The Outing Club is screening a ski movie tonight, All.I.Can., and so I decided to make some movie food for those who showed up. Popcorn was a good idea, but I wanted an excuse to make cookies... so I did. I was looking to try out an oatmeal recipe, and people always eat less oatmeal on BOC trips than you'd expect... so conveniently, the Outing Club has a ton of oatmeal.

I looked at a few recipes and this one excited me because it called for molasses and cinnamon. It also happened to be quick, which suited me because I didn't have much time before dinner to make the dough. After quickly biking back to my apartment* for eggs and chocolate chips, I was ready to test these cookies.

Without further ado, I present Taste of Home's Oatmeal Chips Cookies recipe.

Oatmeal Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon molasses
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup quick-cooking oats
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the molasses, egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in chocolate chips.
• Roll into 1-1/2-in. balls. Place 2 in. apart on greased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Yield: about 1-1/2 dozen.

My comments: Maybe it's because I haven't had oatmeal cookies in a long time, but they tasted more... earthy(?) than I had expected. In a good way, though, especially when combined with chocolate chips. I didn't have enough semi-sweet chocolate chips so I ended up using about 1/3 cup of milk chocolate chips. I made smaller cookies, and managed to get out at least 3 dozen decently sized cookies. Their cookies must be mutant.

Overall, it was a great recipe. I didn't really notice the cinnamon but several of the movie-goers did, and loved it.



*I know you wouldn't expect biking weather near the end of January... but following a week of ~0 degree weather (fahrenheit...), we had two days of temperatures in the fifties. This melted all the snow/ice and gave me perfect weather to take my bike out for the first time in months.

Simple Snickerdoodles

This week I returned to campus at Bowdoin. I'm living in an apartment, and since my roommate and I haven't been here for very long, the kitchen is not incredibly well stocked.  We've got some basics for dessert-making covered since we both enjoy baking: white/brown sugar, flour, butter, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, chocolate chips, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon, unsweetened chocolate, and maybe a few more things.

I was looking to make something with a chocolate base - either brownies or cookies. Unfortunately, we didn't have unsweetened cocoa powder, so I started looking at other recipe possibilities. 

I alit upon the idea of snickerdoodles, excited about using cinnamon. The first five recipes I found, however, required either cream of tartar or cornstarch, neither of which my kitchen has. I kept looking for a recipe that could work with the ingredients we had.

Without further ado, I present Joy of Cooking's simple snickerdoodle recipe.

INGREDIENTS

Cookies

2 3/4 cups (360 grams) all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cups (300 grams) granulated white sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla

Coating:

1/3 cup (66 grams) granulated white sugar

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

INSTRUCTIONS

Snickerdoodles:  In a large bowl whisk together the flour, salt, and baking powder. 
In the bowl of your electric mixer (or with a hand mixer), beat the butter and sugar until smooth (about 2 to 3 minutes). Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture and beat until you have a smooth dough. If the dough is soft, cover and refrigerate until firm (about one to two hours).

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (190 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Shape the dough into 1 inch (2.5 cm) round balls.

Coating: In a large shallow bowl mix together the sugar and cinnamon.
Roll the balls of dough in the cinnamon sugar and place on the prepared pan, spacing about 2 inches (5 cm) apart. Then, using the bottom of a glass, gently flatten each cookie to about 1/2 inch (1.5 cm) thick.

Bake the cookies for about 8 -10 minutes, or until they are light golden brown and firm around the edges. The centers of the cookies will still be a little soft. Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool.

Makes about 4-5 dozen cookies.

My comments: My oven doesn't have temperature notches, so I just estimated. They turned out well - soft and chewy, with just the right amount of cinnamon on top.