Category: Baking

Chewy Oatmeal Cookies

Sadie2 Comments

When it comes to cookie recipes, one thing I have yet to fully master is the aspect of a recipe that makes the cookies chewy or crispy, cakey or crunchy.  I realize that it is likely a combination of ingredients that determines these factors, but it perplexes me.  I often have attempted recipes that claim “chewy” but come out crunchy.  Is it my fault, or the recipe’s fault?

I think it’s a combination of the two.  From my limited experience I would assume that a combination of the fat choice (butter, oil, shortening) along with the number of eggs, has a large effect on the texture of a cookie.  More eggs would be more cakey, and the softer the fat, the softer the cookie.  I’ve even heard that using melted butter rather than typical room temperature butter, will make cookies softer.  Also over-mixing the batter leads to developing too much gluten, which leads to harder cookies.

All this being said I tried a “chewy” oatmeal cookie recipe from Martha, because if there’s one type of cookie that I love to be “chewy,” it’s an oatmeal cookie.  Her original recipe only called for dried cherries, but I swapped those out for chocolate chunks, walnuts, and craisons.  While not quite as chewy as one of those classic large oatmeal cookies at a local bakery, I think this recipe lives up to the chewy title.

Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Yields about 40 cookies depending on size, adapted from a Martha Recipe

Ingredients

  • 1 1/4 cup AP Flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 cup packed light-brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 1/2 cup craisons
  • 3/4 cup chocolate chunks
  • 3/4 cup chopped walnuts

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. Combine flour, baking soda, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt.  Set aside.
  3. Use an electric mixer to beat together butter, brown sugar, and honey until fluffy.
  4. Beat in eggs and vanilla.  Add flour mixture in gradually.
  5. Add in oats, chocolate, craisons, and walnuts.  Mix until just combined, try not to over mix.
  6. Use an ice cream scoop to portion out equal cookie dough balls about 2 tablespoons each.  Bake 10-15 minutes until golden brown.  Allow to cool completely.

Tips and Tricks

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We are on the verge of some big baking months.  As the weather gets crisper, so do the apples, and apple pies are in high demand.  Then we transition to pumpkin season with Thanksgiving (I’ve obviously gotten a head start on that), and finally: dreams of peppermint and gingerbread dance in our heads in December.  Ladies and Gentelmen, start your ovens.

Though I’m not professionally trained, here are some tips and tricks I’ve picked up along the way:

1. Read it over.  Make sure you read the entire ingredients list and recipe a couple days before you plan to make it.  I’ve learned this one the hard way, having been caught without a specific piece of equipment, or debating how long the dough really has to rest if I need the cookies to be ready sooner.  Things like extra prep activities, or unfamiliar techniques can catch you off guard espcially if you’re in a time crunch.

2. Less is more.  Though dough is fun to play with, resist the urge to over mix or over work the dough.  Usually you need to mix to combine, but once it looks fairly combined you need to stop because you will over-work it and develope too much gluton.  This will likely make the final product tougher then intended.  And when it comes to rolling out the dough to make cut out cookies or forming drop cookies, as my mom always says: you don’t want the dough to taste like your hands.  Stop touching it and playing with it so much!

3.  Leave it be.  Be stingy about opening the oven.  When the oven has reached the appropriate temperature, open it sparingly.  I will crack it once or twice to sneak a glance, but you need to be careful not to let the temperature drop too much, because it can definitely affect your final product.

4.  Chill out.  Allow baked goods to cool completely on cooling racks after they come out of the oven.  If you pack them up or put them away prematurely, you risk trapping moisture in the container.  This will make baked goods soggy or introduce mold.  So be patient, and think about placing cooling racks in strategic places where you and/or guests won’t be tempted to eat the final product earlier than intended.  Brothers and fathers are particularly good at sneaking tastes.

5.  Test it out.  This is one of Martha’s golden rules.  Don’t make a recipe for the first time when you’re cooking for a crowd.  If you’re trying out new desserts for the holidays, give them a test run a few weeks earlier just to practice and make sure it’s all that you dreamt of.  Answer questions like: how big is the batch?  how difficult is it?  is it really the fudgiest brownie ever, or is my old recipe better?  if I substitute an ingredient will it still work?  In the mean time, find some test subjects.  Co-workers on a Monday always seem to be a willing test audience for me.

Like I said, I’m not professionally trained, so these are tips from my own experience, my mother (who is professionally trained), Martha, and everyone on the Food Network.

Do you have any mishaps from holiday baking extravaganzas?

I have done everything from forgetting to add the sugar, to under baking, to burning, to spilling batter all over the oven, the list goes on…

The Best Pumpkin Bars Going

Sadie3 Comments

A few years ago, when I was just taking a real interest in baking, I decided to bake several different cookies and bars to have on hand around Thanksgiving.  My family always hosts Thanksgiving at our house, and we typically have several house guests for the entire long weekend.  This means that we not only have to cook for the main event, but we have plan meals and snacks for four days straight.  This is when stashes of cookies comes in handy.

That year I found this recipe for pumkin bars on the Martha Stewart website and it seemed easy enough for a beginner.  Let me tell you, these did not dissapoint.  While some of the other cookies I made lingered for most of the weekend, these bars were gone within one day.  I have since made them for various groups of friends and family and they get raves every time.

Do yourself a favor, when you get in a pumpin mood, give these a try!  They are great warm from the oven, or even cold from the freezer.  And by the way, they only use one cup of pumpkin from the can, so I love to use the leftover canned pumpkin to mix into my morning oatmeal!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars

Make one 9 x 13 pan, about 20 bars depending on size, from Martha

Ingredients

  • 2 cups AP flour
  • 1 Tbs pumpkin-pie spice
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 3/4 tsp salt
  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin puree
  • 1 package (12 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a 9 x 13 brownie pan with parchment (it will make it much easier to get them out).
  2. Combine the flour, spice, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.
  3. Cream butter, then add sugar and beat until light and fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla.
  4. Alternate adding batches of the pumkin and dry ingredients.  Mix to combine, but try not to overmix the dough.
  5. Fold in the chocolate chips.
  6. Pour batter into parchment lined pan.  Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 minutes.  Allow to cool completely, then cut and serve!