Spiced Oatmeal Berry Walnut Chip Cookies

Spiced Oatmeal Berry Walnut Cookies

Ah, oatmeal cookies, delicious nuggets of relatively less-guilt-inducing numminess compared to other cookies.  Are they dessert?  Are they breakfast?  Does it truly matter? 

Some people say that you should put raisins in your oatmeal cookies.  Others say you should add walnuts or pecans.  Still other people prefer chocolate chips, and those people are right.  But they don’t have to be completely right; why not add in all of those much-argued over ingredients?  And why not change out those raisins to their healthier cousins the dried cranberry and blueberry?  I like walnuts better than pecans for their earthier, oiler taste.  Sorry pecans.  I’ll save you for my maple ice cream and streusel muffins.

Obviously our cookie dough can only support so much oatmeal and extra goodies to be studded throughout, so we must use a little common sense when doling out these ingredients. 

Originally I used the recipe for “Classic Oatmeal Cookies” in my ancient copy of the Joy of Cooking.  And by ancient I mean the 1975 version that still has a specific recipe on how to cook muskrat (only the legs are worth eating and only when you brown them in bacon fat, apparently – though I’m pretty sure bacon fat will make just about anything edible).  

And this recipe does yield tasty cookies.  But I like cinnamon, and lots of vanilla extract.  I’m a vanilla girl in general – I even wear it in my perfume.  So I added more cinnamon and vanilla at first.  Then I added ginger to the spices, for some warmth.  Then I discovered the sweetly sticky, gooey bitterness of molasses.  And it was good.  I would dip the resulting cookies in milk and nom them down for breakfast with some yogurt and fruit.  And it was very good. 

Then I used chocolate chips instead of raisins.  I have nothing against raisins.  I like them in my trail mix.  I like them in my bread pudding.  I like to snack on them, but the combination of spices and chocolate, the crunch of the oats paired with the silky bite of the solidified chocolate…  To.  Damn.  Good. 

But soon I wanted to have my chocolate, and berries, and nuts, and eat them too!

Over the course of time this is the final recipe I ended up with.  

This recipe will make 3.5 dozen cookies.  These cookies can be chewy or crunchy depending on how long you bake them.  They are homey and comforting, with a nubby texture.

This was the first time I used this recipe, so I ended up taking 2 hours to make the whole shebang, but if you’re not a perfectionist like me, you can definitely get away with shaving at least half an hour off your cooking time.

These are the ingredients you’ll need:

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground clove

¼ tsp ground ginger

1 ½ cups brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted margarine, softened

2 large eggs

1 tbl vanilla extract

1 tbl molasses

2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

¼ cup dried blueberries

¼ cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

3 ½ cup rolled oats

Got everything ready?  Let’s begin.

1.        Arrange racks in oven to evenly hold two cookie trays.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.        In a large bowl, mix these dry ingredients together.  I like to use a whisk.

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour

¾ tsp baking soda

¾ tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

¾ tsp cinnamon

½ tsp nutmeg

1/8 tsp ground clove

¼ tsp ground ginger

3.       In a mixing bowl, combine the brown and white sugar. 

1 ½ cups brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

4.       Mix the margarine into the sugar until incorporated and the mixture clumps together.  Add the eggs, the vanilla, and the molasses.  Mix.

½ lb (2 sticks) unsalted margarine, softened

2 large eggs

1 tbl vanilla extract

1 tbl molasses

5.       Add the flour mix, stir to combine until it makes a wet dough.

6.       In the separate bowl formerly used to hold the flour mix, combine the dried berries, chocolate chips and chopped walnuts.

2/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

¼ cup dried blueberries

¼ cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup chopped walnuts

7.       With the mixer on, add in the oatmeal, then the berry/chocolate/nut mix.  Mix into the dough until thoroughly combined.  At this point my mixer will be starting to protest, rumbling on my counter. 

3 ½ cup rolled oats

8.        Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.  The great thing about using parchment paper is that it doesn’t add any extra grease, is much cleaner than butter or oil spray, and when you’re done with it, you can just roll it up and throw it away, leaving the actual metal pan itself clean enough to put back in the cupboard once cool.  The cookies never stick either, which is the whole point of the thing.

9.       Using a spoon or cookie/melon baller, scoop full rounds of dough onto the cookie sheet.  I typically get about 13 blobs onto each tray – mine are 14” by 15”. 

10.    Using a clean hand, use your closed fingers to press the tops of the dough balls flat, about 2” across, and 1/2” thick.  This will ensure a thinner, flatter cookie that will cook evenly all the way through.

11.   Bake in the oven for 12 minutes, switching the bottom tray with the top halfway through.  The tray closest to the top of the oven will develop a texture that is almost lace-like in appearance, which I find most attractive in oatmeal cookies. 

The cookies will spread and puff up when they cook.  After the 12 minute mark, CONTINUE TO COOK!  Keep checking them every two minutes until they have stopped puffing up and have actually shrunk down a little, gone brown and a bit firm.  That’s when you’ll know they’re ready to remove from the oven.

12.   Let the trays cool for about 5 minutes or until the cookies are stiff enough that they don’t bend in two when you lift up the edge of the parchment paper.  You can then peel them off by hand or using a flat spatula. 

Store the cookies in an airtight container/s.  They should keep for a week, but they won’t last nearly that long!    My prophecies have never failed to come true. You will end up eating these for breakfast. 

A Sign of True Familial Love

Tonight I came home after a full day at school, and two articles written between class, one for my campus newspaper, and the other a recipe I am cleaning up to be the first proper entry for this blog.  And what did I arrive in to but my mother, making dinner.

Not just any dinner, my dears.  She was sauteing portabella mushrooms.  Their aroma filled the kitchen, and she informed me that dinner would be sauteed chicken, mushrooms and asparagus on hearty bread, lovingly covered with a mornay sauce and then cooked in the toaster oven.  With a small salad of butter lettuce dressed with rice vinegar and olive oil.  It was magical.

Perhaps - aside from the fancy dinner - this does not sound unusual to you.  Mom always cooks dinner.  But these days, my mother making dinner on a weeknight is a special treat.  My parents and I have a special as-yet-unspoken deal - my tuition is paid and my doctors' bills covered, and I live at home, commute to school, buy the groceries, keep the house relatively tidy, and cook the meals on a regular basis.

My mother's boss has forgotten she is part-time.  These days she works full time every day of the work week, along with doing all the little tasks, errands, and keeping all the appointments one must keep to keep a house like mine with a yard like Eden running.

So to come home after a half hour of all the yahoos and lunatics rush hour turns ordinary citizens into, trying to keep my car on the road and my mind on Welcome to Night Vale...  to a thoughtfully made, savory dinner that hasn't turned into a hearty brick of regret in my gut not two hours after dinner began is a treat indeed.