Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas
When writing my post, Summer Backyard BBQ Menu Ideas, it came to my attention I only have one cookie recipe on my blog. One recipe is not enough, especially when it comes to having easy desserts for summer picnics and backyard barbecues. Cookies are the perfect dessert for bringing on a hike, at the beach, camping, or as a hostess gift for a weekend at the beach. Kitchen Sink Oatmeal Cookies is a family favorite, but I wanted to make cookies that are a little different and have a broad appeal. Chocolate is my all-time favorite dessert, but in the heat of the summer more chocolate melts in my hand then in my mouth. Yet, peanut butter and peanut butter cookies hold up to the summer sun and provide some protein to fuel us through the long and lazy summer days.
Peanut Butter Cookies Inspiration
I got my idea to make peanut butter cookies after I read Stella Parks Peanut Butter Cookie recipe in her cookbook, BraveTart. For her peanut butter cookies, she blitzes honey roasted peanuts with the flour to make a soft but textured peanut flour then mixes it into her cookie dough. When I first read this, I was so impressed with Stella Parks ingenuity. It is a brilliant idea and a great way to add extra peanut flavor into cookies without making them dense. Therein lies the cookie challenge, how to add a lot of flavor without turning light and fluffy cookies into door stops. Essentially, turning peanuts into flour adds extra flavor and yet maintains the tender structure.
For some reason, her quick and easy technique of processing honey roasted peanuts with the flour reminded me of my go to sandwich when I was a dancer, peanut butter, honey, and bananas on whole wheat bread. It was the perfect sandwich for the times I needed light, healthy and energizing food to get me through a day of work, dance rehearsal and the final performance on those long 14 hour days on my feet. It may seem like an odd connection but this cookie recipe brought back memories of eating peanut butter honey and banana sandwiches in a dressing room of a proscenium theater.
It made me wonder if I could make a cookie reminiscent of the comforting blend of sweet honey, peanuts and banana that I love. To me, it is all about the combined flavor of roasted peanuts and honey and how peanuts make honey taste sweeter, and how honey makes peanut butter nuttier. A perfect marriage of flavors in any form be it a cookie or a sandwich.
Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies
By no means is this cookie a substitute for the high protein sandwich. It is a dessert cookie interpretation of simple peanut butter sandwich. I love the combination of peanut butter and honey in any form. I used Stella Parks peanut butter cookie recipe as my foundation, but I made several changes to get more honey flavor in the recipe. Instead of granulated sugar as the sweetener, I combined honey and brown sugar. If I only added honey to the cookies, they could get heavy and dry from the extra flour required to absorb the extra liquid. Also, I decided to use brown sugar to cream with the butter and create a tender cookie.
Other significant changes include using a blend of oat flour and all-purpose flour. The oat flour has a slight nutty-butterscotch flavor I believe highlight the honey and the peanuts. If you wish, you can use only all-purpose flour in the recipe, or only oat flour for a gluten free alternative. The cookies will be more tender without the gluten and only keep the fresh texture for a day or two.
For the banana flavor I kept it simple and used banana chips instead of fresh banana. I was concerned fresh banana mash would make the cookies too dense and moist. Banana chips are a great option, they contribute subtle banana flavor without weighing the cookie down. Even though they are very crunchy, banana chips soften in the cookie dough, and so does the banana flavor. Yet, the banana chips sprinkled on the top of the cookies stay crunchy adding a nice crispy contrast to the soft cookie and banana flavor.
If you are a fan of peanut butter, you will love these cookies.
Honey Roasted Peanut Butter Cookies with Bananas
Classic peanut butter cookies with a twist. These are moist cookies with great honey roasted peanut flavor. Stella Parks, in her book Brave Tart , shares a genius idea of blitzing honey roasted peanuts with flour in a food processor for extra peanut and honey flavor. Her idea inspired me to make a cookie that replicates the honey roasted flavor of peanuts in one of my favorite sandwiches, Peanut Butter, Honey and Banana.
Keeping the flavor of this sandwich in mind, I adapted her recipe by incorporating brown sugar, honey, and a mixture of oat flour and all-purpose flour. There is a subtle banana flavor from the banana chips keeping the cookies light and tender.
