Deep Fried...Something

Salted Ginger Oatmeal Cookies

Guest post from Sarah:

So Judah's been pretty into Tastespotting lately, and this weekend when I was checking out his photo that had been linked on the site, I found myself perusing all kinds of recipes. Many of them were ones I shouldn't have been looking at when I'm trying to eat more healthy foods, but one I simply could not resist -- Salted Ginger Oatmeal Cookies. Unfortunately, the link didn't have the recipe (since we don't have a Cook's Illustrated subscription), but we do have Baking Illustrated, and the referenced recipe is in there.

The original poster took the CI Ginger Oatmeal Cookie recipe variation and rolled each cookie in Maldon sea salt. We didn't have that, but we did have some French Gray Sea Salt that Judah bought from Penzey's a few weeks ago just for fun. I thought this sounded like a pretty good use for some of it.

Without further ado, here's the recipe, courtesy of Baking Illustrated:

Salted Ginger Oatmeal Cookies

Makes about 18 large cookies

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg (I used regular ole ground nutmeg since that's what we had)
• 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, softened but still cool
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

Directions:

1. Adjust the oven racks to the low and middle positions and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.
2. Whisk flour, baking powder, nutmeg, ginger and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add sugars; beat until fluffy, about three minutes. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Stir the ingredients into the butter-sugar mixture using a wooden spoon or large rubber spatula. Stir in the oats.
5. Working with a generous two tablespoons each time,  roll the dough into 2-inch balls. Roll the balls in salt of your choice. Place the balls on the baking sheets at least two inches apart.
6. Bake until the cookie edges turn golden brown, 22 to 25 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom half through. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for two minutes. Transfer to a wire rack. Let cool at least 30 minutes.

Notes:
I was a little afraid of over-ginger-ing the cookies, especially after opening the container of ground ginger and catching a whiff, so I only used 1/2 teaspoon of ginger instead of the 3/4 called for. Next time, I would absolutely use the full 3/4. Also, my rolling of the cookies in the salt got a little inconsistent (and made a messy process even messier), so next time I would sprinkle the salt on before baking.

But overall: Yumminess was achieved. I would suggest checking the cookies a little early if you do the salt thing. Some of mine were a little crispier than I would have liked, but I also think I made some of the balls too small as the recipe said it made 18, and I ended up with 24 and could have made a couple of more.

Black and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was stumbling through the web today at work and stumbled on this recipe.  I thought it sounded insanely good, and sent the link to Sarah.  My timing was good, since she was getting ready for a trip to Trader Joe's and she has a work potluck tomorrow, so she decided to make them.  I'll put her notes in the notes section at the bottom.  These cookies are really tasty, and using the candy cane Joe-Joe's made them even better.  Besides, who can resist cookies that have other cookies as an ingredient!

Black and White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup (11 Tablespoons) butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips
• 20 Oreos (or other creme-filled chocolate cookies)

Directions:

1. About a half an hour before you’re going to bake, set the butter out on the counter to soften up.
2. Put your 20 Oreos in a gallon-sized zip-top bag. Squeeze most of the air out of it and seal well. Smash the cookies up into small pieces with a rolling pin. Put the cookie pieces in a measuring cup. You should have about 2 cups. If you don’t, smash up a few more cookies until you do. Set aside.
3. Preheat your oven to 350F. Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and set aside.
4. Put the white sugar and brown sugar in your mixer’s bowl. Add the vanilla extract, egg, and softened butter. Fit your mixer with a standard paddle beater. Beat on medium-high for maybe a minute, until all the ingredients come together.
5. Toss in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Beat on medium-high until the dry ingredients are well combined with the wet.
6. Scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl with a spatula and toss in the chocolate chips. Beat until mixed.
7. Add the crushed Oreos. Beat on medium-high for maybe a minute until the cookies are well combined into the dough. The creme filling will basically disappear into the cookie dough, which will be speckled with tiny bits of chocolate cookie.
8. With a large soup spoon, drop blobs of cookie dough onto the pans, evenly spaced out. If you’re using a standard size sheet pan, you should be able to get 12 on each pan. Don’t bother smooshing the cookie dough down. It will melt flat as the cookies bake.
9. When you have both pans filled with cookie dough blobs, pop them into your preheated oven. Bake for about 13 minutes at 350 degrees. When they’re done, they’ll be opaque and just starting to brown at the very edges. Don’t let them brown too much on the edges, or they’ll be crisp, not chewy. Yank them out of the oven. With a thin spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool. Repeat this process until you’ve used up the rest of the dough.

