Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies/ Delicious Recall #1

I have started a new monthly series.  This series will feature a bloggers recipe that I have saved from 2011 or older.  I think that the best form of flattery to a food blogger is to actually have someone make and enjoy their recipes.  With my core group of followers being food bloggers themselves, most are busy creating their own recipes rather than making other people's recipes. I have fallen into that group as well but have decided this theme is in order.

The recipe may or may not be a blogger that follows my blog, for the choice is strictly based on my pick of things I have seen across the net.

This first recipe is from Bakers Royale , a blog in which I was lurking on way before I even started a blog.  With most of the recipes falling into the cakes or cookies category,  I found myself saving a lot of recipes from Naomi's site.

This particular cookie recipe intrigued me and it did not disappoint.  It is oatey with a subtle flavor of pumpkin and spices.   I took her suggestion and added mini chocolate chips and toffee bits. The batter is a great base that you can customize with add ins according to taste.  With the pumpkin and grains, they are a little bit on the healthier side when it comes to cookies, which is a good thing. Also the texture of the cookies were chewy, which can be attributed to all the oats in the recipe. I would say that they are very close to the same as a chewy granola bar.

This is a great cookie to eat on the run and put in the lunchbox as well.  Very filling and satisfying.  I am glad I kept this one from the past. This recipe makes about 3 1/2-4 dz cookies, depending on the size of your batter scoops.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from  Bakers Royale

Ingredients
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (packed)
1/2 cup unsalted butter (cut into cubes)
3/4 cup pumpkin puree (fresh or canned)
1 egg
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup quick oats
3/4 cup flour
1 1/4 cup old fashioned oats
Add ins: (optional) 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips
                                3/4 cup toasted nuts
                                1/2 cup toffee bits

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare 2 baking sheets by lining with parchment paper.

Take a small saucepan and place over medium heat.  Whisk as the butter melts and then cooks.  The butter will foam up once melted and then the foam will subside.  Watch for little brown specks to form in the bottom and look for the color change from yellow to golden.  Watch carefully because it can go from brown to burnt quickly.  Once golden, remove from heat and let cool.

In a medium bowl, mix together both kinds of oats and and the flour until all is evenly distributed.  Set aside.

Fill a large mixer bowl with both sugars, egg, pumpkin puree, cinnamon and nutmeg.  Beat for about 30 seconds until smooth.  Then, using a wooden spoon, stir in the brown butter until incorporated and then add the baking soda and mix again.  Fold in the oat/flour mixture until no dry streaks remain. Should you opt for the add ins, fold them in at this time.

Using a tablespoon or a melon baller, scoop out batter and place on cookie sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart.  Bake for about 10-15 minutes.  They should have a golden hue when done.  Remove baking sheet and place on rack. Let cookies cool on sheet for 2 minutes then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

Tips and Notes:
1.  These cookies will brown but be a bit glossy when done, which may make you think they are undercooked.  They will set up when they cool.  Browning on the bottom is the true indicator of doneness.
2. If you want the pumpkin flavor to be more prominent, then use no add ins or less flavorful ones like nuts instead of chocolate.
                       **LAST YEAR: Espresso Cream Cake**

Oatey Naptime Muffins

This particular muffins contain lemon verbena leaves and oats.  For those that do not know much about them, the leaves are known to be a sedative.  While they did not knock me out when I ate a few, I was feeling a little tired.  I really had no idea about this until I had already created this recipe! I learned something when I looked into the origin of this tea.

I have been wanting to infuse tea in a baked good for sometime now.  The muffin is not real sweet by itself, so the lemon glaze is a perfect topper.  However, you may opt to add fruit to the batter, which would also be very complimentary.  Since it is already lemony, adding blueberries or blackberries is a great choice. Also, these could be served with fruit coulis. Since the muffin is made of oats, that ingredient does impact the texture of the muffin.  They are fluffy with a chewiness from the oats.

If you like lemons and enjoy lemon verbena tea, than I think you will like these. Also, they may help someone who has trouble sleeping.  A word of caution, do not make big plans for the few hours after eating, except maybe plan on a nap!

Oatey Naptime Muffins
by flourtrader

Ingredients/ Muffin
1 tbs plus 2 tsp lemon verbena tea leaves
1/3 cup butter
3/4 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp vegetable oil
2 tbs lemon zest
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup of oats
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup sugar

Ingredients/Glaze (optional)
juice of 2 lemons
1/2 to 3/4 cup of powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease top of 12 muffin cavities and line with cupcake papers or butter and flour the inside of the cavities.

Sift together the baking powder, soda, salt and flour.  Then stir in the oats and 2 tsp of the tea leaves.  Set bowl aside. Beat together butter and sugar until creamy.  Add the egg, mixing until completely blended.Then beat the zest, vanilla extract and vegetable oil into the batter.

Pour the milk into the saucepan and place over medium high heat.  Add 1 tablespoon of tea leaves.  Let come to a simmer and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat and let cool until it comes to room temperature.  Then pour milk through a sieve, straining out all the tea leaves.

After this process, stir in 1/3 of the sifted dry ingredients into the batter.  Mix in half of the milk tea.  Continue with this process, ending with the final 1/3 of the sifted ingredients.

Using a spoon or an ice cream scoop, fill 12 muffin cavities evenly with the batter.  Place in oven and bake 18-23 minutes or until tester comes out clean.  After 2 minutes of cooling, transfer muffins to a rack.  Let cool completely.

To make glaze, fill bowl with the juice from one lemon only and then sift in the powdered sugar.  Stir until no dry streaks remain and all is blended.  Take a skewer and poke a 1/2 inch deep hole in the tops of the muffins.  Divide the glaze into two bowls.  Stir in the juice of the second lemon to one of the bowls of glaze.