If you prefer, use 100% all-purpose flour in the cookie dough. I use oat flour because I like the flavor it adds to the peanuts and honey.
Store the cookies in an air tight container for a couple of days.
Ingredients
- ½ cup 2.5 oz /74 g all-purpose flour
- ½ cup 2.5 oz / 74 g oat flour
- 1 ¼ cup 6 oz / 173 g honey roasted salted peanuts plus more for garnish
- 1 8 TB/ 115 g stick unsalted butter, soft but still cool
- ½ cup 3.5 oz / 92 g light brown sugar
- 1 ¼ cup 10 oz / 284 g creamy peanut butter (natural with no sugar or other additives)
- ¾ tsp Kosher salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¾ tsp baking soda
- 1 ½ tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg well beaten
- Heaping ½ cup 2 oz / 57 g dried banana chips, rough chopped more for garnish
Instructions
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Pre-heat oven to 325°F / 160°C / Gas Mark 3. Place the oven rack in the middle and upper thirds of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
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Place the all-purpose flour and honey roasted peanuts in a bowl of a food processor and pulse until the nuts are finely ground, about one minute. If your food processor bowl has an 8 cup (2 liter) capacity, you can add both the all-purpose flour and oat flour at one time. If your bowl is small, about 3 cups (750 ml) then it is best to divide the flour in half and process the peanuts and flour in a couple of batches. Once the flours and peanuts are finely ground, set aside.
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Add the butter and brown sugar into a bowl of a stand mixer, or large mixing bowl if you are using a hand-held mixer. Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed, until light and airy, about 3 minutes. Every minute or so, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
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Add the honey, peanut butter, salt, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla extract and beat until mixed together on medium speed, about 1 minute. Half way through, stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl then continue beating the batter. Slowly add half of the beaten egg to the mix and beat until completely mixed in. Add the remaining egg and thoroughly mix until well incorporated.
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Turn the speed down to low and add the peanut flour into the bowl. While the flour and batter are mixing turn up the speed to medium and mix until just incorporated. Make sure to not over-mix the batter.
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Remove the bowl from the stand and stir in the banana chips until just incorporated. The batter will look soft and feel slightly sticky.
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Divide the cookie dough into one ounce portions, one heaping tablespoon, and arrange on the prepared baking sheets spaced 2 inches (5 cm) apart. (I fit six cookies on my baking sheets, but you could squeeze in 8 if you are not worried about the cookie edges touching).
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Sprinkle honey roasted peanuts and broken banana chip pieces over the top of each cookie and place in the oven. Bake for 15 minutes. Half way through baking, rotate the baking pans front to back, and top to bottom for even browning and baking.
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Remove the cookies from the oven when they are just starting to brown around the edges, be careful not to over bake. Rest the cookies for 10 minutes on the baking pans, then remove each cookie to a cooling rack with a spatula.
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Makes 30 cookies.
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Switch it up:
Add dark or white chocolate (or both) chunks to the batter.
Try some raisins with the banana chips.
Sprinkle cinnamon sugar over the top of each cookie before baking.
Substitute Reese’s Pieces or peanut butter cups for the banana chips.
Gluten Free: substitute the all-purpose flour with oat flour.
© 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.
Fudgy Brownies with Sea Salt and Caramel
When you crave fudgy brownies like nothing else matters, sometimes the only way to satisfy this desire is make them for yourself. It is my experience, homemade brownies have just the right texture and flavor that I want. There were too many times I bought a brownie at a gourmet store and they were dry and dull. I guess I am very particular about my brownies. Fortunately, it is not difficult to make good fudgy brownies at home.
Other than the dark chocolate, what I love about making brownies from scratch is I can mix them by hand. It doesn’t take a lot of whisking, whipping or timing, just a good stir to mix everything up. For the novice baker, homemade brownies are a good place to start learning how to bake.
This recipe is from Ina Garten’s Salted Caramel Brownies from her book, Barefoot Contessa Foolproof. Ina’s cookbooks and recipes are very well organized and constructed. You can trust her to present each recipe clearly, accurately and efficiently. Her brownies are dangerously delicious. They have deep dark chocolate flavor with just the right amount of moisture without being gooey. For all brownie lovers out there, chocolate fudgy brownies with rich caramel and flaky sea salt drizzled over the top are a masterpiece. There is nothing that grabs your attention like chocolate, caramel and sea salt all in one delectable brownie bite. This is a happy marriage.
