Rachel Robin's Nest

Last night at about 8pm, I had a sudden and intense craving for something sweet.  I simply could not put it out of my mind.  And wouldn’t you know it, I didn’t have anything already made.  Shame on me.  I therefore decided to whip up some cookies.

A few months ago, I made some REALLY excellent oatmeal cookies, with chopped walnuts and chocolate chips (I freakin hate raisins. Blech), and I wanted to try to recreate them.  Unfortunately, however, my King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion has not one, not two, not three, but FOUR different oatmeal cookie recipes.  And for the life of me, I couldn’t remember which one I had used.  Boo.

So I just picked one at random:  “Chewy Oatmeal Cookies.”  Sounded good to me.  I was craving sugar hard at this point, and willing to eat just about anything.  And I had a secret weapon up my sleeve:  Barry Callebaut Dark Chocolate Espresso Chunks.

I worked in a chocolate store that used only Barry Callebaut chocolate for almost six years, and as a result became an incurable chocolate snob.  It’s not that I won’t eat the crappy stuff, I just judge the heck out of it.  And it truly doesn’t taste as good.  Nestle chocolate chips are a cheap, sad imitation of real chocolate.  You need to read your ingredient labels, people!  But with these espresso chocolate chunks of heaven, I knew that my cookies would be AWESOME.

If you want to procure some of your own, I got mine at the King Arthur Flour Store and Cafe in Norwich, VT.  Barry Callebaut chocolate is also often found in health food/all natural stores like Whole Foods, and other specialty shops.

The Essential Chewy Oatmeal Cookie by King Arthur Flour Company

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract (I didn’t use this)
• 3/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 large egg
• 6 tbsp light corn syrup
• 2 tbsp milk
• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup raisins (optional)
• 1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit
2. In large bowl, cream together butter, shortening, sugars, extracts, spices, salt and baking soda, beating until fairly smooth.  Beat in the egg, scraping the bowl, then beat in the corn syrup and milk.  Stir in the oats, flour, raisins and nuts (or espresso chocolate chunks, or chocolate chips etc)
3. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies for 11 minutes, until they’re a light golden brown.  Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool

These cookies definitely fulfilled my craving, and came out (I think) even better than the ones I was trying to make-golden brown bottoms, crispy outside and soft and chewy on the inside.  I think the corn syrup was the key ingredient for that awesome texture.  They are not too sweet, and the espresso-y goodness of the dark chocolate is a nice counterpoint to the spicy sweetness of the cookie.

What’s your favorite cookie recipe?