Saturday, November 6, 2010

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies ~ My Plotting Pantry


I'm afraid of my pantry...it's resembling, "The Land of Misfit Foods."

That's not to say what I have on hand is bad or even all that unique...just a plethora of random items either left over from recipes past or purchased one day with great intent, only to be left sitting in the pantry contemplating their destiny.

My poor Irish Steel Cut Oats keep glaring at me as if asking, "what else do we have to do besides look good to get a shot? We've been in here forever, are we not blog worthy?" 


Like the little girl who used to believe her dolls and stuffed animals came to life at night (because the two sisters she worshiped told her so) when the lights go off ...and all is dark... I am certain my aging food is plotting behind my back!

So I looked fear straight in the eye, took inventory of what I had on hand and then scoured the web for a recipe that worked.  The result was this chocolaty...chewy...nutty and delicious oatmeal cookie!
 


The only things is...well... the recipe called for Quick Rolled Oats... so I had no other choice but to once again ...evvver so slightly... push those Irish Oats aside to grab their distant instant Quaker Cousins.  Without dare making eye contact (and I'm sure falling upon deaf 'Irish Steel Cut' ears) I nervously whispered, "I promise...your day will come soon..."

I slept that night with one eye open...
creepy...

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from: PANTHERA, at allrecipes.com   yields about 42 cookies

(*note changes I made)

Ingredients:
1 cup butter, softened (*I used 1/2 cup unsalted butter and 1 cup applesauce)
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (*I used 1 1/2 cups organic whole wheat flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
(*I added 1/2 tsp cinnamon)

Directions
1.Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).

2.In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. (If doing the butter and applesauce, this will look funny but don't worry, the end result will be fine!) Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.

3.Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

16 comments:

Unknown said...

seems like you're just paranoid. Remember you're the boss. Think Austin Powers..."Who does #2 work for?" Of course your food should work for you! Let it be known.

Has me hungry though...unfortunately I have to settle for smiley Eat N Park cookies frosted blue and white for today's game. Go JoePa...get #400!

Katerina said...

If the items I have in my pantry plotted against me then I would be in the garbage by now. I have so many things waiting to be used I don't even want to start counting. One of these days I will have to start doing something with them. Until then I am admiring these beautiful cookies you made.

Gabrielle said...

Hmmm....I am noticing that your food often speaks to you. Very interesting. Perhaps you are suffering from panfranoia, the underdiagnosed disease that causes cooks to believe pantry items are in fact, alive. Pantranoia occurs commonly in women who feel their older sisters have superior cooking skills. This disease is often more prevalent among blondes. Oh, and by the way...your dolls did come alive at night and they know where you Iive as an adult.

Unknown said...

I'll send you my lonely "marble-sized" tapioca pearls... it can play with your pantry food for a while.

I know the feeling of odd bits left in storage. I'm still trying to find something to do with 3 cans of shrimp paste.

Unknown said...

Ok, these comments are making me laugh!

Gabrielle, you'll be getting a phone call later! All I can say is prove it! Do a post on my blog and show the world (b/c the whole world read this ha, ha) how great of a cook you are!

(She is good...really...really good!)

Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go lock my doors.

The Food Hound said...

McCann's Instant oatmeal (maple flavor) is the only oatmeal I can stand to eat, so I'll request that you're put on the do-not-bother list in the future. But I can't promise the apple-cinnamon flavor won't come after you... I've made choc chip oatmeal cookies before and the results are delicious! I need to make some since it's now cookie season!

chow and chatter said...

they look wonderful love these kind of cookies

Unknown said...

I love chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. Yours look sooooo incredibly good! When I make mine, I roll them in a bit of sugar before putting them on the baking sheet..it just adds that little extra something to them!!

laurie said...

I have a can of that too! Thanks for the recipe...I'll dig mine out. Your cookies look so good, and I was just craving some chocolate chip cookies,too.

Karen said...

Ha. Maybe one day they'll get their chance to shine...
These cookies really look good. My hubby's favorite cookies are oatmeal, and he would just love these. Chewy cookies...yum!

Mags @ the Other Side of 50 said...

Oh my gosh! I have that same can that stares at me while I shove it aside to grab my other oats. Should I be afraid too?

Great looking cookies!

Nuts about food said...

Now that is what an oatmeal cookie should look like in my book! Mine were cakier (is that even how you write that??), but that means nothing I guess, since your cakey pumpkin cookies in the next post look pretty great.

Unknown said...

Thanks everyone! I loved these cookies! SOOO GOOD!

@Mags - YES BE VERY AFRAID! LOL!

I am pretty sure I bought them b/c I saw a can in Ina Gartne's pantry and thought it looked like art! That being said... I know steel cut oats are delicious when you take the time and do them right! I'll do it soon!

Judy said...

I love steel cut oats and use them all the time. But I must confess I've never used them in a cookie, though I have the recipe.

Magic of Spice said...

Absolutely hilarious, I am a bit afraid of my pantry as well...And ashamed to say that I have no clue as to some of the items I have in there.
I love these cookies and am so pleased to see that they do not have raisins.
I have always loved oatmeal cookies, but am not a fan of raisins and do not care to pick around them :)
These look moist and lovely...

Paula said...

Thank you. I have been wondering what to do with the steel cut oats that my husband likes, but I can't stand to eat. I am going to retrieve them from the back of my pantry and make these cookies.