I made two changes to Ina Garten’s recipe. In the original recipe she uses semisweet chocolate chips in the brownies chocolate foundation. Chocolate chips have additional ingredients besides cocoa butter and sugar and I believe should only be used as chips. Sometimes, melted down chocolate chips has a chalky flavor and grainy texture. This is not something I want in my brownies. A bar of good quality semisweet chocolate melted with a bar of unsweetened chocolate gives the brownies a lighter texture and a purer chocolate flavor.
The other change I made is, I use less caramel sauce than she recommends in her recipe. She specifies 5 ounces of caramel sauce to drizzle over the brownies. That is a lot of caramel sauce and looks more like frosting on a cake then a glaze. Feel free to adjust the amount of caramel sauce according to your preference.
Caramel Sauce for Fudgy Brownies with Sea Salt and Caramel
If you are buying caramel sauce, please seek out real caramel sauce. The common brands you’ll find in a super market are mostly made with artificial flavor and corn syrup. You want the real deal to drizzle over your homemade real chocolate brownies. Ina Garten recommends Fran’s, but I also like Cara Sel and Fat Toad Farm Caramel. Fran’s is a company out of Washington that specializes in chocolates. Cara Sel comes from a family run company in the NY Hudson Valley. You can find their caramel sauce in stores all over NY State and on-line. Fat Toad Farm is a family run farm in Vermont and their caramel sauce is made with goat’s milk. All three sauces are delicious artisan caramel sauces you can buy online or in specialty stores. Use any brand you like, but please make sure it is the real stuff.
Often, I make caramel sauce while these brownies bake in the oven. It takes about 20 minutes and is something worth knowing how to make. Loaded fudgy brownies have a lot of dark chocolate, almost 12 ounces worth, plus 6 ounces of chocolate chips. Depending on what brand chocolate you buy, brownie ingredients are expensive. Add another $10 to $16 for a 6 oz jar of caramel sauce turns these homemade brownies into gold.
The caramel sauce recipe I use is from Simply Recipes on the web. It makes caramel sauce using the dry method, which I prefer because it takes less time and I am impatient. Here is a recipe for caramel sauce using the wet method. It takes longer but the sugar melts at an even rate. Also, it does not have butter in it. You need a good heavy-bottom 3-quart sauce pan to prevent the sugar from burning. Follow the directions carefully and please take the necessary precautions so hot caramel does not bubble over your mixing hand.
Tips for Making Fudgy Brownies
- One special piece of equipment you need is a double boiler to melt the chocolate and butter. If you do not have a double boiler, make one by fitting a small heat proof mixing bowl over a 3-quart sauce pan filled with less than an inch of water.
- While melting the chocolate in a double boiler, keep the heat medium-low and make sure the simmering water does not touch the bottom of the pan, or bowl holding the chocolate.
- Allow for several minutes to cool the chocolate before you add it to the eggs and sugar. If the chocolate and butter are too hot, it will cook your eggs.
- Before you add the chocolate chips to the brownie mix, allow some time for the mix to come to a cool room temperature. This insures the chips don’t melt and ruin the brownies.
- Be careful not to over bake the brownies. They are done when a tooth pick inserted in the center of the brownies comes out clean. If you do over bake them they will still taste good, but they won’t be as moist.
Whenever you need to bring a dessert to a friend’s house, a hostess gift, a dessert for a weekend getaway, or a last minute get together, these brownies will please everyone who loves chocolate. I even mailed them as a care package to Taylor in college. Fudgy brownies with sea salt and caramel are a family favorite.