Notes:
Sarah says: if you use the candy cane Joe-Joe's, check the cookies around 11 1/2 minutes for doneness.  The candy cane pieces appear to cause them to cook a little bit faster, so our cookies were just a touch on the crispy side (but still awesome). 

Photo arranged by Sarah, taken by me, edited by Sarah.

Thanksgiving Peach and Cranberry Cobbler

I decided to try modifying this recipe for Thanksgiving this year.  Since cranberries are a bit more tart than blueberries, I put them in a pot on the stove with 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup of sugar first.  I cooked them over medium heat until the water just started to boil, then removed them with a slotted spoon and added them in place of the blueberries.  It came out exactly as I had hoped.

As always with cobbler, it's best with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

After making the Coke Roast the other day, I decided I wanted to make a dessert in my new French oven.  I searched around a bit and came up with this peach cobbler recipe.  Unfortunately, we devoured it so fast that I wasn't able to get a picture this time.  I'm sure I'll make it again though, so I'll try to get a picture the next time around. :)

Dutch Oven Peach Cobbler

Ingredients:

• 2 (16-ounce) cans sliced peaches in light syrup
• 1 pint fresh blueberries (optional)
• 1/2 cup baking mix (recommended: Bisquick)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• Ground cinnamon

Topping:

• 2 1/4 cups baking mix (recommended: Bisquick)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
• 1/2 cup milk
• Cinnamon sugar (1/4 cup sugar combined with 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon; store in an empty spice shaker jar; shake well before each use)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Spray a Dutch oven with vegetable oil cooking spray.
3. Drain 1 can of the peaches.  Combine both cans of peaches, including the juice from the undrained can, the blueberries (if using), the baking mix, sugar, and a sprinkling of cinnamon.  Place this mixture into the Dutch oven.
4. To make the topping: Combine the baking mix, sugar, butter, and milk in a resealable plastic bag.  Close bag and mix until it doesn't stick to the bag anymore.  Drop bits of dough, using your fingers, on top of the peach mixture.  Sprinkle  with cinnamon sugar.
5. Place the Dutch oven into the preheated oven and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and crusty.

Notes:
Goes great with vanilla ice cream!  I didn't use the cooking spray, because my French oven is nonstick by design.  I had no problems with cleanup. :)

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

I found this recipe using StumbleUpon, and it sounded good but I didn't want to make a vegan version.  I changed the ingredients slightly, and the result was pretty good!  I guess I made the cookies bigger than the original recipe, because I only ended up with 12 cookies, but overall a very tasty recipe.

Peanut Butter Filled Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients:

Cookie dough:

• 1½  cup flour
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup sugar
• ½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
• ½ cup butter
• ¼ cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 eggs

Filling:

• ¾ cup peanut butter
• ¾ cup sifted confectioner’s sugar

Directions:

1. In a small bowl combine flour, cocoa, and baking soda; blend well. In large bowl, beat sugar, brown sugar, butter, and ¼ cup peanut butter until light and fluffy. Add vanilla extract and eggs; beat well. Stir in flour mixture until blended and set aside.
2. In a small bowl, combine filling ingredients and blend well. Roll into one-inch balls.
3. For each cookie, with floured hands (I didn’t flour my hands and it worked out fine, and probably a lot less messy), shape about 1 tablespoon cookie dough around one peanut butter ball, covering completely. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet (I lined the sheet with parchment paper). Flatten slightly, as these cookies don’t really spread! Bake at 375 degrees for 7 - 9 minutes or until set and slightly cracked. Cool on wire racks.

Notes:

Because of the size I made the cookies, I cooked them for ~11 minutes before they were done.