Moving Cookies

I haven't disappeared, but I have been without internet for a few weeks.  Anyway, here's a post I started in the midst of moving.  Far too many things have crossed my mind since I set out to make these, but details don't really matter when you add peanut butter and chocolate chips to a thick and chewy oatmeal raisin cookie, do they?  I'm mostly unpacked and settled in now, but the following paragraphs are a taste of what I was up to when I should have been packing.......

Moving cookies. These are moving cookies. Otherwise known as Melissa has way to many things to be doing/packing/finishing up etc. but can't concentrate on any of them so she just ends up making cookies. Yeah, those kind of cookies.

Our first red flag is cookie justification.  Oh I could take a break and make cookies to give to people who are helping me pack and move. Thank you cookies. Goodbye cookies. Besides, I do have a recipe that needs testing and tweaking. 

The first few minutes of measuring and mixing are indeed a therapeutic zone-out to avoid the task at hand.  But then comes the dough.  Stress eating half a batch of dough and then barely having enough cookies left to give your helpers only heightens the tension and anxiety inside.  But it happens.   Happened.   More than once.   Ugh, will I ever learn?   Note to self: open jars of peanut butter and half-empty bags of chocolate chips are not helpful, especially after all that cookie dough.

It almost seems like an insult to exchange cookies for moving help, these don't come close to repaying all the help I've received.  THANK YOU to all the patient, strong, hard-working helpers.  I wish I had words to express how much I appreciate you.  I just don't know how to thank you, and so by default I make cookies.

Moving Cookies
recipe inspired and adapted from a conglomeration of too many things for me to tell you about right now

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2-1/2 cups uncooked quick-oats
1 cup raisins
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Instructions: (Danger! Do not proceed under stressful situations, you will just eat too much dough. Rapid and mindless consumption of dough, leftover ingredients and warm cookies will not help in the long run.)
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
* In a large bowl cream together butter, peanut butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla.
* In a small bowl combine flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon; stir into wet ingredients.  Mix in oats.  Add raisins, chocolate chips and walnuts; stir to combine.
* Scoop mounded tablespoonfuls of dough onto ungreased cookie sheets.  Flatten slightly with palm of hand.  Bake 9-10 minutes or until edges just begin to turn golden brown.  Let cool 1-2 minutes before transferring to wire cooling racks.

Food for Thought: The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it. -Proverbs 27:12

Flashback Friday: Camp Cookies

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

Camp cookies are a longstanding tradition at our house.  Most of my growing up years we went camping for several weeks each summer.  Whether it was a week at a state park or a 3 week road trip packing in as many national parks as possible, we made lots of memories.  No matter where we went these cookies were a part of each trip, which is exactly why we call them camp cookies.  I know, brilliant, right?

The best thing about these cookies is we were allowed to eat them for breakfast.  Loaded with oats, peanut butter and raisins + the fact that we were on vacation made these a perfectly acceptable breakfast.  Many an early morning my parents would carry us to the car still in our sleeping bags.  Breakfast on the road meant reaching over the backseat and into the trunk to find the ice cream pail full of camp cookies.  Of course they also doubled as dessert, hiking snacks and "are we there yet?" silencers.

Let's see, what else do you need to know about this tradition? True to our last minute form, a gigantic batch of these monster cookies found their way to the oven late into the night or in the wee hours of the morning before we left.  While the cookies baked there was plenty of time to cram things into the car, finish laundry and stuff it into suitcases and gather all the camping gear.

Oh, you also need to be a strategic spiller when you make these.  The M&M's are never measured, just dumped and spilled into the dough.  I usually tried to make sure my mom spilled in a few extra.  Depending on the length of our trip we would make up to 3 big batches. Penciled into our cookbook are measurements for a double and triple batch, which I've included in the recipe below.  I'm not sure we ever made just a single batch, they disappear too quickly.

Three week road trips definitely meant a triple batch, which barely fit into our trusty yellow mixing bowl.  When the bowl is literally so full the dough falls out, you had better eat some.  And trust me when I say this dough is seriously good.  It's probably a good thing cookie dough doesn't travel well or I'd never have had room for smores. Though the days of family camping trips are long past these camp cookies are still a family favorite.

Camp Cookies
adapted from an old church cookbook recipe submitted by Miriam Fokema Rogers to "Our Favorite Recipes, United Methodist Church of Kasson"

Ingredients: (double recipe, triple recipe)
1/2 cup butter, softened (1 c, 1-1/2 c)
1/2 cup peanut butter (1 c, 1-1/2 c)
1 cup granulated sugar (2 c, 3 c)
1 cup packed brown sugar (2 c, 3 c)
2 large eggs (4, 6)
1/4 cup milk (1/2 c, 3/4 c)
1 tsp vanilla (2 tsp, 1 Tbsp)
1-3/4 cup all-purpose flour (3-1/2 c, 5-1/4 c)
1 tsp baking soda (2 tsp, 1 Tbsp)
1/2 tsp salt (1 tsp, 1-1/2 tsp)
3 cups oats (6 c, 9 c) (I used 1-1/2 cups quick oats and 1-1/2 cups rolled oats....or whatever you have on hand at midnight the night before your camping trip)
1 cup peanuts (2 c, 3 c)
1 cup raisins  (2 c, 3 c)
1 cup candy coated chocolate pieces  (2 c, 3 c) (please don't measure here, just dump generously or spill in some extra.  We usually use both plain and peanut candy coated chocolate pieces...which doubles the spilling opportunities.)