With the thinner glaze (one with juice from 2nd lemon), brush over the tops of all the muffins.  Let soak into the muffins for about 30 minutes.  Then drizzle the thicker glaze over the top and let set for another 30 minutes.  Then they are ready to enjoy!

High Octane Mini Pies & A Shout out

There are certain foods that when ate just seem to taste good, but they do not keep you full for very long.  Perhaps it may be that scrumptious donut you had for breakfast or that chicken egg roll for lunch.  While you taste buds may be happy, you are looking for something to fill the void a few hours later.  The resolve to this situation is grains.  Whole grains do have some staying power so incorporating more of them in your diet can keep you from snacking in between meals.

Which brings me to the name of this pie.  High octane is a factor that can increase the horsepower of your car.  Now considering the first paragraph here, I decided that a high octane pie must have some whole grain in it.  The mini pie contains oatmeal, so it does give you some fuel to keep going.

Outside of oats, I have included some chocolate chips, coconut and macadamia nuts.  The combo is does make for a tasty pie and you get a myriad of texture in one bite.   This pie is delicious at any temperature, but I have to say it is very rich when served warm.  If that is not enough, you can always top it with whipped cream or serve a small piece with ice cream on the side!

Speaking of sides,  I have a side note here to give a special shout out to some very nice blogger friends who gave me some awards recently.  One is Becky over at Baking and Cooking.  She has been blogging since April of 2010 and does have some power in the kitchen.  She is also not lacking in versatility either! The other is Sudha at Wit wok and wisdom. Sudha has been blogging since February of 2010.  As you go through her blog, you notice that she does temper the sinfully sweet posts by following them with a very healthy dish.  We all need a little more balance to our diet!  If you do not know of either of these bloggers, today it is a great time to get to know them, so pop on over.  I am sure you will be inspired and find something that suits your taste! 
Now on to this recipe....

High Octane Mini Pies
by flourtrader

Ingredients
six 4 inch mini pies shells par baked (plain pie pastry recipe can be found here )
3/4 cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of coconut
1 cup of chopped salted macadamia nuts
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup butter (softened)
3/4 cup quick oatmeal
1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a medium size bowl, cream together the butter and both sugars.  Then beat in the eggs for about 30 seconds.  Then add the corn syrup and milk, beating for another 30 seconds.

Then using a wooden spoon, fold in the oatmeal, coconut, choc chips and nuts until evenly distributed.   Then pour the filling into each pie crust, making sure each is filled evenly.  The filling should be just below the lip of each pie crust.

Place mini pies on cookie sheet and bake for 25-30 minutes or until top outer edges of filling are browned. A knife should come out clean when inserted into the center of one of the pies.  Let cool completely before removing from pies from each pan.

Babbling Brook Inn's Famous Cookies

There are so many wonderful cookie recipes floating around, I sometimes wonder if I will every get to making all the ones I want to try.  Just like a foodie-to many recipes, not enough time.

Anyhow, I made these cookies for donation last week and was not even sure I would post them here.  However, I did receive a call that the recipients raved about them, so it changed my mind.

The best thing about these cookies is that they are have a myriad of textures and flavors.  With ingredients like granola, oats, nuts and chocolate chips, the cookies are quite hearty.  The strange thing about the cookies is that after baking, they are left on the cookie sheet and covered with foil for about 4 minutes before you transfer them to the cooling rack.

Also, the recipe stated it makes about 20 cookies and to mix 6 of the ingredients in a small bowl. 20 cookies are made with an ice cream scoop of dough, but I halved the size and got 7 dozen..you read it right-7 dozen!  So that would mean that scooping as they stated would have made 3 1/2 dozen.  Perhaps they were creating edible frisbees to get only 20 cookies??  Small bowl-not sure how they got over 11 cups of ingredients mixed up in a small bowl either.  Luckily this recipe can easily be halved for a smaller number of cookies.

Babbling Brook Inn's Famous Cookies
adapted from Recipes from American Country Inns & Bed & Breakfasts

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups chopped walnuts (I used pecans)
2 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup of raisins (I omitted)
2 cups orange almond granola (I used vanilla almond)
2 1/2 cups of rolled oats (I used quick cooking)
2 tsp baking powder
4 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups or 4 sticks of butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups granulated sugar
2 cups brown sugar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

In one bowl, sift together flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In another bowl, sitr together the first six ingredients.  Set this bowl aside also.

Cream together the butter and two sugars in a large mixing bowl.  Once it is light and fluffy, beat in the vanilla extract, eggs and water until all is smooth and evenly distributed.  Fold in the flour mixture until no dry streaks remain.  Lastly add the mix of the first six ingredients using a wooden spoon or clean hands.

Using a cookie scoop (if you want really large cookies) or a soup spoon, drop mounds of cookie dough onto baking sheet, spacing about  2 1/2 inches apart for large cookies or  1 1/2 inches apart for the smaller ones.  For the cookie scoop size, you should have about 9 cookies per baking sheet and the smaller size, about 11 cookies per sheet.

Place filled baking sheet in oven and bake for 7-8 minutes.  Then open the oven door, turn sheet and bake for an additional 4-5 minutes.  While cookies are baking, take out the foil and tear off a piece big enough to cover the baking sheet.  Remove baking sheet and, using pot holders to protect your hands, place the foil over the sheet of  cookies.  Let cool on pan for 5 minutes, the transfer to a rack with a spatula to finish cooling.

Repeat the forming and baking steps for the rest of the dough.
                          LAST YEAR: S'more Cookie Bars**