Maybe it’s because I grew up thinking that the best chocolate chip cookies were made from the recipe on the back of a Tollhouse bag or maybe I’m just a cookie purist, but when making simple cookies, I look for simple recipes; ones with the fewest steps and the fewest ingredients. So I was delighted when I opened Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything
and found his recipe for “Oatmeal Cookies” to which he said you could add raisins, dried fruit or chocolate chips. Now I will be honest, I have sort of a love/hate relationship with Mark Bittman. I believe that people turn to cookbooks and cooking shows because they need help in the kitchen. While I'm sure some chefs do look for recipes, I think that the kind of person who would be drawn to a title like “How to Cook Everything” really doesn’t know how to cook anything. So while he is encouraging with his—go ahead and add 1 ½ cups of whatever you want to this recipe, it’s also a little daunting (although not nearly as frightening as when he was on the Today Show cooking a vegetable soup and told you to just add any vegetables in any amount. Really? If that’s the case, then why is the Today Show paying you to be on the air???). With so much rope, one can easily hang themselves, or just be reduced to a puddle of neuroses on the kitchen floor. This is why I rarely use this book. If I don’t know how to roast squash, it’s not very helpful to be told to just throw it on a baking sheet and take it out when it’s done. Any idiot can figure that out, what I want to know is how long to cook something the first time I make it, not how to learn through experience.
Anyhow, I digress. Here’s how things went with this recipe:
1. Mark only calls for 1 stick of butter and 2 cups of oats. Most recipes like a 2 sticks butter, 3 cups oat ratio. I realize now this leads to a more cakey texture.
2. After the butter is creamed, everything is mixed by hand. Not a good idea after a tough arm workout at the gym. My arms are SORE now!
3. When told to “alternate between dry ingredients and the milk” I mixed 1 cup of the dry ingredients and followed that by mixing 1/3 of the milk. I’m not sure this is correct, but it seemed to mix fairly well.
4. I mixed the chips in after all the other ingredients were combined. This worked well for me, but if you want to cut down on your mixing, you could probably add them to the dry ingredients before combining with the batter.
5. Tasting dough that involves uncooked oats is a little nasty.
How did it turn out? Eh. Let’s just say simple may not have been the best way to go here. While I like the idea of a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie, this is clearly not the best recipe. These cookies are exceptionally doughy and dry and seem to satisfy neither the oatmeal lover, nor the chocoholic.
In case you don’t have the cookbook, here is my adaptation of the recipe:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375.
Combine flour, oats, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In a standing mixer, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition. Alternate between the dry ingredients and the milk, stirring until completely combined. Add vanilla. Stir in chocolate chips.
Drop tablespoons of dough onto the ungreased baking sheets and bake in the center of the oven until golden, about 12-15 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through. Cool completely on racks. Makes about 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
Summary:
Difficulty Level: Low
Effort Level: Low (though arm strength is needed!)
Cost: Inexpensive
Result: Dry. The hunt for the great cookie compromise recipe continues.
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