Oatmeal CookieBlog

Grub Club: Beating the Brrrrrrs at Bukhara

It was too cold and snowy on Saturday to go for one of our marathon walks around Manhattan or over the bridge and around Brooklyn, so Jon and I met up with In-Young and Pam at Bukhara Grill for an Indian buffet lunch instead. 

It was my first time having Indian food, and I loved it! We started with some spicy lamb kabobs and then moved on to the buffet.

I had a little of this and a little of that and then went up for seconds. All the sauces and flavors were excellent, but I think my favorites were the spicy chicken in a creamy red sauce and the vegetable fritters in a medium-hot curry sauce. I'll have to go back again so that I can get the names of all the dishes. Next time, we should top off lunch with a matinee of Slumdog Millionaire.

Large, Flat, and Crunchy or Small, Plump, and Chewy?

Jon and Lorelei gave me the idea for this poll.

Online Surveys & Market Research

Crushin' on Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies

(Ha ha...crushed velvet...get it?)

Jon dropped off some Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies for Laura and Chris, our neighbors, readers, and real-life cookie tasters. Here's what they had to say:

“I was just going to thank you as usual and say that the Stuffed Red Velvet Cookie was really good. Well this is what Chris (who usually says almost nothing but silently appreciates these cookies) said when he had his SRVC, ‘this is phenomenal!’ ‘wow, crunchy and chewy at the same time’ ‘wow, ummmmmm, wow!’ I almost felt guilty eating the other one!!!!! Almost. So as always, thank you so much for the ‘phenomenal’ cookies!”

Thanks, Laura and Chris!  :-)

Reader Query: Large, Flat, and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies?

Lorelei asked the following question on my Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies post:

“Hey, my dad loves chocolate chip oatmeal cookies, but he likes them large, flat and crispy. Do you know how to do that. I am an avid baker (hobby) but haven't been able to make him the ‘perfect’ cookie, that he gets at this bakery in Oakland, CA.”

Hi, Lorelei. Thanks for writing in! I like large, flat, crispy (LFC) chocolate chip cookies (CCC) as well. They're the perfect cookie for dunkin' in milk. In general, I think the secret to achieving this texture is to use white sugar instead of brown and to increase the wet ingredients--maybe add an extra egg yolk. I'll do some research and testing and will try to have a recipe for some LFC CCCs soon. Stay tuned!

In the meantime, though, check out this section from the Quamut guide to baking cookies. There's some useful info on how to tweak cookie recipes.

Reader Query: Is Juice an OK Extract Substitute?

Laurel, a reader and real-life recipe user, is an ex-pat living in Belgium, where it can be difficult to find flavored extracts at the grocery store. She wanted to make my Lime in the Coconut Cookies but wanted to know she could replace the lime extract in the recipe with lime juice:

“I wanted to know if you thought that I could just substitute lime juice for the lime extract or do you think it wouldn't be as strong. Again, me and the extract problem...you know I have issues when it comes to getting my hands on extracts.”

I think it will be fine to replace the extract with juice. There's nothing wrong with improvising a little and using what's either on hand or easily at your fingertips.

The lime extract gives the cookies a real kick of lime flavor and aroma, so to increase the presence of lime in an extract-free cookie, try adding a one tablespoon more each of lime juice and lime zest. That should do the trick!

Word of the Day

I don't know if the venerable editors of the venerated OED are taking submissions for new entries, but I've got a choice one for them:

enplumpen \in- 'pləmp, en-\ vt (2009) 1 : to make dried fruits soft and moist before baking or cooking by soaking them in liquid : RECONSTITUTE 2 : to feast to the point of developing a temporarily protruding belly : STUFF

And I've even used it in a sentence. From my Picturing Toffee Figgy Pudding Cookies post:

“Chop the dried figs and then soak them in warm water to enplumpen 'em.”

And for the second usage:

“Last Thanksgiving I had so many Cranberry Crunch Cookies that I enplumpened myself and needed to put on my eating pants.”

Yup...I'm putting that English degree to work, I tell ya.

U.S. Cookie = U.K. Biscuit XVI

Check out this advert for a British TV network.

I'm Bringing Sexy Back...to Raisins

I think this T-shirt pretty much says it all. Sadly, a lot of people just really don't like raisins. But in the next few weeks, I'm going to do my best to convince all you raisin haters out there to give these wrinkled little fruits another try.

If you're a raisin lover, though, you don't need any convincing. You know the world is a better place because of cinnamon raisin bread and bagels...oh, yeah...and because of oatmeal raisin cookies.

I'm planning a batch of recipes that will be even better than my Better Than Grandma's Oatmeal Raising Cookies.

Stay tuned!

Picturing Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies

Here's the recipe for my Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies in process.

Mix the filling ingredients. Use room-temperature cream cheese, and toast the nuts for added flavor and crunch. Put the filling mixture in the fridge or freezer to firm up until you stuff the cookies.

Cream the creamables. Butter and white sugar.

Combine the wet ingredients. I know what you're thinking..."what's up with the vinegar?" You use only 1/2 teaspoon, but it really works for bringing out the red color. Ever made Easter eggs? Remember how you have to drop those Paas color pellets in vinegar before you start a-dunkin your hardboiled eggs? Same concept here. Wow...that is really red!

Add the wet ingredients to the cremables. Take everything for a spin.

