Bon Appetit July 2003 - Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins, Dates, and Walnuts

[MiMo]

I just happened to have all of the ingredients on hand to make these delicious cookies last night. They are delicious and easy to make.

Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins, Dates, and Walnuts

Makes about 4 dozen

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/4 cup solid vegetable shortening, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 T. vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with foil; butter foil. Blend first 5 ingredients in medium bowl.

Using electric mixer, beat butter, vegetable shortening, and both sugars in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in honey, eggs, and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in oats, raisins, dates, and walnuts. Drop batter by tablespoonfuls onto prepared sheets, spacing mounds 2 inches apart. Flatten cookies slightly.

Bake cookies until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Cool completely on sheets. (Can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.)

[aquinas_chris]

I've been craving Oatmeal cookies... thanks for the review!

Christina<><

[valchemist]

Thanks for posting the recipe, Mimo. I have the BA issue, but this make it easy for me to get the recipe into my mastercook. When I put the recipe in, here is what I got per cookie.

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 151 Calories; 6g Fat (34.7% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 23g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 16mg Cholesterol; 51mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fruit; 1 Fat; 1/2 Other Carbohydrates.


thanks for your review, too!! I see that Maureen made them and she thinks they are great, too. :)

Val

[kima]

Yes thank you MiMo!

My DH asked for oatmeal cookies with raisins and this recipe more than fit the bill! I live to please the love of my life!

Okay enough mush...I cut both the white and brown sugar back to 3/4c. The recipe as written seems very sweet.

I just subscribed to BA and haven't got my July issue yet..hope it is a winner!

[Coco]

I have been admiring the picture of the cookies - I thought they looked beautiful! Thanks for the convincing review!

[kima]

I have some sitting on the counter in a glass jar...this could be dangerous..... I did freeze about 3 dozen though.

[MiMo]

The sugar could easily be reduced in this recipe. I used a scant cup of white sugar and a loosely packed cup of brown sugar. I only ate two of these cookies and gave the rest away. They were pretty sweet, but I really liked the chewiness of the dates and the crunch of the walnuts.

[pbchipses]

I made these yesterday, and they are SO delicious! I didn't notice that the cookies were excessively sweet, but I do like sweet things! The only problem I had was that they seemed to spread too much. Also, I got WAY more than 48 cookies, and my cookies weren't small at all! I got more like 60!

[MaryH]

Great minds must think alike, although I confess I did not see this recipe/thread until after I found the following one. These are in the oven now and are pretty tasty. I have indicated my modifications in bold. Nutitional stats are for the original recipe so I don't know how mine compare (but I would hope it decreased some of the calories and fat).

From Vegetarian Times 2002 Annual

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies 01-SEP-02 p. 67
Makes 4 Dozen

Chocolate chips, peanut butter and oatmeal wow guests when combined in a cookie. With three favorite flavors rolled into one, these delectable treats are full of protein and appeal to the kid in all of us. The cookies will keep for a week in a tightly closed tin, or they can be frozen for up to a month.

12 Tbs. unsalted butter (11/2 sticks),softened I used only 3/4 stick
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 cup demerara, turbinado or granulated sugar I used 1/2 cup and added 1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
2 extra-large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups unbleached flour 1 1/4 cup
2/3 cup whole wheat flour 1 cup
1 1/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt 1/2 tsp
1 cup old-fashioned or quick-cooking oats
1 to 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In food processor or mixing bowl, combine butter and peanut butter, and process, or beat together with wooden spoon, until well blended. Add sugars and process or stir until combined. Beat in eggs and add vanilla; blend well until smooth and creamy.
3. Combine flours, baking powder and salt. Add dry ingredients to wet and process, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl, or mix well with wooden spoon. Dough will be stiff. Stir in oats and chocolate chips.
4. Roll dough into balls about 11/2 inches in diameter and place about 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets. Flatten dough.
5. Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Cool on baking racks.

PER Serving: 270 CAL; 5 G PROT; 14 G TOTAL FAT (6 SAT. FAT); 33 G CARB.; 35 MG CHOL; 115 MG SOD.; 2 G FIBER

I added 2 tbsp wheat germ because it's always in the fridge and it adds protein. Also my dough was more runny than stiff, so I used a 2 tbsp scoop to scoop cookies onto sheets and placed in refrigerator to chill somewhat. Very tasty!!

[emily]

Yummy! I needed to make some oatmeal cookies at work today and I'm always looking for recipes I haven't tried yet and this one was great!

As always, I made a few modifications ;) We only had light brown sugar and I don't like to use shortening, so I subbed all butter. Also, we don't have any dates (yet...) so I subbed chopped dried apricots, for a bit of a change.

These cookies come out nice and puffy with a great spice flavor even though there's only cinnamon. They're a soft cookie that's incredibly tasty :)

Emily

[emily]

insert something interesting here to make up for the double post ;)

[valchemist]

thanks for the review, emily. I tried these a while back and loved the taste! the only problem I had with them was that they spread a bit too much for my liking (as sarah mentioned in her review).

I was interested to hear that yours were puffy. usually when you use butter in place of shortening cookies spread a bit more rather than less. hmmm. I will put a note in my mastercook to try them with all butter, just for kicks. I will be interested to see how they come out. did you chill the dough?