Fudgy Brownies with Sea Salt and Caramel
Ingredients
- ½ lb 226 g unsalted butter (2 sticks), cut into pieces about 1 TB in size
- 8 oz 227 g semisweet chocolate, broken in to irregular pieces
- 3 oz 75 g unsweetened chocolate, broken into irregular pieces
- 3 large eggs
- 1½ TB 6 g instant coffee granules, like Medaglia D'Oro or Café Bustelo
- 1 TB pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup plus 2 TB 246 g granulated sugar
- ½ cup 71 g plus 2 TB (17 g) all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp Kosher salt
- 6 oz 172 g semisweet chocolate chips
- 2-4 oz 60-125 ml caramel sauce
- 2-3 tsp flaky sea salt such as Maldon
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Place the rack in the middle of the oven.
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Butter and lightly flour a 9 x 12 x 1½ inch (23 x 30 x 4 cm) baking pan. (preferably metal)
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Make a double boiler by placing a medium bowl resting on the rim of a 3 qt sauce pan filled no more than an inch (2.5 cm) of water. Turn the heat to medium-high and place the butter, semisweet chocolate and unsweetened chocolate in the bowl. Melt the chocolate and butter. Every now and then, carefully stir the chocolate and butter. Watch to make sure the simmering water does not touch the bottom of the bowl.
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Once melted, remove the bowl from the sauce pan and cool for 15 minutes.
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In a large bowl stir together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and granulated sugar. Do not beat the eggs, just stir to combine.
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After the 15-minute cooling time, slowly add the melted butter and chocolate to the eggs and sugar mixture. Pour about a quarter of the chocolate into the mix and stir to temper the brownie mix. Slowly add the remaining melted chocolate and butter and stir at the same time. Once mixed together, allow the mixture to cool to room temperature. See note.
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In a medium bowl add the ½ cup (71 g) flour, baking powder, and Kosher salt. Use a small whisk and whisk the flour mixture until the flour, baking powder and salt are evenly combined. Add the flour mixture to the bowl with the cooled chocolate mixture and stir to combine. Toss the chocolate chips in the flour bowl with the remaining 2 TBS of all-purpose flour until they become nicely coated. Add the chocolate chips and flour into the chocolate brownie mix. Stir to mix.
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Pour the brownie mix into the prepared pan and spread to form an even layer.
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Bake for 35 minutes, or when a tooth pick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. The edges will look slightly dry and just beginning to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do not over bake. The brownies will continue to bake while it is cooling.
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Remove the brownies from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
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When the brownies are just out of the oven, heat up your caramel sauce in a microwave until it thins out to a pouring consistency. Stir the caramel sauce until smooth.
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Evenly drizzle the caramel sauce over the hot brownies, then sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
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Completely cool the brownies before cutting into serving pieces.
Recipe Notes
Cooling the chocolate brownie mix to a cool room temperature is crucial. If the brownie mix is too warm when you add in the chocolate chips, all the chocolate chips will melt and ruin the brownies.
© 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.
Peppermint Meringue Cookies: 3 Ways
Whenever I make Chocolate Pots de Creme or other custard dessert, I have a lot of egg whites looking for a purpose. For years I would throw out the unused egg whites until I learned egg whites freeze well. Now, I freeze the egg whites and pick a time to make one of my favorite desserts, mousse, dacquoise, or meringue cookies. During the winter, I especially enjoy peppermint meringue cookies with their pink swirls and minty flavor. These light and crispy cookies have just enough peppermint flavor and taste as good dressed up with peppermint candies or white chocolate, or as is. They are festive cookies, perfect for the holidays and make a great hostess gift.
It is not difficult to make peppermint meringue cookies, but there are a few factors to keep in mind.
- Eggs are easier to separate when they are cold, but room temperature egg whites get more volume. Separate the whites from the yolks when the eggs are just removed from the refrigerator. Make sure there are no traces of yolk in the egg whites. Leave the whites on the counter for 30 minutes to come up to room temperature before making meringue.
- Use clean beaters and bowls. It seems like an obvious statement, but any trace of water, soap, egg yolk, or other proteins will hinder your success at getting silky and airy meringue with lots of volume.
- Add the egg whites and acid or Cream of Tartar together, then whisk the egg whites. Acid, like lemon juice, white vinegar, or Cream of Tartar, are stabilizers and help with the structure of airy meringue.
- Slowly add the sugar to the whites one tablespoon at a time. If you add the sugar in too quickly the egg whites will deflate.
