Chocolate Oatmeal Hazelnut Cookies

While I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like, I’m particularly fond of cookies with a good chew factor that don’t crumble to tiny bits when you take a bite. Make a batch of these bad boys the next time you’re craving something chewy, chocolatey and nutty.

Chocolate Oatmeal Hazelnut Cookies 
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup whole-wheat flour
½ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups hazelnuts

Place oven racks in upper third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Toast hazelnuts in a cookie sheet until fragrant, 5-6 minutes. Let hazelnuts cool and then coarsely chop them.

Combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large bowl, beating with electric mixer until fluffy before adding eggs, beating to mix thoroughly. Add oats, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt, mixing on low speed until blended. Add chopped hazelnuts and mix until incorporated. Drop batter by the tablespoon about 1-1½ inches apart on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes -- cookies should appear done but will still be soft. Remove cookie sheets from oven, letting cookies stand for 2-3 minutes before moving them to cooking racks.

Watch out, because these cookies are trouuuuuble

Start preheating the oven and pour yourself a nice frosty glass of milk, because it’s cookie time. It’s not often that I get the urge to bake cookies -- I’d much rather throw a lasagna in the oven -- but I’ve been playing around with this recipe in my mind for a little while. Glad I finally made it happen, as these cookies are so sweet and chewy and utterly addictive.

Oatmeal Pecan Butterscotch Cookies 
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup butterscotch chips

Place oven racks in upper third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl, beating with electric mixer until fluffy before adding eggs, beating to mix thoroughly. Add flour, oats, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt, mixing on low speed until blended. Add pecans and butterscotch chips until incorporated. Drop batter by the tablespoon about 1-1½ inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies appear golden brown but are still soft. Remove cookie sheets from oven, letting cookies stand for 2-3 minutes before moving them to cooking racks.

Cookies made with persimmons and spice are quite nice

Our neighbor brought over some lovely hachiya persimmons a while back. I’d never cooked anything with persimmons, but figured the free fruit provided the perfect opportunity to try something new. I’ve had my mom’s persimmon cookie recipe stashed away for years. Glad I found it!

Persimmon Cookies 
1 cup sugar
1 cup shortening
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups flour
½ teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup hachiya persimmon pulp (from overly ripe fruit)
Butter or cooking spray (for cookie sheets)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. MIx first three ingredients in medium bowl. Whisk flour, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, salt and baking soda in separate, larger bowl. Stir contents of smaller bowl in with flour mix. Add raisins, walnuts and persimmon pulp. Thoroughly mix ingredients. Drop spoonfuls of dough onto greased cookie sheets. Bake cookies for roughly 15 minutes, until lightly brown.

Sacramento-area food bloggers holding online bake sale for Japan

Hungry? I’m just one among dozens of Sacramento-area bloggers participating in an online bake sale in order to raise funds for relief efforts in Japan.

Interested in some of my delicious Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Cherries, or any number of delicious desserts and other good eats by Sactown’s finest? Read more about all the items available, and learn more about the bidding process, here.

Bidding instructions will be posted March 31, and bidding is open April 1-2. Grab your wallet and check it out!

Little lemons add lots of zest to cookies

Those adorable little lemons I discovered on my doorstep the other day have found themselves the stars of a fresh batch of cookies.

I’ve kept the following recipe in my files for years now, and figured the neighborly gift of nearly a dozen lemons was the perfect excuse to finally test the recipe.

These delicate cookies are packed with fresh, tangy flavor, and the poppy seeds add a nice little crunch. They taste great with a glass of milk, and I think they’d pair well with a mug of tea on a chilly December day. I think I'll try coconut instead of poppy seeds the next time I make these cookies, just for fun.

A side note: While I believe in giving credit where credit is due, I’m not quite sure where this recipe came from. I tend to collect recipes printed on the pages of various magazines, so this could be Real Simple or perhaps Martha Stewart Living?

Zesty Lemon Poppy-Seed Cookies
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
3 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
½ cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon poppy seeds, plus more for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Bring lemon juice to a simmer in a small saucepan over medium heat. Once reduced by half, add one stick (1/4 cup) butter, stirring until melted.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
Cream remaining butter and 1 cup sugar in a bowl of an electric mixer (use paddle attachment). Add egg and lemon butter, mixing until pale, about 3 minutes. Add vanilla extract and 2 teaspoons lemon zest. Mix in flour mixture and poppy seeds.
Stir together the remaining sugar and lemon zest—I did this in a glass pie dish. Roll spoonfuls of dough into balls. Roll balls in sugar mixture and place them on a cookie sheet 1 ½ to 2 inches apart. Gently press each ball with the flat bottom of a glass—dipping the bottom of the sugar mixture helps—and sprinkle with additional poppy seeds.
Bake cookies 10-11 minutes, until they’re just starting to brown around the bottom edges. Remove from oven, and let sit on cookie sheet 1-2 minutes before transferring to cooling racks.

‘Tis the season to be baking

December’s officially here, and holiday madness is about to kick into overdrive.
Trees are strapped to cars, lights are stapled to houses … seems like the perfect time to do some baking!

I’ve always liked the chewy nature of oatmeal cookies, but much prefer chocolate chips to raisins. I also had some dried cherries in the cabinet, so I decided to amp up my oatmeal cookies just a little more. Oatmeal cookies with gooey chocolate chips are always a treat, and the cherries add an extra zip that raisins might not provide. That, and they seem just a bit more festive than some silly ol’ dried out grapes.

Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Cherries
Adapted from a recipe off the back of a canister of Safeway Old-Fashioned Oats
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 ½ cups brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 ½ cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
½ cup dried cherries, roughly chopped

Place oven racks in upper third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees.
Combine butter, brown sugar and vanilla in large bowl, beating with electric mixer until fluffy before adding eggs, beating to mix thoroughly. Add flour, oats, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon and salt, mixing on low speed until blended. Add chocolate chips and dried cherries until incorporated.
Drop batter by the tablespoon about 1-1½ inches apart on greased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies appear golden brown but are still soft. Remove cookie sheets from oven, letting cookies stand for 2-3 minutes before moving them to cooking racks.

Peanut butter and chocolate — a match made in cookie heaven

I picked up a tub of devilishly addictive Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from Trader Joe’s. They’re like a chocolate-chip sized version of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, and they’re dangerous.

After a few days of helping myself to a handful of these chocolate-peanut-butter gems, I figured I’d try baking them into cookies, something between a peanut butter kiss — one of my all-time favorites — and a traditional chocolate-chip cookie.

The peanut butter cups aren’t as sturdy as chocolate chips, and turned into globs during the baking process. Even though they didn’t keep their initial form, the candies added an additional peanut-butter punch to the cookies.

Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
Adapted from a Now … You’re Cooking! peanut-butter kiss recipe
2 2/3 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups mini peanut butter cups

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and baking soda. Add butter and peanut butter and mix until smooth. Add sugars and beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and mix until smooth. Stir in peanut butter cups gently.
Make balls out of level tablespoons of dough. Place balls two inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets, and bake for 10 minutes.