, softened

3/4 c all purpose flour

1/4 c powdered sugar

2 T baking cocoa

1/2 t vanilla

 

Fudge Filling:

2/3 c sugar

1/3 c baking cocoa

2 T butter, softened

1 egg

1/3 cup flaked coconut

1/3 cup chopped almonds

 

Preheat oven to 350. Beat butter and cream cheese with mixer on medium speed.  Stir in all ingredients except filling ingredients.  Shape dough into 1 inch balls and press in bottom and on the sides of small ungreased mini muffin pan.  There should be enough dough for 24 cups.  Prepare filling by mixing all ingredients except coconut and almonds until spreadable.  If you're mixing the coconut and almonds, add both in at this time.  If you're dividing them, split the filling mix into half and combine each mix with either coconut or almonds.  Keep a couple of pinches handy to mark the top of the cookie cup.  Spoon filling into each cup, until just above the rim of the cup.  Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until filling has puffed up and bounces back when lightly touched.  Remove from muffin pan when slightly cooled, handling carefully.

 

 

 

 

Snickerdoodle Cookie Sandwiches

 



I'm not a big snickerdoodle fan.  Just not in my favorites category.  I mean, it is a sweet and I have a major sweet tooth but these, well, I don't know.  I love the cinnamon-sugar combo but there is a tanginess to them that just doesn't do it for me.  So, now that I've spent a few lines saying why I don't like them, let me tell you that these were one of the best batches ever of snickerdoodles that I've ever made....and the hubby LOVES snickerdoodles.  I've been sick for a few days and I've been less than inclined to head into the kitchen, and I feel badly that it's been days since he's had a decent dessert - or meal for that matter.  So, he was due a good dessert.  So, I set to work this afternoon making something that would be extra special and just for him.  First, I made a basic snickerdoodle recipe and then while they cooled, I made a cream cheese filling.  I was a little worried that the tanginess of the cream cheese wouldn't mesh well with the cookie, but it actually made it sweeter.  I even had one and enjoyed it.  I mean, look at that cookie - how could a sweets addict like me resist THAT???

 



Snickerdoodle Recipe:

(from Key Ingredient)

1/2 c butter, softened

1/2 c shortening

1 1/2 c sugar

2 eggs

2 t vanilla extract

2 3/4 c ap flour

2 t cream of tartar

1 t baking soda

 

Preheat the oven to 400.  Cream the butter and shortening with the sugar and vanilla extract.  Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Add flour, cream of tartar and baking soda and mix well.   Form dough into balls - either large or small depending on what you're planning on using them for.  Combine 2 T sugar and 2 t cinnamon in a bowl and toss each ball gently in the cinnamon sugar mixture and place on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.  Bake for 8-10 minutes for smaller cookies, and 10-12 minutes for larger ones.  Cookies should be set with dry edges and just a bit soft in the center.

Remove from the cookie sheet immediately and let completely cool.  While cooling, you can make filling if you're planning on making sandwich cookies, or just leave as is.

Cream Cheese Filling:

1 cup confectioners sugar

1 T whipping cream

4 oz cream cheese, softened.

Mix all three ingredients either with mixer or vigourously by hand.  Spread in between cooled cookies.  If cookies are iced, store in the refrigerator.

 

So, now that I'm feeling better, dessert has been delivered and my work day is done - I'm heading out to run.  Or maybe nap.  It's all good either way.  :)

Spicy Applesauce Cookies with the Daycare Kids

So, we decided yesterday to take a break from our theme of dinosaurs and just enjoy a day of painting, baking and playing.  We all need Mondays like that, don't we?  Just a break from the usual and switch to something more comforting and just spend the day enjoying each other's company?  So after some prolonged arts and crafts time, we headed into the kitchen.  I had decided a drop cookie was the best route to take, but I didn't want to oversugar the kids and ruin the good mood flowing...so, I picked an applesauce cookie recipe out of my Betty Crocker cookie book and started adjusting.  I made several batches of homemade appleasauce this year and thought that my spiced applesauce would be perfect for these cookies.  So if you're making them, you may need to adjust the spices because we left almost all spice except a few shakes of cinnamon out of the mix.

Spicy Applesauce Cookies

adapted from/inspired by Betty Crocker Cookie Book

3/4 c packed brown sugar

1/4 c butter, softened

1/4 c applesauce, mine was home canned and spiced with ginger, cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg and slightly sweetened

1 egg

2 1/4 c all purpose flour

2 t baking powder

1/2 t salt

Heat oven to 375.  Beat brown sugar, butter, applesauce and egg in large bowl with electric mixer.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Drop my teaspoonful onto parchment paper or greased cookie sheets.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or until no longer soft and slightly browned.  Remove from heat and let cool.  Store in airtight container because they will get hard otherwise.

These were some pretty yummy cookies!  They could be iced as called for in the original recipe, but again, in the interests of sugar limiting, I left them as is. No complaints from the kiddos or my own family!  It would be a great fall treat too.  I might even suggest the addition of caramel or toffee bits.  That would be a great combo!