Weasel Of Doom

I have now ventured into baking cookies while sober. Surprisingly, sobriety has not been a handicap. The KitchenAid Pro 600 Mixer that I bought for Bill (but he is still has to use) has been a great help – I have not had to resort to smacking butter with a wooden spoon since that first traumatic experience.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (from BakingBites.com, who got it from “The Frog Commissary Cookbook”)

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs (I used jumbo-sized ones, and nobody died)
• 2 tbsp milk
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups oats (rolled or “quick,” but not “instant”)
• 2 cups chocolate chips (about 12-oz.)

1. In a large bowl, cream together the butter and the sugars until mixture is light in color. Beat in the eggs one at a time, followed by the milk and the vanilla extract. (Bless you, KitchenAid, for making this easy. As per instructions, I used the beating attachment at speed 2.)
2. In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Gradually beat the flour in to the sugar mixture until just incorporated. (Thank you, “Stir” setting.)
3. Start preheating the oven to 325F. (In the original recipe, this was the first step. Maybe I am a slow baker, but the oven was ready way before I was. It also called for 350F, but the cookies were getting overcooked, so I turned it down. Your oven may vary. And the recipe suggest lining a baking sheet with parchment paper, which I did first time around, but skipped after that.)
4. Stir in the oats and chocolate chips. (Original recipe suggest doing this by hand, I used the Stir speed and things went well for us.)
5. Drop 1-inch balls of dough onto the cookie sheet, placing about 1 1/2 inches apart so they have room to spread.
6. Bake at 325F for 12 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center. (Again, originally this was ‘Bake at 350F for 10-13 minutes,’ but 325 for 12 is what worked best for my oven.)
7. Cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. (We don’t own a wire rack. Round pizza pan to the rescue. All those convenient little holes…)

After I made chocolate chip cookies twice, Bill informed me that he is actually not a big chocolate chip cookie fan, but does like butterscotch. Would have been nice to know earlier, but what’s a girl to do? Look around for a butterscotch cookie recipe, of course, since we had a god-only-knows-how-old bag of butterscotch chips laying around.

Oatmeal-Butterscotch Cookies (from BakingBites.com)

Makes 4 dozen cookies.

• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 3 cups rolled oats (I used old-fashioned oats, the ones it takes 5 minutes to cook;-)
• 1 1/2 cups butterscotch chips

1. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars. Blend in eggs and vanilla until mixture is smooth.
2. Start preheating the oven to 350F. (Again, original called for 375F and lining the baking pan with parchment paper.)
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Stir into butter mixture, then mix in the oats and butterscotch chips. (Soooo easy with the mixer!)
4. Drop rounded tablespoonfuls (large balls) of cookie down onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie to allow for spread.
5. Bake for 10-11 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.
6. Let cookies cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before storing in an airtight container.

The kids for were not very impressed with my baking offerings. As a matter of fact, given a choice between cookie and candy, three out of three chose candy. I am a glutton for punishment, though, so tonight I decided to bake some regular oatmeal. The urge struck at 10 pm. Then, because when it comes to baking and stupidity, I am the reigning queen, I decided to double up the recipe. Which is why I am typing up this blog post at 1:30 am on a work week. And I still have at least a half hour of baking ahead of me. Good news – the cookies are really yummy. Not so good news – I am going to be really tired when I have to go to work in six hours.

Soft Oatmeal Cookies (from Allrecipes.com)

Yields 2 dozen cookies.

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 3 cups quick cooking oats

1. In a medium bowl, cream together butter, white sugar, and brown sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in oats. (Original recipe called to cover, and chill dough for at least one hour. I ignored that. Incidentally, if anybody feels like doubling the recipe, like I did – 4 cups of sugars, 4 cups of flour, and 6 cups of oats is A LOT, and my 6-quart mixer bowl almost did not handle it.)
2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Roll the dough into walnut sized balls, and place 2 inches apart on cookie sheets. (Original recipe said to grease cookie sheets. I did not bother. Look at me, I am a rebel! Also, it said to flatten each cookie with a large fork dipped in sugar. I read in the comments that skipping the flattening results in a thicker cookie, so I skipped. No regrets.)
3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. (I baked them for 8 minutes.)