Today I decided to make cookies. Ah, but what kind of cookies? Chocolate chip oatmeal pecan cookies, crisp on the outside and chewy on the inside. I found a great recipe on another blog site, but needed to personalize it a bit, so I looked up cookie tips. What I learned is that in order to ensure I don't produce "looser cookies" (what my daughter Beth and I affectionately refer to all cookies that flatten out when they bake) I need to be careful not to over-beat the sugars, butter and eggs, and possibly reduce the amount of eggwhite called for in the recipe. I did both things and the results will make your mouth water! Since I was running low on Vanilla Extract, I used Brandy Extract also.
Here is the recipe I created:
Goodies:
1 1/2 cups white flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
dash of ground cloves
dash of cardamom
2 1/2 cups of old fashioned oats
1 cup toasted pecans
1 stick butter
1 stick margarine
1 1/4 cups white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1/2 tsp brandy extract
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate morsels
Steps:
1. Process the whole pecans and oats together in a food processor until the nuts are roughly chopped and the oats are reduced in size but not turned into flour.
2. Add all the other dry ingredients to the nuts and oats.
3. Cream the sugars and butter together on low speed for about 2 minutes. Add the whole egg, mix again on low speed then add the yolk and mix.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the creamed mixture using the mixer's #2 speed until moistened.
5. Place rounded tablespoon sized cookies on cookie sheet and bake in preheated oven at 375 degrees for 8-11 minutes, depending on oven and desired crispness.
6. Leave cookies on the warm cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to cookie racks to finish cooling.
7. Try to keep everyone from eating all of them at one time.
