First things first–are ya’ll picking up on some of the amazing daily or weekly live Instagrams from some remarkable chefs? I’m sure there are a ton out there, but a couple of my favorites are Christina Tosi’s Baking Club and David Lebovitz’s L’Huere d’Apero (cocktail hour). Follow each of them on Instagram to play along at home.
On to this week’s post.
No TP and No AP? All I can think is that people are all over the country are doing some kind of bizarre papier mache project. I mean seriously.
As a practice, I don’t keep a huge supply of AP flour on hand. It isn’t super duper shelf-stable and it takes up a lot of space. I generally like to freeze my specialty flours to help keep them fresh, but AP I just buy as I go. And that’s why I only have 10 lbs on hand (sounds like a lot…it’s only two small bags) (also, I had this before we went on lock down so it isn’t like I’ve been able to find any either).
While I’m not hoarding AP, I am rationing it.
You know what I do have? A giant container of old fashioned oats. So I set about finding a cookie recipe that uses only oats. My strategy was two-fold. The first is obvious: save the AP (save the AP save the world?). The second is that I wanted to have a treat around that I wouldn’t eat. Oatmeal cookies aren’t my favorite, but TD likes them.
I like this recipe because it calls for making oat flour in addition to using whole oats (whole oats need a binder like peanut butter or flour or egg to help keep it all together…kind of like me). Since hauling out the food processor can be a chore, I made three times the amount and stored the leftovers in a freezer bag in the fridge for next time.
The oatmeal base is a great tableau for any add-ins you have on hand. The cookies themselves aren’t too sweet so you can get crazy with the goodies. I used chocolate chips and dried tart cherries (per TD request…and because I didn’t have any raisins), but I think they’d be great with coconut, pretzels, M&Ms, other kinds of chocolate chips–whatever sounds good.
No AP Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted slightly from Trevor and Jennifer at Show Me the Yummy
Ingredients
- 1 1/4 C ground old fashioned oats (2 C old fashioned oats ground in food processor)
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg (if this is your thing…omit if not)
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher or coarse sea salt
- 1/2 C (4 ounces) unsalted butter at room temp
- 3/4 C dark or golden brown sugar
- 1/2 TBS vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, room temp
- 1 1/2 C old fashioned oats
- 1/2 C chocolate chips
- 1/2 C your choice dried fruits, nuts or other add-ins
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment (I got 26 cookies out of this using a 2 TBS scooper that I divided between 4 sheets).
- In a medium bowl, whisk together ground oats, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg (if using) and baking soda. Set aside.
- Using a stand or hand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes).
- Beat-in egg and vanilla, another 2 minutes.
- By hand, fold-in ground oat mixture.
- Gently fold-in whole oats, chocolate chips and other add-ins.
- Portion-out dough (I used a 2 TBS scoop). Cookies will spread so accommodate for size when placing on cookie sheets.
- Bake for 10-15 minutes depending on dough size, rotating sheets halfway through.
- Remove from oven and allow cookies to sit for at least 5-10 minutes. Allow to cool completely on wire rack.