The Casual Collective

Almost cruel May 29, 2011

Posted by D in Random.
Tags: cookies
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That’s how one of my employees described my cookies. “Almost cruel.” That rates up there in the Top 3 food compliments I’ve ever gotten, right up with a tenderloin roast being described as “beautiful food” and my chicken being the only one cooked as perfectly as a friend’s dad’s chicken.

A couple of months ago, a friend from out of town was staying over, and I guess I must’ve started nesting or something. I decided to bake cookies. Since then, I’ve been refining and tweaking the recipe. Add ginger. Diversify and cut the fat a little. Add cashews. Load up on spices.

Here’s the most current version:

Almost Cruel Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies With Cashews
1/2 c shortening
1/3 c butter (I’ve been using salted)
3/4 c white sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 t cinnamon (heaping)
1 t ground ginger (heaping)
dash nutmeg
1 1/2 c flour
1 t baking soda
dash salt
2 c oats
250 g chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 c)
125 g roasted, salted cashew pieces (about 1 c)

Cream shortening, butter, and sugars. Mix in eggs and vanilla.
Stir cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add to wet ingredients.
Stir in oats. Add chocolate chips and cashew pieces.
Drop onto cookie sheet (about 30-35 g per cookie). Bake at 350 for 12 minutes.

I added the vanilla to the base recipe because I don’t understand why you’d bake anything without vanilla. The cinnamon and nutmeg were meant to combine with the oats to give an earthiness to the cookie. Is that the right way of phrasing it? I’d never make it as a foodie. Anyway, I’m most proud of the ginger, which I added on a whim once. It adds a bit of heat and makes the cookie linger just a bit on your tongue. I think the cashews have a nice mellow flavor that doesn’t dominate the cookie, and besides I like cashews more than almonds or walnuts. A common first response to the cookie is “oh, I don’t like nuts” but then they end up trying one anyway after everyone around them is having mouth orgasms. Then they’re all “I REALLY LIKE THE CASHEWS!” Um…that’s a nut. Anyhoo.

I’m curious what would happen if I ground a portion of the oats. My dad does that with his cookies. I do like some chunkiness, so I don’t think I’d grind all of them. I’m wary of going all butter, because I’m usually too impatient to refrigerate the dough, and my ultimate cookie isn’t a wafer-thin collection of particles held together by a greasy blot of batter. Not that that’s bad, but it just seems like a lot of cookies go that route. I love me some butter, but it’s not what I want to be the primary taste in my cookie.

It’s been fun to tinker with the recipe to the point where I honestly believe it’s mine. Of course, it’s entirely possible that everyone does this and Ina Garten shows up at my door screaming, “Bitch stole my look!”