TWD: Oatmeal Nutmeg Scones

Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. I am pleased to present a very special Poetry Edition of Tuesdays with Dorie.

*polite applause*



There once was a food called a scone
With oatmeal and nutmeg alone
In looks it was simple
Bumps, crags, and a-dimpled
But the taste could make a man moan!



These scones were a treat eaten plain
We enjoyed them again and again
But we liked them the best
When with jam they were dressed
Not to gorge ourselves was a real strain.



So we come to the end of the post
And I truly don't mean to boast
The scones were quite good
For a non-dessert food
Thanks to Patricia, our host!

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TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

This week's recipe, Chocolate Oatmeal Drops, is a toughie to explain. Imagine cookies with the flavor and texture of brownies. Yum, right? Now mix in...oatmeal.

It's weird, it's unexpected, but it actually kind of worked. Much like other unusual couplings--french fries with milkshakes, chocolate with bacon, Taylor Swift with Jake Gyllenhaal--sometimes it's the contrasts that make the pairing work so well.

Not so much with Taylor and Jake, though. That was just weird.
[Call me, Jake.]



Ahem. Back to the cookies! They were rich, and chocolatey, and surprisingly chewy from the oatmeal. They reminded me a bit of those oatmeal no-bake cookies that have oats, chocolate, and peanut butter, and that in turn made me think that these would be awesome with some chopped up Reese's pb cups in them. Am I a baking mastermind? Quite possibly.



Other things I can tell you from experience: these are awesome...
1) as dough before being baked
2) right out of the oven
3) a few hours later
4) the next day
5) three days after that
6) defrosted from the freezer a week later

Also, four of them in a baggie fit nicely into a slipper tucked in a suitcase...you know, just in case the rest of you were hoping to travel with these and wanted to know the best way to keep them from crumbling. The ole slipper trick hasn't failed me yet. Bon appetit!

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TWD: Oatmeal Breakfast Bread

Whew! Whadda day. Everything about this Tuesdays with Dorie post snuck up on me, from the actual baking of the oatmeal breakfast bread to the posting of this here very blog post. Apologies, but I was busy doing very important things like making the world's largest Tootsie Roll:


Whadda Roll.

Aaaaaanyhow, back to the oatmeal breakfast bread. Here's the truth: I like my breakfasts healthy and my desserts deadly, and rarely should the twain meet. This way, I can gorge on all the warm chocolate-chip cookies I want in the evening, but console myself with the memory of the virtuous oatmeal or egg-white scramble I had for breakfast. So a recipe that commingles these two very distinct categories?

Ehhhh.


This oatmeal breakfast bread was fairly healthy, as far as baking projects go. Some of the oil was replaced by applesauce, and oatmeal stood in for some white flour. I added pecans, dried apricots, dried cherries, and--okay, you caught me--just a handful of mini chocolate chips. I'm not made of stone, people.

I thought the oatmeal gave it a lovely chewy, moist texture once it had cooled down, and all the different dried fruits and nuts were great additions. But I have to say, it was just a bit too healthy-tasting for me. My favorite part was the cinnamon-sugar-pecan crust on top, which I think cancels out most of the healthy attributes.


So although I think there's lots to love about this bread, it's just not my bag, baby. We'll keep eating Ginormous Tootsie Rolls around here, and leave the healthy breads to the other folks.

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Tuesdays with Dorie: Oatmeal-Peanut-Chocolate Cookies

I passed on last week's TWD recipe because I was all alone in the house and couldn't justify making a big ice cream-ganache cake with only my lonesome to eat it, and my miserly self couldn't justify using almost a dozen eggs and pounds of chocolate, only to gift the whole thing to friends. There you have it, folks--cheap and selfish. No apologies! However, this week I've returned to the TWD party, cookies in hand. But not just any cookies, we're talking "Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters." (I think the title is bigger than some of the cookies.)

These cookies are a delicious Frankensteinian combination of oatmeal, peanut butter, and chocolate chip cookies. I like oatmeal cookies but I dislike raisins, so I rarely make traditional oatmeal cookies. Similarly, I like peanut butter cookies but they're not my absolute favorite, so I don't often make them for myself. But I luuurve chocolate chip cookies, so these babies seemed like the perfect combination of three American favorites. The peanut butter flavor is a little subtle, but I actually liked that, since it didn't overwhelm the spices or chocolate. I made these right before taking a trip to visit family, and my brothers gobbled them up right away, sometimes two at a time. I'll take that as a sign of success.

Although the taste was great, I think the texture could use a little work. Other people had gorgeous chunky cookie globes, while mine were fairly flat. I admit to a bit of cookie envy! I want to try and create the "chunky" cookie Dorie promised me--I love a cookie with heft and substantial thickness. I'll be making these again soon, and again, until I get my perfect cookie.

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