Being sick is a great excuse to go home and cook…a lot. And eat. Cookies mmm. It seems that this lingering, nasty cough is hopefully (fingers crossed) on it’s way out. In the meantime, I’ve definitely been enjoying a more leisurely pace of life. Instead of diligently hitting the gym after work, I’ve been taking my time testing out various different recipes. One of my less recent experiments, however, was somewhat of a farewell to 2007–Oatmeal Spice Cookies that were a nice mix between gingerbread, biscotti, and oatmeal cookies. Since I got a new digital camera this year, I’ve been trying to be good at chronicling both my dining and cooking experiences and this one is definitely worth chronicling. I nabbed this recipe from who else–Clotilde
That said, I did play around with the recipe a bit. I didn’t have any fresh ginger at hand, so used 1/2 a teaspoon of ground ginger. I added about 1/2 a teaspoon of cinnamon and a dash of nutmeg. I also misread the original recipe, which called for unrefined cane sugar. I used about 3/4 cups of regular sugar and I think it did the trick just fine.
The best thing about these cookies was that when they came out of the oven, they had a nice crispiness on the outside, but a soft and chewy center. A day or so later, though, they were crunchy and (as Clotidle notes in her post) perfect for dipping in tea–quite to the effect of good biscotti. For those of you who like to send friends food packages, this is the perfect cookie for the job–as it lasts well in a well sealed container and can surely make the trip. Orders anyone?
Overall, I was pretty pleased with the results. Generally, I wouldn’t call myself a cookie person. I’m quite particular about desserts–on any given day, I prefer a few squares (1 is never enough!) of dark chocolate–70% Lindt is usually well-stocked in my pantry. However, good dessert is GOOD dessert and nothing beats small nibbles like fresh-baked cookies. Biting into a still-hot little sucker is like winning a gift certificate or finding a $5. It’s even worth burning your tongue a little to keep you in check. Life’s just not worth living without dessert I tell ya.
