Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Walnuts - Yum!

So I did take some time off from blogging, recipes, and cooking all together, and now I think I am recharged and ready to start again. I have to admit, with a full time job, dog, husband and the rest of everyday life it's hard to find time for this. Photographing your food before you eat it (LOL), editing, and publishing recipes - it all takes time, and sometimes I just want to be lazy and read a book or watch DVR-ed shows... or just enjoy a glass of wine with take-out.
I actually thought I would have more time to do that this past summer, but I was wrong. Summer in Chicago is so short and I tried to do as much as I could outside, enjoying nice weather before it's gone again. It comes and goes so fast, it's over before you know it. More and more I think about moving somewhere with a milder climate. I love Chicago, I love where we live, our big loft with great city views and huge rooftop deck, but the climate here might just not be worth it anymore. This country has so many great places to live to offer. Right now I would like to move to Pacific Northwest. I know, i know, the weather there is not as great as in Arizona but there i so much more to do out there. Pacific coast, mountains, beautiful lakes, trails, lighthouses, rain forests, wineries... and I don't think they get as much snow as we get here, in the midwest. Right? Portland and Seattle are my two top cities whre I could see myself living for the next couple of years...

So, cookies?! I'm not sure what made want cookies this weekend, but all of the sudden I had to make cookies. Sugar cookies are definitely my top choice but white chocolate macadamia take the spotlight completely. Oatmeal raisin are number three, and that's pretty much all cookies I really like. So I rarely make cookies, since I try to stay in "shape" and once I have cookies sitting on my counter top looking at me - I can't resist! I could finish the whole batch! In fact, I actually had (in the past)... so I stay away from making cookies...


I started with the Quaker Oatmeal Cookies recipe and modified it to my likings, if I can say that. I used margarine instead of butter to make it healthier, and I added chopped walnuts. I also reduced the amount of sugar. My husband likes white chocolate in his cookies, so after I split the cookie dough I added some chopped white chocolate to the second batch. The cookies were crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside, warm, straight from the oven tasted amazing with a big glass of cold milk!

Walnut and white chocolate with raisins and oatmeal - I have to admit - I was worry about all this ingredients but the effect was delicious. You can almost call them everything but kitchen sink cookies or garbage cookies??? maybe not...

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Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Walnuts

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons soften butter {margarine}
  
• 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar {1/4 cup}
  
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 3 cups Quaker® Oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
• 1 cup raisins
• { 3/4 cup chopped walnuts, and chopped white chocolate-optional}

Preheat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins {and walnuts and chopped white chocolate} - mix well.

{Refrigerate cookie dough for about 10-15 minutes before dropping, it helps with the stickiness}

Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Cookie Collection: Simple Sugar Cookies

I know, just yesterday I posted a cookie recipe, and today I am about to do the same. But I can't help it. It's the Holiday Season and I dream of cookies: making cookies, decorating cookies and eating cookies! So I decided to post all kinds of different cookie recipes that I find. Why only limit myself to one. There is never too many good cookie recipes. And at least I will have them right here, in this blog, it will be easy to find once I am ready to make them.

I finally started subscribing Food & Wine Magazine, I usually just bought it from the stand, but it's so much less expensive to subscribe it. I believe this cookie recipe is from December's issue for Food & Wine Magazine. And I just couldn't help it. Those cookies look so delicious!



Here is the recipe:

Cookies:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 sticks cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 large egg yolks
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup seedless raspberry or apricot jam (for jam-filled cookies)
• Royal Icing, sprinkles, sparkles and dragées, for decorating

In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, mix the flour with the sugar and salt. Add the butter and mix at low speed until the butter is broken up into small pieces, about 2 minutes. Increase the speed to medium and mix until the flour and butter form small clumps, about 1 minute. Add the egg yolks and vanilla and mix at low speed until the dough comes together in a few large clumps. Pat the cookie dough into two 1/2-inch-thick disks, wrap them in plastic and refrigerate until chilled but not firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 375°. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, working with 1 disk at a time, roll out the dough 1/8 inch thick. Using 3- to 4-inch cookie cutters, cut the dough into shapes and transfer to the prepared baking sheets. Reroll the scraps and cut out more cookies. (Alternatively, cut the dough into 3- to 4-inch shapes and, using a smaller cutter, stamp out the center of half of the cookies.) Refrigerate the cutout cookies until chilled, about 30 minutes.

Bake the cookies for about 13 minutes, until they are lightly golden around the edges; shift the baking sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through for even baking. Let the sugar cookies cool on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes, then, using a metal spatula, carefully transfer them to a rack to cool completely, about 20 minutes.

For sandwich cookies, spread a thin layer of raspberry or apricot jam on the solid cookies and top with the corresponding cutout cookies to expose the jam. Otherwise, decorate as desired with the Royal Icing, sprinkles, sparkles and dragées.

Royal Icing Recipe

• 1 egg white
• 1/2 pound confectioners’ sugar (2 1/4 cups)
• 1 tablespoon water

In a medium bowl, beat the egg white at medium speed until foamy. Add the confectioners’ sugar, 1 cup at a time, beating between additions, until the sugar is completely incorporated. Add the water and beat at high speed until the icing holds its shape, about 5 minutes.

Spoon the icing into a piping bag fitted with a plain tip and use at once; thin with water if necessary.

Cookie Collection: Paula's Snowflake Cookies

Holiday's are approaching quickly and the smell of freshly baked cookies is the air. I love sugar cookies! And I am always researching for a new recipe to add to my collection. This recipe is from Foodnetwork, and those are Paula Dean Snowflake cookies. They look amazing and I bet they taste awesome. I haven't made those yet, but I am going to in the nearest future.


Here is what you need to make those appetizing creations:

Cookie Dough:
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon almond extract
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Edible Paint Icing, recipe follows
Garnish: silver dragees, sugar pearls, sparkling sugar

In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs, vanilla and almond extract until combined.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to sugar mixture, beating until smooth. Wrap dough in heavy-duty plastic wrap, and refrigerate 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

On a lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch thickness. Cut with assorted snowflake cookie cutters and place 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. Chill dough 15 minutes. Bake for 10 minutes, or until edges are very lightly browned. Let cool for 2 minutes on baking sheet. Remove from pans and cool completely on wire racks.

Paint cookies with Edible Paint Icing. Garnish with silver dragees, sugar pearls and sparkling sugar, if desired.

Edible Paint Icing:
1/4 cup cold water
3 tablespoons meringue powder
2 cups confectioners' sugar
Food coloring, optional

In a medium bowl, combine water and meringue powder; whisk until foamy. Whisk in confectioners' sugar until smooth. Add food coloring, if desired. Use immediately.