White Chocolate Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

When the people speak... I listen. And this time the people requested something with oatmeal. And so I scoured countless cookbooks for the perfect oatmeal cookie recipe.This is what I found.

Okay, so it actually came out about like this...
My mom: "Why no oatmeal cookies? I love oatmeal in cookies."
Me: "Oh yeah, I like oatmeal in cookies, too."
Then I went on recipezaar, found the recipe in like 2 seconds and whipped them up.

My alterations:I made them even MORE healthier by splitting the cup of flour into 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all purpose flour. They came out delicious! But watch them, because I only had to cook them for about 5-6 minutes (smallish cookie scoop). Also make sure you flatten them out before you bake them, because they do not spread. I used white chocolate squares instead of chips. Next time, I might try the chips.

They are very homey tasting, and I think that's because of the cinnamon flavor in them. Usually, I'm not a big fan of fruit with chocolate, but this combination of cranberry with white chocolate is absolutely perfect! But I'm sure you could substitute any dried fruit.

They are delicious though! I'm going to use this same basic recipe but do some experimenting try to make some good energy bars.

Brownies

I have never, not once considered making brownies from scratch. Why? Because of this: I've found that brownie mixes are so delicious... why bother with trying to make them from scratch?

Well, I decided that it would be nice to have a recipe for homemade brownies (even if they aren't likely to be as good as the mixes). So, I found a recipe on Cookie Madness for these brownies. She had lots of brownie recipes, but I chose these because I already had all the ingredients. And 28 minutes was wayyy too long to cook these brownies (at least for my taste), I should have taken them out after about 20-22, I think. I like my brownies moist and slightly undercooked. Mine were dry and overcooked. Damn.

I will try these again, I think though. They were easy and they make huge, thick brownies... I just wish I hadn't overcooked them.

The Redemption Cookies...

(angels singing in the background)

Now... this my friends... this is a cookie recipe.

So, I was a little disappointed by the last cookies I made... Alton Brown's Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I did not let that defeat me. I soldiered on and decided to make a peanut butter cookie.

I used to make peanut butter cookies a lot when I was a kid, because we always had the ingredients for them. But the recipe I used was out of an old cookbook and made the kinda soft but sandy type. Well, I wanted a chewier (of course) but crispy around the edges type.

So, I found a recipe for Mrs. Fields Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies on recipezaar and then I doctored it up a bit (using peanut butter chips, reese peanut butter cups, and shorterning instead of butter).

They turned out so incredibly rich and decadent. Yum. Definitely a cookie for when you are in the mood for something sweet and rich. You can only eat a couple, so bask in the wonderfulness of every bite.. thank you Mrs. Fields. Thank you.

Reese's Cup Peanut Butter Cookies

makes about 36ish cookies.

2 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 cup butter flavored shortening

6 tsp water

3 large eggs

1 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 10oz package of reese peanut butter chips

36-40 minature reese peanut butter cups.

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients and set aside.

On medium speed, in a large bowl, blend sugars with shortening and the 6 tsp of water, mix till grainy consistency. Add eggs, peanut butter (hint: spray the measuring cup with cooking spray before you measure the peanut butter so that the peanut butter slides right out) and vanilla extract. Beat until fluffy. Carefully stir in flour mixture with a wooden spoon and then barely mix on low speed with mixer until incorporated. Add the peanut butter chips and stir.

Drop by cookie scoop 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake until the edges are lightly browned, about 15 minutes (with my medium cookie scoop), as soon as you remove them from the oven, place a reese cup down in the center of the cookie and allow to cool for a minute before placing on a cooling rack.

Pour a glass of milk and enjoy...

They look like little fried eggs... weird.

"The Chewy"

So, I wasn't content with the perfection of this chocolate chip cookie recipe I tried a month ago. Nooooo... I had to go and try to find a cookie that tasted just as delicious, but had a slightly softer outside texture.