Instructions: (if making a triple batch, use an extra large bowl)
* Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
* In a large bowl cream together butter, peanut butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, milk and vanilla.
* In a separate bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt; stir into wet ingredients.  Mix in oats then stir in peanuts, raisins and candy coated chocolate pieces.
* Using a cookie scoop (or ice cream scoop for monster cookies), scoop dough onto ungreased baking sheets.  Bake 10-12 minutes (slightly longer for larger cookies) or until edges are golden brown and centers are almost (but not quite) set. Let stand 3 minutes before transferring to wire cooling racks.  When completely cool, store in airtight containers. (We always used 5-gallon ice cream pails for camping trips.)

Food for Thought: "Everybody needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in, where nature may heal and give strength to body and soul." -John Muir

Flashback Friday: Date-Filled Oatmeal Cookies

Flashback Friday: Revisiting a recipe from long ago

I wonder if making old-fashioned recipes turns you into an old lady.  I certainly feel like a boring old lady when I make recipes like this one, not to mention all those recipes for bread and cookies with molasses.  At least this recipe features dates rather than wrinkled prunes.  Dates I can handle, though my personal preference would include chocolate or peanut butter and random variations like pretzels, rosemary or smoked paprika.  Nope, that doesn't sound old ladyish to me.  I guess I'm still young in my cookie tastes.

But anyway, we should get to these date-stuffed cookies before I do turn into an old lady.  These crispy cookies come from my  grandma's cousin, Edythe, on mom's side of the family.  My mom was kind enough to tell me about the version my grandma made around the holidays.  The bottom cookie was round while the top had a flower shape.  The "petals" were pressed down with a fingertip to seal in the sticky date filling.  We found the actual cookie cutter my grandma used on the bottom layer but couldn't find the exact one she used on top.

Random Recipe Wednesday: Carrot Cake Breakfast Bites

Sometimes I get things a little backwards and eat cookie dough for breakfast.  This time I made what some would call breakfast cookies and ate them for supper, snacks and pretty much everything but breakfast.

I hesitate to even say breakfast cookie, because these really aren't cookies.  Let's call them breakfast bites.  Without any butter, oil or sugar you can not have a cookie.  What we do have is a hearty and satisfying breakfast/snack that leaves you feeling full, healthy and energized.  Dried fruit, nuts and oats are ground in the food processor then mixed with shredded carrot and apple and a mashed banana.  See, it's breakfasty but it's not a cookie.

Tuesday's Twist: Peanut-Granola Brittle

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

I have fond memories of helping make peanut brittle as a kid.  When else does your mom give you a 'hammer' and let you shatter something to pieces?  As helpers it was always our job to to give the golden slab a good whack, cracking it into jagged pieces.

Our family has always used the microwave version, which takes less than 15 minutes and requires no candy thermometer.  I stuck to that part of the tradition this year, but couldn't help adding my own twist.  For some unknown reason I had my mind set on adding something other than nuts.  After some mental grocery shopping I settled on granola.

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Chocolate-Cherry-Rosemary Bars

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

Do you ever rip recipes out of a magazine and file them away thinking, "yum...but maybe later"? In addition to my growing online collection of recipe ideas I have bulging physical folders of clipped, copied and written recipes.  Some are old favorites and others are recipes I honestly don't know when I'll ever make, but they sure sound good.

Of course my 'cookies,bars and miscellaneous desserts' folder is bursting to the seams.  Every time I open the folder a magazine page with this Chewy Oatmeal-Cherry Bars recipe taunts, 'pick me, pick me.'  I used the recipe's cherry-rosemary combination as flavor inspiration for this loaf of Pumpkin Wild Rice Bread with Rosemary and Dried Cherries last month.  Alas, the recipe still peeks out of the dessert folder reminding me I've yet to make the actual bars.  We both know there's only one remedy to that.

Fermented Friday: Leftover Oatmeal Turned Bread- Cranberry-Sage or Multigrain

Fermented Friday: recipes featuring yeast, wine, beer or some form of fermentation.

Guess what happens when make a batch of rather bland slow cooker steel-cut oats one day, and then make Chocolate-Pumpkin Quinoa the next day?  That's right, leftover oatmeal.  I'm not one to let leftovers stand in the fridge, they always turn into something else.  It would be pretty fun to make cookies or granola bars with cooked oats, but we need a little yeast action for Fermented Friday.  If we can make bread with rice why not bread with leftover oatmeal?

