Oatmeal CookieBlog

Honey-Roasted Peanut Cookies

My blog buddy Laurel had a pretty ingenious sweet/salty combination: candy corn and salted peanuts. And she wondered if I could come up with a cookie version of her unconventional combo. Then I saw packs of Nature Valley Sweet & Salty granola bars at the grocery store.

I love sweet/salty stuff, so I was all over this one: sweet honey and salty salt on top of a crispy/chewy peanut butter cookie.

Believe it or not, I've actually attempted a cookie that used whole honey-roasted peanuts in the recipe. Unfortunately, the peanuts dried out during baking and tasted chalky, and the flavor of the honey-roasted coating just kind of faded away. Disappointing all around. So for this cookie, I'm going to build the honey-roasted flavor into the recipe, not rely on coated peanuts themselves to provide the flavor.

I'm picturing my super-tasty peanut butter cookies, drizzled with honey, sprinkled with sea salt, and baked to perfection. And I think those old-school criss-cross fork marks will look cool and provide some nice nooks and crannies for the honey and salt.

Leave the Gun, Take the Cannoli

I've been thinking of making a deep-fried oatmeal cookie for a while now. I've had a few ideas so far, including just taking scoops of cookie dough and floating them in hot oil for a while until they get nice and crispy and brown on the outside. I've also thought about taking cookies baked in the traditional way, battering them, and then frying them--kind of like a deep-fried Oreo.

And then it hit me. Why not make an oatmeal version of a fried cookie. Enter the cannoli, which I think will work perfectly for my purposes.

Bust Out the Apples and Honey

Happy Rosh Hashanah! (Or, more appropriately, l'shana tova.) To celebrate, why not bake up a batch of my Rosh Hashanah Cookies? Your friends and family will be kvellin' after only one bite.

Decisions, Decisions...Decisions

There are times in life where you find yourself at a crossroads. You weigh the options, draw up pro/con lists, ask everyone under the sun for an opinion. You might even flip a coin. If you're like me, you flip a coin repeatedly until heads and tails are split 50/50, which defeats the whole purpose of the coin-flipping in the first place. Nope...I'm not so good with making big decisions.

But my blog buddy Alicia had some really good advice: bake some cookies. So that's what I'm gonna do. Thanks, Alicia!

Finding Flavor Inspiration

I had the idea to do a mojito cookie a while ago. In fact, it's been on The List for at least a couple months.

I'm no cocktail connoisseur by any stretch of the imagination. But for those not in the know, a mojito is a drink made with white rum, lime, and mint. If booze isn't your thing, just remember that mint and citrus go together like Laverne and Shirley, so I don't think you'll be missing anything by leaving out the rum. (Just check out my Orange & Mint Cookies to see what I mean.)

I was at the deli picking up a Diet Coke and saw some mint mojito gum at the counter. There it was sitting right in front of me--the inspiration (and motivation) to make my next cookie. Stay tuned!

Bon Appetit

The movie Julie & Julia opens today, and I'm having one of the free Friday morning croissants at work to celebrate. Because lets face it: Every food blogger wants a book deal or a TV show or even a movie. And how better to honor Julia Child than with a rich, buttery, French croissant? I wonder how I could get management to stuff these guys with bacon, egg, and cheese. Hmm...

Good Cupcakes Make Good Neighbors

A few days ago, I noticed that all the apartments on my floor had little packages in front of them. Each plastic box contained a double-sized red velvet cupcake. They were gifts from some people upstairs to make up for all the noise their renovations have been making.

I never noticed any noise, but thanks, Mr. and Mrs. Upstairs Neighbors!

Hmmm...maybe they should have made my Stuffed Red Velvet Cookies instead of buying cupcakes.

Jaffa the Hut

Here's a side-by-side comparison of one of my Lemon Curd & Gooseberry Biscuits and a regular old jaffa cake.

My Biscuit would totally eat that jaffa for breakfast!

Coffee & Cream Bark Induces Shakes and Forgetfulness

I was at Whole Foods yesterday afternoon to pick up some beer for this week's Grub Club outing and saw something really interesting when I was standing in line: coffee & cream "bark."

I was intrigued, but do you think I picked up a pack to sample? Duh...no! I knew enough to snap a shaky pic with my phone, but I completely flaked out and forgot to buy some.

I've done coffee-based cookies before--Mocha Mint Cookies and Hazelnut Coffee Cookies, for example--so the coffee-cream flavor combo is something I'd like to explore. (If I remember to!)

