A Little Bit of Everything Oatmeal Cookies(As heard on CBC Radio 1010AM Wednesday October 15th 2014)

makes approx. 4 dozen cookies

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmed packed
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 3 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 Tablespoons, ground flax seeds
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups plump, moist dried cranberries or raisins
• 1 cup lightly toasted pecan pieces, roughly chopped
• 1 cup bittersweet (dark) chopped chocolate, or bittersweet (dark) chocolate chips - optional

Preheat the oven to 350F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Beat the butter and both sugars with an electric mixer until creamy.

Add the eggs to this mixture one at a time, beating at medium speed with each addition, scraping down the sides and bottom of the before and after each egg is added. Then add the vanilla and beat until just combined.

In a separate bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients (oats, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, baking soda, salt) and stir with a whisk until combined.

Add the dry ingredients in 3 stages, mixing each one on low speed until just combined.

Add the raisins (or dried cranberries), pecans, and chocolate and mix by hand until just combined.

Drop a heaping tablespoon of this cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet, ensuring enough spacing for each cookie to spread a bit as it bakes.

Bake at 350F for approx. 10-14 minutes, until golden colored.

 

 

Try these tricks to make the cookies denser and chewier:

 

• Melt your butter and then let it cool slightly before adding it to the sugars, and as long as it is well mixed, it doesn’t need to create a creamy texture – just make sure it is evenly combined.
• Keep the total amount of sugar the same, but slightly increase the amount of brown sugar and decrease the amount of regular sugar. If you change it to ALL brown sugar you might find that the cookie spreads too much, so keep it a combination of both.

 

 

Try these tricks to add extra flavor to your favorite recipe without changing it:

 

• Use cultured butter instead of regular butter, and always make sure that it is unsalted.
• Make sure your vanilla extract is not artificially flavored.
• If your raisins( or dried cranberries) are dry, soak them in 1/2 cup of boiling water and a ¼ cup of dark rum, and let them plump before incorporating them into the recipe.

 

• Make sure your spices are fresh. The best example to demonstrate this is to smell pre-ground nutmeg and compare it to freshly ground nutmeg. They usually don’t even smell like the same spice. If your ground spices have spent two years in the cupboard, it is too long. Time to refresh.