Tuesday's Twist: Slow Cooker Steel-Cut Oats

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

I think I still have a Thanksgiving food hangover.  So before I jump into my usual overkill of Christmas treats I figured some oatmeal was in order.  Somewhere along the line I bought a large bag of steel-cut oats. Why?  Hmmm, a good question.  I wish I remembered my exact plans for these little grains.  But alas, there they sit in the pantry, nearly untouched.

Steel-cut oats are oat grains that have been cut into 2 to 3 pieces rather than rolled and flattened into flakes. They retain a chewier texture than rolled oats and take between 20 to 40 minutes to cook (depending on you texture preference). Time has been the deal breaker thus far.  I just can't wait that long for breakfast.  So instead of 40 minutes at the stove, I threw them in the slow cooker to cook for 6 hours.  I know.

Fermented Friday: Beer Apple Crisp

Fermented Friday: recipes featuring yeast, wine, beer or some form of fermentation.

Apple crisp is a longstanding tradition at our house.  I remember helping my mom turn the crank on the peeler, watching the bright red peels squiggle off onto a heap on the table. The sweet, pale yellow slices were then haphazardly piled into a nearby glass baking dish.  After a quick dusting of cinnamon, we attempted to pack a generous mound of oat topping over a dish already overflowing with crisp apple slices.  It wasn't long before warm, cozy aromas of apple and cinnamon wafted out of the oven and filled the house.  With all those enticing aromas one could hardly wait for the first bite.  I remember sneaking little clumps and clusters of the golden brown topping while waiting for the bubbling juices to cool.  Oh wait, I still do that.

Tuesday's Twist: Monster Cookie Popcorn

Tuesday's Twist:  A basic recipe with a fun twist.  In other words, just another excuse for me to play around with weird recipes I've been dying to try.

Between my obsession with peanut butter and my love of popcorn, it's not too surprising for me to combine the two.  I've been making peanut butter caramel corn for a while, but decided to jazz it up a bit for this week's twist.  Popcorn coated with the quintessential ingredients of a monster cookie leads to inevitable munching.

I can justify the munching, no problem.  You see, eating this crunchy snack is much healthier than just eating cookie dough.  Popcorn is a whole grain, so are rolled oats. Win, win.  Peanuts and peanut butter provide protein and raisins count as fruit.  Chocolate is made from cocoa beans so it's practically a vegetable. Wait a minute, that doesn't sound right. Don't believe everything you read.  Are cocoa beans similar enough to black beans to aid in our justification?  Hmmm, maybe we should just go with all things in moderation.

Fermented Friday: Oatmeal Stout Raisin Cookies

Fermented Friday: recipes featuring yeast, wine, beer or some form of fermentation

The characteristic smoothness of an oatmeal stout comes from the addition of oats to the mash. If you're interested, this article gives a brief overview on the science of brewing oatmeal stout.  While brewers need to understand the gelatinization, viscosity and gum content of oats, you just need a reason to make cookies with beer.

Oatmeal stout seems like a good enough excuse to stir up a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies.   But how will we infuse beer into our cookies?

Not to worry, I've come up with a recipe, you just need enough patience and self-control for a decent portion of dough to make it to the oven. I've got less than zero advice in that area.  Unless you need an example of what not to do?  Ummm, let's just get to the recipe.

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Balsamic Honey Granola with TVP

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

Yeah, I know, I've been putting balsamic vinegar in a lot of stuff lately. And by stuff I mean food.  Fruit, vegetables, ketchup, salad, grilled carrots and sweet potatoes, pizza, and now granola.  But it's Weird Recipe Wednesday, so it's okay. Right?

Granola with balsamic vinegar isn't quite weird enough for me so I added some TVP, Textured Vegetable Protein.  Let me explain. My friend Emma just finished an internship with The Soyfoods Council.  Her job was to develop creative recipes featuring TVP.  I had heard of TVP, but never actually used it.  After seeing all the great recipes Emma developed I was inspired to try it out for myself.  TVP is made from defatted soy flour; making it low-fat and high in protein.  It is typically re-hydrated and used as a meat substitute.

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Chocolate Sweet Potato Oatmeal

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.


I think you'll agree that this concept is weird, that or creative.  Either way I couldn't resist trying it out for myself.  Sweet potatoes are shredded and stirred into oatmeal.  Oh, and the oatmeal has cocoa powder in it for a chocolaty boost.  Sweet potatoes, oats and chocolate, why not?

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Getting in Some Green

Weird Recipe Wednesday: Because some recipes are so weird I just HAVE to try them.  My curiosity always gets the better of me.

This week I tried two weird but tasty ways to get in some green veggies. Okay, they're not that weird, at least not to me.  Then again I like to eat lots of raw veggies, maybe that's even weirder.  Whatever, back to the recipes.  If you want a new way to sneak in some veggies how about Brussels sprout chips or zucchini bread granola. Hey, did you know that the "Brussels" in Brussels sprout is capitalized and spelled with an S at the end? Being the terrible speller that I am, I just now realized this, and only because that squiggly red line wouldn't go away no matter how many ways I tried to spell it.  We'll get back to our Brussels sprouts in a bit. Let's start with the zucchini bread granola.