Browsing for British Biscuit Building Blocks

(All the Englishness has drawn out my inner alliterative Hyacinth Bucket.)

Last night, my English friend Gary took me shopping at Myers of Keswick--a "traditional English shop serving expatriates" in New York--to find some truly British ingredients to make a truly British biscuit for him. Thanks, Gary!

We searched high and low among the bottles of HP sauce, packs of Hobnobs, and cans of Heinz curried beans to find the right stuff and settled on some ginger beer, Cadbury drinking chocolate, lemon curd, canned gooseberries, fruit pastilles, and some packets of custard and butterscotch powders. Oh, and of course, some jaffa cakes and a couple sausage rolls. (Mmm...sausage rolls.)

There's got to be two or three recipes in these ingredients. My first thought is to do a jaffa cake-inspired thumbprint cookie with a lemon curd-gooseberry filling topped with chocolate. Stay tuned to see what I come up with.

Krispies for Crispies?

I've been on a cherry cookie kick lately. (See here and here...and even here.) So, with cherries on the brain, I've been thinking of revisiting one of my older recipes: Cherry-Vanilla Crispies.

The first draft of this recipe included Rice Krispies, but I was only 85% happy with the outcome.

I was hoping to achieve the same texture as you'd find in a Nestle's Crunch. The crispiness was there, but it wasn't pronounced enough.

At the top of the list of alternative crispy ingredients are panko breadcrumbs and soy nuts. I know...I'm sure these sound goofy, but what can I say? This is my process for developing recipes.

On second thought, though, maybe I'll just roll the dough balls in Rice Krispies instead of mixing them in with the dry ingredients. Hmmm...

Advice for Foodie Photographers

Yes. I plead guilty. I take pictures of my food when I go to restaurants. If you're a fellow foodie photographer, check out this advice from Chow.com.

"I'll Bring the Ambrosia Salad"

My friend Gordon challenged me to come up with an ambrosia cookie. The first thing that popped into my head was the scene from the movie Edward Scissorhands when the oversexed neighbor lady says "I'll bring the ambrosia salad" to the barbecue. (Believe me...it's funny. I looked for the clip on YouTube but found nuthin'.) The next thing that popped into my head was the realization that I was in for some trouble with this recipe.

For those of you not in the know, ambrosia salad is a strange concoction of canned/jarred fruit (maraschino cherries, mandarin orange slices, and pineapple), coconut, mini marshmallows, and whipped cream. Mmmm...healthy!

Ambrosia may be the food of the gods, but all those wet ingredients won't really work in a cookie. Stay tuned to see what I come up with. Or, better yet, say a little prayer. (Anyone know who the Greek god of baking is?)

Oatmeal Cookie Guy Gets Super Connected

Well, it was bound to happen: I've joined the cult of iPhone and have the world at my fingertips--including this blog. I guess that will make posting Scene on the Street entries a lot easier. I wish I had this last week when I saw a guy dressed in an elephant suit hailing a cab on 7th Avenue. 

Here Comes the Rain Again

Ok. Where's Noah and that ark of his? Seriously...we've had like 15 rainy days in a row here in New York. What gives? I don't know about you, but this kind of weather puts me in the mood for baking.

Cookie Monday Tuesday Delayed

I may have missed my regularly scheduled Sunday night baking this week, but please do stay tuned. I've got a blueberry and lemon cookie recipe in the works, and I'll post it really soon. I promise.

I got the idea for this flavor combo from Mumma, who said she wanted to make ice cream sandwiches with my Lemon in the Coconut Cookies but only had blueberry frozen yogurt. "Hmmm," I thought, "now that's a great idea for a cookie!" And so a recipe was born.

Make Your Mother's Day II

I forgot Mumma's birthday last year, so I had to make up for that with a special Mother's Day gift: a shipment of her favorite Lime in the Coconut Cookies.

This year, I remembered Mumma's birthday, and I sent her a Mother's Day card...on time. And because I'm a good son, I even sent her a box of my new Lemon in the Coconut Cookies.

With the help of FedEx or the U.S. Postal Service, you can have a fresh batch of homemade cookies on your mother's doorstep just in time for her special day. The flipside, of course, is that you don't have an excuse not to send a batch of cookies to your mother.

Blog Beautification

The Oatmeal CookieBlog's had the same design for over a year now, and I'm thinking it could do with a face lift...or at least some spring cleaning. Will have to weigh my options.

"Shady Pines, Ma."

Bea Arthur--Dorothy from The Golden Girls--passed away on Saturday.

