YumNoms

When I was nineteen or so, I went on an oatmeal cookie kick where I made them in the toaster oven every day for weeks. Tired of bad recipes with huge yields, I was determined to develop an easy-to-make smaller batch recipe for an awesome cookie. And so, I developed and tweaked a recipe that I called The Oatmeal Cookie Experiment. Few things are perfect, but I left off in a pretty tasty place…

The Oatmeal Cookie Experiment

Ingredients:
12 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
2/3 cup Brown Sugar, I typically use dark
1/3 cup Sugar
1 Tbsp Sour Cream
1 large Egg
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1 1/4 cups Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Salt
1 1/2 cups Rolled Oats (not quick-cooking)
Optional:
3/4 cup Dried Cranberries
3/4 cup Unsalted Pecans, chopped

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Cream butter and sugars in one bowl, then add sour cream/egg/vanilla and mix.
In a second bowl mix flour, oats, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
Add dry ingredients to wet, run mixer for about a minute until it is fully mixed. Fold in cranberries and pecans.
Drop cookies in 2 Tbsp dollops on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake cookies for about 15 Minutes, or until otherwise done.

Notes:

This is a thick batter - I use a KitchenAid stand mixer with the paddle attachment, but you should be fine with a quality electric handheld mixer (however, the KA mixer is a great investment).

I find that Pecans tend to be more expensive than Walnuts, but please do not let this deter you from using them. They are lovely and will lend an exquisite buttery quality to your cookies that walnuts can’t quite achieve. I get my Pecans from the bulk bin at my local co-op market, because organic/natural food markets and co-ops with bulk sections typically have the freshest nuts. In my opinion this is in part because these types of customers are more likely to frequently buy healthy foods like nuts, and in part that they haven’t been doused with preservatives then bagged/tinned then warehoused then sat on a supermarket shelf for months until they taste like plastic or cardboard. Bagged, bottled, or tinned nuts pretty much never taste fresh.