I like chewy cookies. Think... oatmeal/raisin chewy. I like them moist and buttery, but not cakey. Definitely not cakey.

So, I found this recipe for Alton Brown's Chewy chocolate chip cookies. And... they are just okay. The flavor isn't really there for me. And the texture is too cakey. So, from now on, when I find perfection. I'm sticking with it.

Don't be fooled...

They look tasty, but they are pretty bland as far as chocolate chip cookies go.

The Dump Cake

Yes, yes, the title alone will elicit numerous snickers from your friends and family. That is until they taste it, and then the name never sounds funny. "Did you just say dump cake? Where??? Who's making one??" Dump Cake is no laughing matter.

It's so named because you literally dump all the ingredients (in a specified order) into a 13x9 inch baking dish and in an hour... voila... you have a creamy, buttery, crunchy, healthy (well... okay, so its probably not healthy, but it does have fruit in it) cake. The first time my mom made this, I was a little put off by the idea of cherries and pineapple in a cake. It just didn't sound appetizing to me. Boy, was I wrong.

It's really hard to explain, the only thing I can say is... try it... you won't be disappointed. If you ever need to take a dessert to a potluck dinner, this would be a good one. All the ingredients (except the butter, which I already had) cost me $7.50 and took me about 5 minutes to prepare.

It's better once you let it set and cool. And yes, it's supposed to be a little gooey.

And now... without further adieu... I give you....

The Dump Cake

15 oz can cherry pie filling (I used no sugar added)
15 oz can crushed pineapples (I used no sugar added)
1 box yellow cake mix
¾ cup butter, melted
1 cup chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350.

Dump the cherry pie filling and pineapple contents into the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan. Spread over bottom of pan.

Sprinkle the box of yellow cake mix over fruit.

Drizzle the melted butter evenly over the top of the cake mix.

Sprinkle chopped pecans over the top and place in oven and cook for about 50 minutes to an hour.

(Don't mind the size in the picture, I made a half cake this weekend).

Yes, it will appear a little powdery on top, thats okay. Mmmm... this is what comfort food is all about.

Fudge Scotch Bars

This recipe should be indexed under: Delicious Cookie for When you Are Drunk and Lazy. I made these while on vacation... I chose them because they were super simple and because they required few ingredients. Ergo: Great bars to make on vacation.

The recipe calls for a 9" square pan. Which I didn't have, so I think they would be even better (hard to imagine) if they were made in the proper pan, because they would be thicker. I made them in a medium sized cookie sheet. They still turned out delicious and everyone loved them.

Would make a great potluck dessert.

Basically, all you need to know is... semi-sweet chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, walnuts, graham cracker crumbs, and sweetened condensed milk. That's it. All that is in it. I will make these a lot more, without different variations.

Fudge Scotch Bars

Did I mention that this is an awesome recipe?

Okay, just look at that. Look at how yummy that cookie is.

I made another batch of the chocolate chip cookies from an earlier post . I devoured about 5 of them and then quickly stashed them in the freezer, so that I could take them along on my beach vacation this week. Homemade cookies will be so much better than chewy chips ahoy, no?

This time, I split the batch in two. One batch had your basic milk chocolate chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips (as a side note, I used hershey brand semi-sweet chips and they are awesome! they melted completely in the cookies. I used ghiradelli milk chocolate chips). Then in the other batch, I used up some remaining peanut butter chips and butterscotch chips and threw in some semi-sweet and milk chocolate for some chocolate-y taste, too. And they both turned out delicious!

On saturday, I had a Christie cookie... a chocolate chip one, and I noticed that the chocolate in it sucked, but that the cookie had an awesome buttery, soft texture (I had forgotten how great their texture was). So, while this cookie recipe is the best I've found... it does get a little crunchier on the top than I'd like sometimes... so, I think I'll try some more recipes soon just to see if I can find a softer, chewier one.

These are still awesome though. Mmmm... I wish I had one right now.