Jon and I loved this show. We watched it so often that we'd use the shorthand "Double G's" instead of the full title. They don't make shows like the Double G's anymore...

So tonight, before you tune in to a Golden Girls marathon, bake up a batch of my cheesecake-stuffed Golden Girls Cookies. And remember: Blanche keeps the whipped cream in her bedroom.

Bailey's + Guinness + Jameson = St. Patrick's Day Cookies

My recent Poll Roundup XVII post about what my readers think should go in a St. Patrick's-themed cookie showed that people wanted a triple shot of booze: Bailey's, Guinness, and Jameson. That's a lot of booze!

But reader ChelseaTheBaker wrote in to let me know that a drink consisting of those three beverages already exists:

“You're probably right about using 3 different kinds of booze in one cookie, but if you've ever had an Irish Car Bomb the Bailey's and Guinness could work. Maybe an Irish Cookie Bomb? Or a Guinness Cake Cookie? Can't wait to see what you come up with. St. Patty's is one of my favorite holidays and we almost always do a potluck.”

Thanks for the flavor profile heads-up, Chelsea! I'm going to do some research and testing and should have a couple St. Patrick's-themed cookies to post this weekend...in plenty of time for your holiday potluck. But I already foresee making lots of scrunched-up booze faces in my future.  :-x

Update: Check out my St. Patrick's Day Cookies.

Totally Socially Networked

I've got some new blog-flair to point out in the "Feed Me" box on the left. Click on the buttons to subscribe to this blog's RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, subscribe to my YouTube channel, and friend me on Facebook.

Oatmeal Cookie Guy (Kinda) in the News

The Globe and Mail newspaper in Canada interviewed me last week, eh. The reporter contacted me because she saw the pic of ditch dogs--hot dogs topped with mac 'n cheese--I submitted to thisiswhyyourefat.com.

Have a read.

The Great Cinnamon Hearts Hunt of 2009 II

Despite my best efforts to find cinnamon hearts candies in Manhattan, I struck out.

But I found a suitable replacement: Red Hots. They're the same thing but without the heart shape. That works for me!

The Great Cinnamon Hearts Hunt of 2009

It seems that every year there's something I need--something I desperately want--that I search high and low for and can never find. How frustrating!

In 1999 it was long underwear so that Jon and I could sit outside and eat our PB & J sandwiches on homemade bread in Madison Square Park for lunch in December without freezing to death. We were cheap frugal recent college grads and were pinching every penny until Lincoln screamed, which meant we brown-bagged it every day and did all we could to avoid eating in restaurants. The long underwear was supposed to be an investment, a way to stretch out how long we could go without having to pay for lunch in order to stay out of the cold. Of course, there was no long underwear to be found. That was The Great Long Underwear Hunt of 1999. But the following year was a bumper crop for waffle-knit long johns and long-sleeved thermal shirts. The stuff was everywhere, and by then we had gotten so used to eating outside in the dead of winter that it didn't matter anymore.

And so history repeats itself. This year I've been ducking into every Duane Reade, Rite Aid, and corner deli I pass trying to find cinnamon hearts for my Valentine's Day cookie recipe. And guess what: Rats...foiled again! I'm sure that next year--no, next month!--tiny red cinnamon hearts will fall from the sky instead of rain.

My plan for a Valentine's Day cookie has been put on hold, but I'll come up with something that I hope you'll love just as much as my unrealized original.

Oatmeal Cookie Recipes for Food Allergies and Special Diets

Quite a few of you, dear readers, have written in to ask about egg-free, (pea)nut-free, and gluten-free recipes as well as about vegan and kosher recipes.

I've got some research and testing to do, but and I'll have some recipes for you soon.

In the meantime, though, I do have a few egg-free recipes posted right now: Blueberry Muffin Top Cookies and XXX Cranberry Cookies. (I use simmered fruit in place of the eggs in these recipes' wet ingredients.)

Improvisational Baking: Variations on a Theme

Don't let all the talk about baking being a science scare you. There's plenty of wiggle room in all that Alton Brown-esque chemistry jive to tweak a cookie recipe or pump up the flavorings and make a dough that successfully produces a cookie. (Heck...I've made a blog out of doing just that!)

For my next few cookies, I'm going to take a classic oatmeal cookie recipe--Better Than Grandma's Oatmeal Raisin Cookies--and improvise some variations. By building tweaks upon tweaks, you can turn a single simple, flavorful recipe into a few complex, delicious recipes.

