Friday, October 12, 2012

Me and baking. A love story.

Like any love story, there is a conflict. Some hellish mountain to be traversed. With baking, there are many heartbreaks: veganizing cake mix, making pie crust, and making up recipes for something as simple as cookies. Back when I used eggs, I made up cookie recipes all the time. Now, I have to figure out which egg sub will work for which recipe, and through much trial and error, I might come up with something that kind of works. Then I go cheat on baking and use a recipe from VCIYCJ because Isa is much better than I am at these kinds of things. Sorry, baby. I have NEEDS.

Today started out rough. The dough looked a little too moist, and I know from experience that oatmeal cookie dough should be pretty dry. I baked the first batch, and they weren't bad; just a little too spread out and doughy in the middle. I added more flour and oats, and they came out great. I also used more brown sugar than white because I ran out of white, and it ended up being a great idea! They formed an almost toffee edge around each cookie. YUM.

Oatmeal cookies

Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
makes 2 dozen big cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) margarine
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 medium overripe banana, peeled and squished
2 tsp good vanilla extract
2 1/3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
2 1/3 cups old fashioned oats (not the quick ones!)
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°
Cream together the margarine, sugars, banana, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together the baking powder, flour, and oats. Add to the wet ingredients, and combine. Fold in the raisins and chips. Drop scoops onto parchment-lined cookie sheets (I use a spring-loaded ice cream scoop, but I don't fill the scoop up all the way). Leave about 1.5" between cookies. Flatten the tops with a spatula or your (clean, duh) hand. Bake 10 minutes. Cool on wire racks.

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