A few hours (and 5 paintings) later, I was still craving cookies, oatmeal cookies. When C left to go get more canvases, I booked it to the kitchen to whip up a batch of cookie dough before he returned. Now, he can't get mad at me for my baking problem because he has an ice cream problem. About a week ago, he came back from the grocery store with 3 half-gallon cartons of ice cream. Shortly thereafter, our roommate came back with 2 pints of Ben & Jerry's and alerted C of a sale. It wasn't long before I noted a new pint of Cherry Garcia in the freezer. When I asked him about his flavor choice (I thought he knew I was planning to make cherry chocolate chunk ice cream), he said "I panicked. There was a lady behind me and I couldn't find Oatmeal Cookie, so I grabbed that one. But I really wanted Oatmeal Cookie." So that's why I was craving oatmeal cookies! I decided that I would stir crumbled homemade oatmeal cookies into vanilla ice cream so that C could get his Oatmeal Cookie ice cream fix and I could satisfy my oatmeal cookie craving a la vez. I figured this had to be close to the Ben & Jerry's flavor, though I'd never actually had it.
Earlier in the day, I'd decided to make Thin Oat Ginger Crisps from Green Kitchen Stories. What excited me about the recipe was the list of ingredients, specifically pure maple syrup instead of refined sugar and buckwheat flour instead of wheat flour. What I didn't like about the recipe was the thickness of the cookies. I prefer soft, chewy cookies, not thin, crispy cookies. I decided to try them anyway, but with different flavors, and the addition of steel-cut oats. I got the idea to add steel cut oats from Adventures in Cooking. I decide on cherry and almond additions because I've been craving cherries since they first hit the market in June.
Objective
Make oatmeal cookies to crumble over ice cream as a substitute for Ben & Jerry's Oatmeal Cookie ice cream.
Materials
4 tbsp. butter, softened
3 tbsp. pure maple syrup
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. buckwheat flour
2/3 cup rolled oats
~1/4 cup steel-cut oats
pinch cinnamon
pinch salt
1/4 to 1/2 tsp. almond extract, to taste
2 tbsp. to 1/4 cup blanched almonds, chopped
2 tbsp. to 1/4 cup dried cherries (or dried cranberries flavored with cherry juice)
Methods
1. Preheat the oven to 350º. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat the butter, maple syrup, milk, buckwheat flour, rolled oats, cinnamon, salt, almond extract, blanched almonds and cherries. With the almonds and cherries, stir in as many as you want for the amount of chunkiness you desire. Stir in steel-cut oats, starting with 2 tbsp. until the dough stops looking "wet." (You want it to look like normal cookie dough for chocolate chip cookies.)
3. Drop dough onto the parchment by the tablespoon, and gather the dough into balls to make the dough a little cohesive. If needed, redistribute the dough for 12 even dough balls. Flatten the tops slightly.
4. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and cool on the cookie sheet.
Results
These cookies are delicious and I don't feel guilty about eating them. They are very crumbly, which makes them perfect for crumbling over ice cream, though difficult to eat. The texture is soft and a bit chewy. I would describe the flavor as 50:50 oatmeal to almond, though easily mutable based on how much you decide to add. Stirred into ice cream? Delicious and you'd never even know these are "healthier" oatmeal cookies.
Discussion
The cookie itself? Very good. I'm pleased with the cherry/almond combination as well as the addition of steel-cut oats. I have to admit, I was going to make the cookies as written, as flat, crispy cookies. However, when I saw how moist the dough was, I decided I wanted to make it thicker like my normal oatmeal cookie dough. I kept adding steel cut oats until I got there (~1/4 cup). I knew this would increase the amount of dough and consequently decrease the amount of butter per cookie. I totally forgot that the recipe called for flattening the cookies as flat as you can make them, so I only flattened them slightly. The end result was exactly what I was looking for: thick, soft, and chewy. A happy mistake!
Now, cookie + ice cream? Since I've never had the ice cream flavor, we'll turn to C. "Better than the real stuff." Whew! That makes up for the brownies I made last week with spelt flour (that part was fine) and beet puree (not fine). I wondered what Ben & Jerry's flavor actually does taste like. Apparently its real name is Oatmeal Cookie Crunch and it's described as "sweet cream cinnamon ice cream with chucks of oatmeal and fudge." Mine didn't have chocolate, but I'm glad I added cinnamon to the cookies. I generally omit cinnamon from all cookies and quick breads, but I added it because I figured B&J's oatmeal cookies were bound to be cinnamony. They also add raisins. Gross. Anyway, next time C's craving oatmeal cookie ice cream, I think I'll whip him up another batch.
Supplementary Materials
To make Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream:
Bake and cool Cherry Almond Oatmeal Cookies. Get out vanilla ice cream and let it sit out to soften. Crumble the cookies over the ice cream and stir to combine. Return to freezer until you're ready to eat it. Cookie recipe makes enough cookie crumbles for about 1/2 quart of ice cream.
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