One trick is to enplumpen the raisins with a flavorful liquid. Booze like rum would be perfect. After all, rum and raisin is a classic combo. Another trick is to replace a portion of the raisins with another mix-in. You can never go wrong with chocolate. You could also replace a portion of the oatmeal with another dry ingredient. Coconut would be great.

See. It really is that simple! Stay tuned for some improvised recipes.

"Start with Substance": Make Oatmeal Cookies, Feed a Hungry Kid

During the Today show this morning, Al Roker talked to a lady in the audience who was madly waving a canister of Quaker Oats. "What's that about," I thought. Turns out she was there to promote a joint effort between Quaker and Share Our Strength, an organization dedicated to ending childhood hunger.

From January 12 to February 28, Quaker will donate a bowl of oatmeal to the hungry for every UPC number you enter from your favorite Quaker hot cereal. You have to be on Facebook or join Facebook in order to enter your UPC. Click here for more info.

I'm going to enter my first UPC code when I get home tonight. So should you!

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.

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!

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.

Out with the Old, In with the New

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

"Bring Us Some Figgy Pudding and a Cup of Good Cheer..."

Here's a tiny hint for tonight's cookie recipe:

OK, that probably totally gave it away. But I must tell you that I hate surprises. Just ask Jon. When we were in college, I'd always give away the endings of the novels we were reading. For example: "Are you at the part where she gets paid to throw oranges grapefruit at the guy?" But I digress...

More specifically, I hate surprise presents. I think I get it from my brother. Just ask Mumma. One year, my parents locked all our Christmas presents in a cabinet in my dad's workshop. They didn't know that my brother, the future engineer, would be smart enough to take the cabinet's doors of their hinges. Who needs a key when you can use a screwdriver. Christmas was almost canceled that year, but my dad--the big softy--gave in.

Long story short: I don't like suprises. So stay tuned for a certain classic English Christmas dessert turned into a cookie. That's all I'm saying. Really. That's it!

Winter Weather Widget (Weekend) Wonderland

When the weather outside is frightful, and your weather widget is all covered in snow, what should you do?

Go home and make cookies, of course!

I've made a list of cookie recipes--and checked it twice--now I've just got to find the time to spread my sugar and spice.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie dough, made with care, rests soundly, sweetly in my Frigidaire. Because, as my taste test showed, rested cookie dough tastes best. (These cookies are for this month's Baking GALS shipment to a soldier in Iraq.)

Then I've got a bunch of new recipes to bake and photograph. And, oh yeah, eat. No wonder people call this time of year "Stressmas." Ba-dum dum.

The Colors of the Season

I plan on making a bunch of new cookies in the next few days. Ideally, I'd like to get to all the requests and suggestions people have sent in. I'll get there. I promise...to try!

The first of these by-request cookies will fulfill the cookie dreams of two readers: Lorraine, who loves candy canes, and Amelia, who said that peppermint bark was one of her favorite holiday treats.

And so I present to you the new and improved Yuletide Cookie (recipe TK), which will capture the colors of the season in all their minty, crunch glory.

Red candy canes are peppermint, blue starlight mints are wintergreen, and green candy canes are spearmint. These are the perfect toppings for Christmas or Hanukkah cookies.

Buttah, Schmuttah II

My friend Elissa sent me a link to a New York Times article on butter and cookies. Thanks, Elissa! Nothing brightens the Oatmeal Cookie Guy's day like an article about cookies.

The stuff about the best temperature for creaming butter and American vs. European butter is really interesting, but I thought this was the key nubbin of info (emphasis mine):

“Salted butter was long disparaged by American epicures, but the French, the global butter authorities, welcome salt. ‘Salt makes food taste better,’ said Robert Bradley, emeritus professor of dairy science at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. ‘Why not butter?’”

Yeah...why not salted butter, my fellow bakers?

I've written on the topic of salted butter in baking before, but this might be a good time for a recap. In short, I prefer salted butter over unsalted butter in my cookies because salted butter just plain tastes better than unsalted butter. (Pardon the pun.)

Here are a few other important nubbins (emphasis mine):

“Shortening behaves well at most temperatures and makes crumbly, tender doughs, but has no flavor of its own.”

And...

“‘I can tell a margarine cookie as soon as I bite into it,’ she [Robin Olson, cookie-swap maven] said. “And then I put it right down.’”

So, to recap, make sure you use butter--yes, salted is much better than OK--and stay away from shortening or margarine.

Hmmm...all this butter talk has me thinking about doing another taste test/experiment.