- Pipe the meringue and bake the cookies immediately after you stop whisking the meringues.
- Cool the meringue cookies in the oven after baking. Unless you need the oven to make dinner, it is a perfect air tight space to cool the meringue. I often make meringue at night because meringue take so long to bake, then I keep the meringue in the oven overnight. Once cool, store the cookies in an airtight container on the counter. Meringues do not like moisture and will sweat or get sticky when left out in the air.
How to make the red swirls or stripes on the meringue cookies:
- Method 1 as suggested in the recipe: add drops of red food coloring to the finished meringue in the mixing bowl. Do not mix. Then spoon the meringue into a piping bag fitted with a ½ inch (1 cm) tip. Press out the air and secure the pastry bag. Pipe the meringue in a spiral motion and make a 1½ inch (4 cm) circle. This produces meringue cookies with swirly pink lines in each cookie. No two cookies look the same. As pictured in this blog post.
- Method 2: use an artist’s paint brush and paint 3 evenly spaced lines of red food coloring inside and up the length of the piping bag. It will look like three straight candy stripes in your piping bag. Carefully spoon the meringue into the piping bag fitted with a ½ inch (1 cm) tip or your choice. Press out all the air and twist and secure the top of your pastry bag. This method produces uniform looking meringue cookies with evenly spaced vertical red lines.
Personally, I like the first method because I love the pink swirls in each cookie, and I don’t have to worry about messing up the painted lines while I am spooning the meringue into the piping bag. If you don’t own piping tips and a pastry bag, plastic bags work just as well. See recipe description for instructions.
Toppings for your Peppermint Meringue Cookies
- Make the cookies as the recipe states without extra decoration. The peppermint flavor is pronounced, and the meringue cookie is light and crispy.
- For a little extra crunch, add crushed peppermint candy to the meringue cookie batter. And/or sprinkle crushed peppermint candy over the meringue cookies before you place them in the oven.
- Dip the bottom or top of cooled meringue cookies in melted white chocolate, then coat the white chocolate bottoms with crushed peppermint candy or coconut flakes.
There are endless possibilities for decorating and personalizing your meringue cookies. If peppermint is not your thing, fold in a couple of tablespoons of freeze-dried coffee granules into meringue. The coffee granules will create a subtle swirly pattern of coffee-colored meringue in each cookie. The coffee meringue will also taste great dipped in white chocolate. Or flavor with lemon extract, orange blossom water, or rose water and minced pistachios.
This recipe is adapted from Bon Appetit. I use their piping technique, but I slightly changed the ingredients. These cookies are great as is, but I love the peppermint meringue cookies dipped in white chocolate and peppermint candy. The white chocolate adds a creamy texture and taste against the crispy and minty meringues. These airy cookies are a real crowd pleaser.
Peppermint Meringue Cookies: 3 Ways
Ingredients
- 3 egg whites room temperature
- 1/8 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp white vinegar
- 2/3 cup (152 g) granulated sugar*
- 1/8- 1/4 tsp real peppermint extract
- 12 drops red food color
Optional Decorations
- 12 oz (342 g) white chocolate, melted
- About 1/2 cup (125 ml) crushed peppermint candies
- Unsweetened coconut flakes
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 200°F/ 93°C
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Fit a ½ inch (1 cm) tip into a pastry bag and set upright inside a tall drinking glass. Fold the edges of the pastry bag over the glass rim. Set aside.
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Prepare two rimmed sheet pans. Cover each sheet pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
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Add egg whites and vinegar to the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Whisk the egg whites at medium speed until they are light and foamy with soft peaks, about a couple of minutes.
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Turn up the speed to medium-high and add the granulated sugar a tablespoon at a time, whisking the whites for a few seconds between additions. It will take around 6 minutes to add all the sugar.
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Once all the sugar is added, turn the speed up to high and whisk the meringue until glossy and stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes.
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Optional: If you want crushed peppermint candy in your meringue cookies, using a rubber spatula, fold in 2 Tablespoons of finely crushed peppermint candy into the meringue before you add the food coloring.
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Remove the bowl from the mixer, and add 12 drops of red food color scattered about the meringue. Do not mix.
