 David Rubel'sWhat's For Dinner?2/14/07
2. Combine the oats, chocolate chips, toasted nuts, and dried fruit in a mixing bowl. Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a second mixing bowl. 3.In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar at medium speed until the sugar is completely dissolved, about 1 minute. Reduce the speed to low, add the egg and vanilla, and beat until fully combined, about another 30 seconds. With the mixer still running, gradually add the flour mixture and then the oats mixture. Mix until just combined. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides of the bowl, incorporating any dry ingredients into the batter. 4. Pinch off a golf ball-sized piece of batter and roll it in the palms of your hands to form a tight ball. Then flatten the ball into a thick disk and place it on a baking sheet. Continue until there is no batter left. 5.Bake for 12-15 minutes until the edge of the cookies have set but the centers are still soft. Let them cool a little on the baking sheet and then on a rack.
Tips * You can use whatever nuts and fruit you like in this recipe. Our favorite cookie nuts are pecans, but walnuts and hazelnuts are also good choices. Remember to toast the nuts first as this enhances their flavor. For fruit, raisins are always convenient, but if you'd like to try something especially good (if a little pricy), I recommend dried sour cherries. * Use decent-quality chocolate chips. The Ghirardelli brand is widely available and not too expensive. An 11.5-ounce bag contains enough chips for two batches. * If you don't have a stand mixer, a hand mixer and a large mixing bowl will do. * When using two baking sheets at once, it's best to separate your oven racks so that one occupies the upper half of the oven and the other the lower half. You should also rotate the baking sheets, front to back and top to bottom, about halfway through the baking process. * Be careful not to overbake these cookies, which should be chewy. Just because they seem a bit wet inside the cracks doesn't mean that they aren't done.
Listener Feeback Mother and daughter Diana and Devante Marshall were in the middle of making granola when they heard this recipe on the radio. They decided to make the cookies instead but adapted the recipe to suit the ingredients they already had on hand. “We added dried cherries and raisins, omitted the chocolate, added chopped pecans and almonds and unsalted sunflower seeds, as well as 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon. We reduced the brown sugar to 1 cup and added 2 tablespoons of maple syrup. I don't think the chocolate chips are a bad idea, though, and the next time we’ll use them. I like the Ghirardelli brand also, but you should try BJ's brand of semisweet chips, They’re not bad when you need bulk. In the meantime, we’ve already dubbed these cookies as "keepers."Because Corry Kanzenberg of Lee, Massachusetts is a vegan, she used several substitute ingredients to conform the recipe to her diet. She replaced the egg with 3 tablespoons of applesauce and used a butter derived from vegetable oil. For the extras, she used “half a cup dried cherries, which I just happened to have in the house, and half a cup of raisins, which I chopped up instead of putting in whole (I always do this and think it really makes the cookies taste better). I also threw in a cup of walnuts. Well, that recipe was just great!” If you have tried one of these recipes and have an improvement or tip or variation to suggest, please e-mail David at dinner@wamc.org. Also feel free to send along your own family cuisine recipes. You can even request dishes that you'd like David to present in the future. David Rubel is president of Agincourt Press, a book production company in Chatham, New York. He spends his days writing American history, then heads home after work to cook for his wife and two young children. His most recent book is The Coming Free: The Struggle for African-American Equality (DK, 2005). |
