I'm taking the liberty of calling these cookies how I see 'em because along with the fact they're Big Guy's new favorites, experience (a lot of it) has shown one can throw almost everything but the kitchen sink into them and they'll be stupendous.
Along with the usual butter/sugar/egg/oatmeal combination, these puppies have 3 cups of other good stuff - any combination, all of it up to your imagination, such as white chocolate chips, dark chocolate, semi-sweet, butterscotch, peanut butter flavored or cinnamon chips...you name it ... nuts like salted whole cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, or hazelnuts, dried fruit such as cranberries, raisins, strawberries, sour cherries, blueberries, chopped up dried apricots, peaches or even dried pineapple or coconut, candies like M & M's, malt balls and the like and I've even thrown in trail mix - you know the kind with whole almonds, raisins, coconut, chocolate chips and dried pineapple chunks.
Chilled for a minimum of one hour before baking, I scoop the dough into whoopie pie pans because they make a darned perfect cookie, but use regular cookie sheets if you must. Just be sure to give them room to expand and let 'em cool completely before removing them from the pan otherwise the cookies will crumble (ah darn huh).
Believe me, the 15 or so minutes it takes to cool 'em will be the longest 15 minutes of your life. Just sayin'.
Anyway, they might not look picture book pretty but holy cow, they sure do taste mighty fine. Give 'em a try and be sure to let me know about your special combination of good stuff.
All The Good Stuff Cookies from JBug’s Kitchen Antics adapted from Noble Pig
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar (I used dark, but light is OK too)
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup oatmeal (I used old fashioned but quick is OK too)
3 cups of good stuff * see Note below
Cooking Spray
Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.
In bowl of electric mixer whip butter, granulated and brown sugar together until light and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Scrape sides of bowl down from time to time to incorporate ingredients. Add eggs one at a time and vanilla, beating well to incorporate. On low speed, add flour and mix just until combined. Fold in oatmeal and all the good stuff. Cover dough and chill for a minimum 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350. Spray pans with cooking spray. Using a quarter cup scoop, roll dough into balls and place onto sheet pan or into whoopee pie pans. Bake for 15 minutes or until cookies are golden brown but still slightly soft to the touch in the center. Cool completely before removing from pans. Makes 24 to 26 cookies.
Note: Three cups of any combination of white chocolate chips, dark chocolate, semi-sweet, butterscotch, peanut butter flavored or cinnamon chips...you name it ... nuts like salted whole cashews, walnuts, almonds, pecans, or hazelnuts, dried fruit such as cranberries, raisins, strawberries, sour cherries, blueberries, chopped up dried apricots, peaches or even dried pineapple or coconut, candies like M & M's, malt balls (leave whole) and the like and I've even thrown in trail mix - you know the kind with whole almonds, raisins, coconut, chocolate chips and dried pineapple chunks.
3 cups of good stuff! You can never have too much good stuff, right!
Posted by: pam (Sidewalk Shoes) | 07/19/2014 at 01:55 PM
Pam, no kidding and I've been known to push it to almost 4 cups. These cookies are superlative.
Posted by: June | 07/19/2014 at 03:11 PM
Sounds absolutely delicious and as today is cooler it might just be the day to try them. Nice to have another post from you.
Posted by: Nancy | 07/23/2014 at 09:56 AM
Nancy - these cookies are definite keepers and absolutely superb even direct from the freezer...or should I say especially right out of the freezer. Big Guy was away for a while on a contract job so there wasn't any cooking (or blogging) happening here. I'm almost back to normal, whatever that is. Ha.
Posted by: June | 07/23/2014 at 04:20 PM
Glad to see that you found another purpose for those whoopie pie pans now that BG no longer has a bunch of young people to feed. These sound like just the cookie to keep you happy with just one although you might have to have two just to be sure the first wasn't a figment of your imagination.
Posted by: Lorraine | 08/16/2014 at 05:55 PM
I've made them with many different combinations but cashews, butterscotch and chocolate chips seem to be favorites.
Posted by: June | 08/21/2014 at 06:08 AM