mishquilt
10-25-2007, 09:25 AM
Hello all.
In my never-ending quest for decadent, chewy cookies to bake and share with friends and family, I happened upon a recipe for Maple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies. I thought I would try the recipe and made a few small changes that I will note below. The recipe is from a fun cookbook I purchased (after a short search on eBay) called Big Fat Cookies by Elinor Klivans. The book caught my eye because I am a big fan of baking GIANT cookies. I often bring cookies to work and it seems to satisfy everyone when there is one giant cookie for each of us. I use the large cookie scoop (which is really an ice cream scoop sold at my local gourmet shop--smart marketing aimed at the gullible cookie baker who needs EVERY gadget). I believe my scoop is approximately 1/4 cup capacity. These cookies were exactly what I was looking for--slightly crisp on the edges with a very chewy center. I wish the maple flavor had come through a bit more (despite my own addition of 1/4 tsp. of Lor Ann Maple Flavoring), but despite that small complaint, they are DELICIOUS!!!
MAPLE CRANBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES
1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt **I increased salt to a generous 1/2 tsp.
2 tsp. ground cinnamon ** mine were generous teaspoons
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar **I used a scant bit less than 1/3 cup because I knew I wanted to add 2 TBS of LYLES GOLDEN SYRUP--my reason being that I read that the addition of corn syrup makes for a very chewy cookie. I love the flavor of Lyle's so, I decided to take a chance and add 2 TBS--I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the great flavor--but it didn't hurt!!!
2 large eggs
1/2 cup PURE maple syrup
*** I also added 1/2 tsp. of Lor-Ann Maple Flavoring which is usually quite strong.
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups oatmeal ***I used Bob's Red Mill large cut oats. I am not a fan of very "oaty" cookies so, I put 3/4 cup of the oats into my mini food processor and ground it into oat flour. I left the remaining one cup of oats as whole oats (for a total of 1 3/4 cups). I added the oat flour along with the dry ingredients and then followed the recipe accordingly.
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
Turbinado Sugar (Sugar in the Raw, or coarse sugar)
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until smoothly blended--about one minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. On low speed, add the eggs, maple syrup, Lyles Golden Syrup, vanilla extract and maple flavoring (if using) and mix until blended. Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate, add ground oats and mix. Mix in oatmeal and fold in cranberries until combined.
Using an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure, scoop onto parchment lined baking sheet, spacing at least 2 inches apart (these will spread). Sprinkle Turbinado sugar on top of each cookie and using the bottom of a glass coated with sugar (I lightly butter the glass bottom and then dip into sugar), gently depress each cookie so it flattens just a bit. Bake the cookies ONE SHEET AT A TIME until the tops feel firm and the bottoms are lightly browned, about 18 minutes (*** mine took only 16 minutes to bake and they were generously sized). Cool the cookies on baking sheet for about 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack until completely cooled.
ENJOY!!!
Mishquilt:)
P.S. For those of you who don't like a very sweet cookie, I think you could omit or reduce the amount of white sugar. I would not modify the amount of brown sugar if you want the cookie to be chewy, as I am told the brown sugar is what lends chewiness to cookies.
In my never-ending quest for decadent, chewy cookies to bake and share with friends and family, I happened upon a recipe for Maple Cranberry Oatmeal Cookies. I thought I would try the recipe and made a few small changes that I will note below. The recipe is from a fun cookbook I purchased (after a short search on eBay) called Big Fat Cookies by Elinor Klivans. The book caught my eye because I am a big fan of baking GIANT cookies. I often bring cookies to work and it seems to satisfy everyone when there is one giant cookie for each of us. I use the large cookie scoop (which is really an ice cream scoop sold at my local gourmet shop--smart marketing aimed at the gullible cookie baker who needs EVERY gadget). I believe my scoop is approximately 1/4 cup capacity. These cookies were exactly what I was looking for--slightly crisp on the edges with a very chewy center. I wish the maple flavor had come through a bit more (despite my own addition of 1/4 tsp. of Lor Ann Maple Flavoring), but despite that small complaint, they are DELICIOUS!!!
MAPLE CRANBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES
1 3/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt **I increased salt to a generous 1/2 tsp.
2 tsp. ground cinnamon ** mine were generous teaspoons
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter at room temp.
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar **I used a scant bit less than 1/3 cup because I knew I wanted to add 2 TBS of LYLES GOLDEN SYRUP--my reason being that I read that the addition of corn syrup makes for a very chewy cookie. I love the flavor of Lyle's so, I decided to take a chance and add 2 TBS--I'm not sure if it had anything to do with the great flavor--but it didn't hurt!!!
2 large eggs
1/2 cup PURE maple syrup
*** I also added 1/2 tsp. of Lor-Ann Maple Flavoring which is usually quite strong.
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups oatmeal ***I used Bob's Red Mill large cut oats. I am not a fan of very "oaty" cookies so, I put 3/4 cup of the oats into my mini food processor and ground it into oat flour. I left the remaining one cup of oats as whole oats (for a total of 1 3/4 cups). I added the oat flour along with the dry ingredients and then followed the recipe accordingly.
1 1/2 cups dried cranberries
Turbinado Sugar (Sugar in the Raw, or coarse sugar)
Position a rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.
Sift the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into a medium bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until smoothly blended--about one minute. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. On low speed, add the eggs, maple syrup, Lyles Golden Syrup, vanilla extract and maple flavoring (if using) and mix until blended. Mix in the flour mixture to incorporate, add ground oats and mix. Mix in oatmeal and fold in cranberries until combined.
Using an ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure, scoop onto parchment lined baking sheet, spacing at least 2 inches apart (these will spread). Sprinkle Turbinado sugar on top of each cookie and using the bottom of a glass coated with sugar (I lightly butter the glass bottom and then dip into sugar), gently depress each cookie so it flattens just a bit. Bake the cookies ONE SHEET AT A TIME until the tops feel firm and the bottoms are lightly browned, about 18 minutes (*** mine took only 16 minutes to bake and they were generously sized). Cool the cookies on baking sheet for about 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack until completely cooled.
ENJOY!!!
Mishquilt:)
P.S. For those of you who don't like a very sweet cookie, I think you could omit or reduce the amount of white sugar. I would not modify the amount of brown sugar if you want the cookie to be chewy, as I am told the brown sugar is what lends chewiness to cookies.