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Spoon the meringue into the pastry bag, or gallon size Ziploc plastic bag, without stirring the meringue. Once all the meringue is added, twist the bag closed and squeeze down on the bag until the meringue is down to the tip without air pockets. If using a Ziploc bag, snip off the tip of a corner making a ½ inch (1 cm) opening.
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Using gentle, squeeze the meringue out of the piping bag and make a 1½ inch (4 cm) circle in an upward spiral, and space each meringue cookie about an inch (2.5 cm) apart.
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Bake in the oven for 2 hours, or until the meringue is dry.
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Turn off the oven and cool the meringue cookies in the oven. Once cooled, remove the meringue cookies and decorate, or store in an air tight container. Meringues do not like damp conditions or humid weather. Keep them out of the humidity or air long as possible.
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Decorate as you wish.
Optional Decorations
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Break up the white chocolate into pieces and place in a glass bowl. Melt the chocolate in the microwave. Microwave on high heat for 30 seconds. Stop and stir the chocolate and access the progress. Repeat, melting the chocolate in the microwave in 20 second intervals then stirring, for as many intervals as needed until the chocolate is mostly melted.
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Take the chocolate out of the microwave and add the remaining white chocolate to the bowl and stir the white chocolate until all the chocolate has melted.
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Place crushed peppermint candies on a plate, and/or the coconut flakes if using. Cover a sheet pan with parchment paper.
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Dip the meringue cookies in the melted white chocolate, either the bottom or top, and turn the cookie around to get an even coating. Let the excess chocolate drip off, then press the chocolate coated cookie in the peppermint candy or coconut flakes. Place each meringue cookie on the prepared sheet pan until dry. Repeat until all the cookies are coated in chocolate.
Recipe Notes
* When making meringue, super fine sugar works better than granulated sugar. It dissolves faster and is not as dense. I cannot get super fine sugar in my grocery store, instead I process the granulated sugar in a food processor, about 5-6 pulses. If you don't have either option, granulated sugar works, but make sure you add it into the meringue slowly.
© 2017 – 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.
Kitchen Sink Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
What do you get when you combine, rolled oats, sun-dried raisins, butterscotch chips, dark chocolate chips and cinnamon? You have everything but the kitchen sink oatmeal cookies. This recipe is a family favorite and one of our staple cookie recipes. Kitchen sink oatmeal cookies have stood the test of time and saw this family through growth spurts, swim meets, birthdays, snow days, fun days, and holidays.
I got this recipe about 19 years ago from a friend. Our children were in nursery school together and it was her turn to bring the school snack. I can still hear Jane’s friendly voice telling me about her cookies.
Me: “What are these cookies? They are delicious.”
Jane: “They are Kitchen Sink Cookies.”
Me: Perplexed and speechless as I tried to grasp the meaning behind naming cookies after a kitchen sink. Certainly, my kitchen sink was not an appetizing sight, especially after making cookies. Obviously, I was not to date with familiar expressions.
Jane: Seeing my befuddled expression rescues me from my confusion and with a joking smile on her face says, “They’re called Kitchen Sink Cookies because they have everything in them but the kitchen sink.”
Me: (LOL) “Oh yeah, I get it. Right.”
With that mystery solved, Jane gladly shared her recipe.
The real surprise inside these oatmeal cookies is the blast of buttery caramel from the butterscotch chips. Even though there is a decent amount of butter, the butterscotch makes everything stand out. Every bite is loaded with surprises. I believe there is no such thing as too many goodies mixed into cookie dough.
When I make these cookies, I feel like I am not just sharing cookies, but my family’s history as well. This oatmeal cookie recipe begins when my youngest son attended preschool and fills many spaces up to the present. Hopefully, there will be several opportunities to share these oatmeal cookies in the future. Every time I make these cookies, clear memories of each of my sons come to mind. It is one of the great things about homemade cookies. Not only do they bring joy, but they share a story of life well lived.
One memory I have, and it always gives me a laugh, is from Andrew’s college years. You would think nothing would outshine cute preschoolers eating cookies with their classmates, but imagine college varsity swimmers inhaling a bag of cookies after an exhausting swim meet. That is a sight to see. Think of Doctor Seuss characters with crazy spiked hair and large funnel-shaped mouths, sucking up everything in its path.
