Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie Pie

The name "cookie pie" makes me think of those big chocolate chip cookies at the mall that you can have decorated.  However, this particular recipe does not fall into that category.

As you can tell by the picture, it looks to have a closer resemblance to pie rather than cookie.  There is a pie crust layer with melted butterscotch chips, pecans and a brown sugar filling.  As far as the oatmeal, it has enough to give it some chewy texture but is not overwhelming.

I have always considered butterscotch one of the forgotten flavors,  It was a nice change of pace and well liked by the crowd of eaters.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookie Pie
adapted from Pie by Ken Haedrich

Ingredients
1 basic single crust pie pastry, refrigerated
1/4 cup whole milk or light cream
3 eggs, room temp
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butterscotch chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup or one stick of butter
1/3 cup cake or regular flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/3 cup rolled oats

Roll the pastry on a floured surface into a 13 inch circle.   Place the pastry evenly into a 9 1/2 inch deep dish pie pan.  Press the pastry into the pan, taking care not to stretch it.  Shape the top edge of the dough as desired.  Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.  In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

To make the filling, use a mixer and cream the butter until smooth.  Then add the brown sugar in 1/2 cup increments, beating 30 seconds after each addition.  Then scrape down the sides and add one egg and beat for 30 seconds.  A the rest of the eggs, one at a time, and beat each for 30 seconds or until completely blended.

Beat in the vanilla extract.  Then fold in the flour, oats and salt until no dry streaks remain.  Mix in the milk until blended.  Lastly, add the pecans and butterscotch chips.

Place pie in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.  Then rotate back to front and bake for 30 minutes more.  Once the time is up, the pie should not jiggle when moved and should have a brown filling. Transfer to rack and let cool.  You can either serve warm or refrigerate for 2 hours and then serve cold.

Tips and Notes:
1. Feel free to mix up the type of chips in the batter.  The recipe also suggests 1/2 butterscotch and 1/2 chocolate chips.
2. For people with nut allergies, add an extra 1/2 cup of butterscotch chips and eliminate the pecans.

                                          **LAST YEAR: Jade and Suede Cheesecake**                    

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

I have always thought that bananas were one of those fruits you either really liked or hated.  I think it is because they do have a strong distinctive taste. It seems that a lot of people will eat banana bread yet you will not find them eating a banana.  Recently, someone told me that a convenience store here in Texas makes more money on selling bananas than anything else.  I find that strange because I have yet to see any bananas at the local convenience stores.

Since bananas are a healthy fruit and are not acidic, I decided to bake with them.  The only issue was that I wanted to find something different from banana bread.  I have made banana cookies before but the particular recipe I landed on included oats in the ingredients.  The other unique thing was the banana chip on top.  Even though it gets baked on, it still remains crunchy and makes a good topper.

These cookies were shared yesterday. There was one eater in the group that declared they did not like bananas. However, just like bananas vs banana bread, this person kept asking where the cookie jar was.  These cookies are cake-like and have all the great flavor of banana bread. There are some additional add ins for variations, however, do not skip on the banana chips! This recipe makes about 24-30 cookies 

Banana Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from Crazy About Cookies Cookbook

Ingredients
1/2 cup mashed bananas
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup or 1 stick butter
3/4 cup rolled oats (old fashioned, not instant)
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup dried banana chips

For add ins and variations
3/4 cup melted chocolate chips or
3/4 cup chocolate chips or
3/4 cup chopped pecans

Grease or butter the inside of two cookie sheets and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.  Then stir in the oats.  Set aside.  In a separate bowl, cream the butter and brown sugar together.  Once it has a fluffy consistency, beat in the egg, vanilla extract and banana. Fold in the dry oatmeal/flour blend.

At this time, you can mix in the chocolate chips or the pecans, if you decided to include.  Then drop tablespoons of batter onto prepared cookie sheets, placing about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 5 minutes then remove and press one banana chip lightly into the center of each cookie.  Put the pan back in the oven and bake until golden, about 5-6 minutes.

Let cookies cool on pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to rack to finish cooling.

If you opted to drizzle chocolate, do so and let sit for about 30 minutes for chocolate to harden.

Tips and notes:
1. if I were to put chocolate chips in these cookies, I would use mini chips.  That way you do not have any chance of a big pocket of melted chocolate oozing over your banana chip.
2. if you are including the pecans, they will be better if toasted and cooled prior to mixing in the batter.
                          **LAST YEAR:Coconut Custard Bars***

Oatmeal Butterscotch Muffins

The yearly physical is always a nice reminder that you are not what you used to be back in your younger days. As you get older, the hereditary health issues start revealing themselves. You leave with comments floating around in you head like, "you need to work on your cholesterol level" or "you need to eat more nuts and grains".
I know about all the benefits of oatmeal but I prefer to have a little bit more variety for breakfast. This put me in a mode to find something appealing for breakfast with oatmeal in it instead of just a plain bowl of oatmeal.  Also, I did not want to be eating oatmeal cookies for breakfast. So below is what I came across.  Not sure if it is better or worse than eating cookies, but one of these muffins was very filling.
You can definitely taste the oats, especially in the top toasty part.  Even though the oats are prevalent, you get an occasional bump of sweetness from the butterscotch chips.  I get my sweet fix and I am getting my grains.  Makes me happy as well as my doctor. This recipe makes about 3 dozen muffins, but it can be easily halved should you not want as many.

Oatmeal Butterscotch Muffins
adapted from Recipes from American Inns and Bed & Breakfasts

Ingredients
3 cups of flour
1 tbs plus 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 tbs baking powder
1 18 oz box of oatmeal or 7 cups (instant or regular)
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar
6 eggs
1 1/2 cups or 3 sticks of butter
1 quart of low fat buttermilk
1 1/2 cups of butterscotch chips tossed with 2 tbs of flour

You will need to start with four bowls of ingredients.  In the first bowl, mix together the oatmeal and buttermilk.  Then stir in the brown sugar.  This will need to set for at least and hour for the liquid and sugar to be absorbed.  Place the 6 eggs in the second bowl and beat with a fork until lightly frothed.  In the third bowl, sift together the salt, baking soda, baking powder and flour.  Lastly, melt the butter in the fourth bowl and allow to cool.
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Grease the top edges of the cavities of the muffin pan and place cupcake liners inside.

After your oven is preheated, butter has cooled and oat mixture has sat for an hour, you are ready to make the batter.  Mix the butter into the oats until liquid is absorbed.  Then blend the eggs into the batter.  Fold the dry ingredients into the batter until no dry streaks remain.  Lastly, fold in the butterscotch chips that have been mixed in the flour.

Using an ice cream scoop, fill the cavities with the batter.  They should be about 3/4 full.  Bake for 18 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.   Let cool in pan for about 2 minutes then transfer to a rack to finish cooling.
                            **LAST YEAR: Pecan Brown Butter Bread**
Please note that comments are not open due to my being on vacation for the Thanksgiving Holiday, since I will be unable to reciprocate or answer any questions.