Combine the dry ingredients. Don't forget to grind the oatmeal.

Add the dry ingredients to the combined creamables and wet ingredients. The dough will look a little beefy.

Scoop the dough balls, split them in half, and form into flattened disks. Remove the filling mixture from the fridge (or freezer). Stuff the cookies. Your dough disks should look like slices of pepperoni.

Freeze the stuffed dough balls for five minutes and then bake. You'll start with meatball-looking things and end up with cookie-looking things. Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cookie Guy's New Year's Blogolutions

For 2009, Oatmeal Cookie Guy herewith resolves to...

1. continue making out-of-this-world oatmeal cookies.
2. explore all the neato food places he can find in New York and document them on this blog.
3. do Picturing posts for all my old recipes.
4. post new stuff every day.
5. make you laugh, smile, or maybe even try a new recipe.

Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies

A rerun of Paula's Party on Food Network last night inspired this cookie. Red velvet cake is a Southern specialty, y'all! [Insert bawdy double entendre here.]

According to the admittedly cursory research I've done on the topic, red velvet cake got its color as a result of sugar rationing during World War II. Because people couldn't run next door to borrow a cup of sugar, bakers started using boiled beets as a sugar substitute in their cakes. Along with the beets' sweetness came the beets' blood-red color. And lo, an American classic was born

About five years ago, Jon and I baked a red velvet cake for Christmas. We made this cake only once because...well...let's just say all the red food coloring caused a certain reaction, so we never made it again.

Paula got me thinking that I should give the red velvet recipe another try, but this time in oatmeal cookie form--and with a twist. Instead of icing the cookies, I decided to stuff them.

Be careful when you work with the food coloring. That stuff stains, and you don't want to spend the night scrubbing your hands and mumbling like Lady Macbeth about getting damned spots out.

Makes 2 dozen cookies. (To see this recipe in process, check out Picturing Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies.)

Filling	6 ounces room-temperature cream cheese 1/3 heaping cup toasted, chopped pecans 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla
Creamables	1 stick butter 1 cup white sugar
Wet Ingredients	1 egg 3 tablespoons red food coloring 2 teaspoons vanilla 1 teaspoon milk 1/2 teaspoon white vinegar
Dry Ingredients	1 1/2 cups finely ground oatmeal 1 1/4 cups flour 1/2 cup cocoa powder 1/2 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Toast the pecans then roughly chop them.
   
2. Add all the filling ingredients to a small bowl and mix with a spatula until well blended. Let the mixture cool and solidify in the freezer until step 8.
3. Preheat oven to 350º.
4. In your Kitchen Aid or a large mixing bowl, cream together the creamables.
5. In a small bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients and then add to the creamables. Mix together until smooth.
6. In another large mixing bowl, add the dry ingredients. Using a spatula, fold together until evenly distributed. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the creamables and wet ingredients. Mix until evenly combined.
7. Shape dough into balls—about 2 tablespoons each.
8. Remove the filling mixture from the freezer and stuff each dough ball with 1 teaspoon of the mixture. Put the stuffed dough balls in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm up.
9. Place chilled dough balls about 2 inches apart on Silpat- or parchment paper-lined cookie sheets.
10. Bake at 350º for 10-12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are firm. Remove the cookie sheets from the oven and let stand for 2 minutes. Then place cookies on wire racks to cool.

Poll Roundup XIV

According to my "He Sees You When You're Sleeping..." poll, two-thirds of you agree with me that Mumma's 5'-foot tall Santa is creepy, not cute.

Sorry, Mumma! But that thing's eyes totally follow you around the room.

Voting still remains open, so feel free to weigh in.

New Year's Dinner at Del Posto

There's no better place for a classy, romantic New Year's Eve dinner than Del Posto, Mario Batali and Joe Bastianich's wonderful restaurant in west Chelsea.

We didn't see Mario Batali or Joe Bastianich, but Jimmy Fallon was seated at the table next to us. I tried to take his picture twice, but he turned away each time. I can take a hint. Eventually.

Pre-dinner cocktails: the Posto Sidecar and the Carpano Cocktail. Amuse-bouches: aroncini (fried risotto balls), soup, and Monte Cristo sandwich sticks. The drinks were perfect because they weren't head-shakingly boozy. Always a good thing. And the amuse-bouches, or pre-dinner nibbles, were excellent. I could eat my weight in aroncini...and then go back for more. 

Antipasti: tuna tartare with caviar; cotechino sausage with lentils, champagne sauce, and balsamic.

Primi: agnolotti with brown butter and black truffle sauce. These little ravioli-like pasta were stuffed with beef cheek. This, by far, was my favorite dish. Jon got the wine pairing with dinner, but he didn't know that each course came with two glasses.

Secondi: chicken with black truffles and salsify; Dover sole with citrus salad.

Intermezzo: polenta with honey. Imagine warm, buttery Cream of Wheat topped with extremely rich, savory, almost beefy-tasting honey. Outstanding. Post-dessert nibbles: fruit gelée, chocolate truffles, and mini eclairs. (These came last, but I wanted to keep the pics of the two desserts together.)

Dolci: chocolate polenta cake with vanilla gelatto; smoked-sugar semifredo topped with white chocolate, crumbled amaretto cookies, and a drizzle of balsamic.

Out with the Old, In with the New

Happy New Year, everyone! Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and cookie-filled 2009.