After giving Andrew two bags of Kitchen Sink Oatmeal Cookies to share with the team, I noticed everyone seemed restless. The whole team sat on the bleachers, supposedly listening to their coach go over the team’s accomplishments after a triumphant swim meet. However, all the swimmers discretely had their eye on the bags of cookies. Their facial expressions said, “Where’s the cookies?” while glancing back and forth from their coach to their teammates searching for the cookie trail.
I discovered Andrew was on a mission to hide the cookies from his best friend. A person who had no problem inhaling the double batch of cookies in one bite, especially after a swim meet. When I caught up with Andrew I saw a full bag of crumbles, not a full bag of homemade with love oatmeal cookies. I imagined this bag of cookies being tossed about and stuffed into backpacks just to keep them out of sight. Andrew did not mind because with his mission accomplished, that bag of cookie crumbles was all for him.
I really like cookies and for many years always had them in the house. Between myself, Joe, and three sons we easily went through more than one box of cookies a week. If there weren’t any cookies in our pantry, the boys would say there was no food in the house.
We are now better behaved. Several years ago I made a promise to myself, I would no longer buy cookies. If I wanted them, I would make them, or someone else in the family could. I made this promise to cut back on processed food and lose weight. It worked, and over the years I kept this promise 98% of the time. It is not as much of an inconvenience as I first thought.
There is a big difference in flavor and texture between homemade and store-bought cookies. If you are going to eat sweets, then you might as well eat the freshest and healthiest option you can.
Fortunately, when I make kitchen sink oatmeal cookies they satisfy everyone’s favorite cookie requirement. Joe and Andrew’s favorite cookie is oatmeal raisin. I always want some form of dark chocolate in my cookies, and Evan and Taylor are just happy to have them. Making one batch beats buying multiple boxes from the store every time.
Making cookies instead of buying them is an easy promise to keep. I discovered it is not a major production to do. Besides, cookies are timeless and every generation enjoys having fresh made cookies, as they bring out the child spirit in all of us.
Kitchen Sink Chewy Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups 223 g all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp 1 g baking soda
- 1 tsp 2 g cinnamon (or 1/2 tsp ground nutmeg)
- 1/2 tsp 1 g Kosher salt
- 1/2 lb / 2 sticks / 226 g butter, softened but still cool
- 1 cup 192 g firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup 109 g granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp 3 g pure vanilla extract
- 3 cups 253 g old fashioned rolled oats
- 1/2 heaping cup 85 g raisins
- 1/2 heaping cup 88 g Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 heaping cup 88 g butterscotch chips
Instructions
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If you are cooking one cookie sheet at a time, arrange the oven rack in the center position in your oven. Preheat oven to 350F / 175C/ Gas Mark 4 and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
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In a medium bowl add the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon and stir with a wire whisk until evenly mixed. Set aside
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In a bowl of a stand mixer, or handheld mixer, beat together on medium to medium-high speed, the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until soft and creamy, about 2-3 minutes.
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Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until the eggs are thoroughly combined.
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Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed to start just for the flour to get absorbed in the batter. Then turn the seep up to medium and mix until just combined. This does not take long so be careful not to overmix the dough.
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Add the rolled oats and mix until just combined.
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Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the raisins, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips until evenly combined in the cookie dough.
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Drop rounded tablespoons (1 oz / 32 g) of cookie dough on the cookie sheet, spaced about 2 inches (5 cm) apart.
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Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.
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Cool on cookie sheet for 3 minutes, then move the cookies to cool on a cooling rack.
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Store the cookies in an airtight container on the counter. Should stay fresh for a couple of days.
Recipe Notes
If you wish, spoon the cookie dough on a cookie sheet then cool in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Then bake. They might take a minute or too longer to bake. The chilled dough makes the cookies a little lighter and fluffier then when you bake the dough beginning at room temperature.
If you are baking more than one rack at a time, arrange the oven racks in the upper thirds of your oven. Rotate the cookie sheets from top to bottom rack and front to back halfway between the total cooking time.
© 2017 – 2018, Ginger Smith- Lemon Thyme and Ginger. All rights reserved.
