The Pirate Cookie's Cousin
Last week I tried to improve upon The Pirate Cookie. The operative word here is "tried." In my quest to find the perfect cookie, I over zealously decided I could improve upon what I had started and altered my recipe even further.
I threw in walnuts and almond slivers. I increased the amount of rum extract. I decreased the amount of flour and added ground flax seed. I basically went with any and every idea that flew out of my head. And the results? An incredibly chewy cookie that did not have enough structure to hold together for the first few hours out of the oven. The flavor wasn't terrible, but it wasn't memorable either.
However, it didn't stop me from snarfing down more than 20 of them in a 48 hour period. The only thing that kept me from doing it faster was the fact that I was away at work for several hours.
I wonder what it is about me that won't leave a recipe alone ...
And in the spirit of not being able to leave a recipe alone, I give you tonight's offering. I call it, Pirate's Cousin. It was really inspired by the Oatmeal Chocolate Chipper from the baking book "Better Baking" by Genevieve Ko, and I say "inspired" because I didn't exactly have all the ingredients listed in her recipe. It also reminded me of a mix between my recipe for The Pirate, and an oatmeal-banana cookie by Dani Spies. Only, Dani's cookie did not taste good to me. Bananas and I have a complicated relationship ...
Genevieve's goal is to make healthier versions of classics, and although I didn't follow her recipe exactly (I made adjustments based on what I had on hand, and what I thought would work), I did end up with a pretty good cookie, and the banana did not overpower the overall flavor and texture. Plus with bananas, oatmeal and flaxseed, I can call it a "healthy" cookie, right? I ended up with something of a cross between a cookie and a scone. And because of that, I'm going to have some for breakfast in the morning. Don't judge me.
5 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 egg (room temp)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 mashed, ripe bananas
2-1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1-1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 cups or more bittersweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets, or use silicone sheets (I use silicone baking trays).
Cream butter, oil, and sugar together until creamy and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients, except chocolate chips, and set aside. Beat in egg to the butter mixture until well incorporated, then add bananas and beat until they too are well incorporated. Then add vanilla and mix again.
Slowly mix in dry ingredients just until no flour is visible, then stir in chocolate chips.
Use a spoon or 1-1/2 inch scoop to portion out batter onto trays, and bake one sheet at a time for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly on tray before removing cookies and moving them to a cooling rack.
I can't tell you how hard it was for me not to put rum extract in these. I fought with myself, and had the rum in my hand a couple of times before I finally talked myself out of it!
I threw in walnuts and almond slivers. I increased the amount of rum extract. I decreased the amount of flour and added ground flax seed. I basically went with any and every idea that flew out of my head. And the results? An incredibly chewy cookie that did not have enough structure to hold together for the first few hours out of the oven. The flavor wasn't terrible, but it wasn't memorable either.
However, it didn't stop me from snarfing down more than 20 of them in a 48 hour period. The only thing that kept me from doing it faster was the fact that I was away at work for several hours.
I wonder what it is about me that won't leave a recipe alone ...
And in the spirit of not being able to leave a recipe alone, I give you tonight's offering. I call it, Pirate's Cousin. It was really inspired by the Oatmeal Chocolate Chipper from the baking book "Better Baking" by Genevieve Ko, and I say "inspired" because I didn't exactly have all the ingredients listed in her recipe. It also reminded me of a mix between my recipe for The Pirate, and an oatmeal-banana cookie by Dani Spies. Only, Dani's cookie did not taste good to me. Bananas and I have a complicated relationship ...
Genevieve's goal is to make healthier versions of classics, and although I didn't follow her recipe exactly (I made adjustments based on what I had on hand, and what I thought would work), I did end up with a pretty good cookie, and the banana did not overpower the overall flavor and texture. Plus with bananas, oatmeal and flaxseed, I can call it a "healthy" cookie, right? I ended up with something of a cross between a cookie and a scone. And because of that, I'm going to have some for breakfast in the morning. Don't judge me.
Pirate's Cousin Cookies
5 tablespoons softened unsalted butter
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 egg (room temp)
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 mashed, ripe bananas
2-1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1-1/4 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1-1/2 cups or more bittersweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets, or use silicone sheets (I use silicone baking trays).
Cream butter, oil, and sugar together until creamy and fluffy. In a separate bowl mix all dry ingredients, except chocolate chips, and set aside. Beat in egg to the butter mixture until well incorporated, then add bananas and beat until they too are well incorporated. Then add vanilla and mix again.
Slowly mix in dry ingredients just until no flour is visible, then stir in chocolate chips.
Use a spoon or 1-1/2 inch scoop to portion out batter onto trays, and bake one sheet at a time for 15 minutes. Let cool slightly on tray before removing cookies and moving them to a cooling rack.
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| The chips I used were ginormous, and didn't evenly distribute very well. Next time I may use mini-chips. |
I can't tell you how hard it was for me not to put rum extract in these. I fought with myself, and had the rum in my hand a couple of times before I finally talked myself out of it!
Perhaps I'm really only baking to get to the rum extract? Looks like I know what to talk to the therapist about next time.
Until next week, go play with your food.
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