It’s actually been a busy few days but during some down time today, I decided to bake. Taking a recipe from my favorite cookie book, Big, Soft, Chewy Cookies, I made the oatmeal cinnamon cookies and added some milk chocolate chunks from a candy bar, used whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose flour, and used a mix of white and light brown sugar.

Ingredients:
2 cups old fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 tbsp dark molasses
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup milk chocolate chunks

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350 F
2. Combine oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, beat together egg and sugars. Add butter and continue beating. When completely blended, add molasses and milk and blend again. Stir in the oat mixture, pecans, and chocolate.
4. Using a 2-ounce ice cream scoop or 1/4 cup measure, scoop level amounts of dough and drop 2 1/2 inches apart onto an ungreased gookie sheet.
5. Bake until cookies are golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove cookies from oven and let them set for 1 minute. Using a spatula, transfer cookies to a rack and let cool.

Cookies may be wrapped individually in plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to three days.

Makes 14-20 cookies.

The kitchen smelled delicious as the cookies baked, cinnamon and nutty. I let them bake a little more than 15 minutes because I like it a bit more crispy on the edges. Tastes like breakfast, great with a glass of milk or coffee.

These are different than the Tartine Chocolate Oatmeal Walnut Cookies since they are more cake-like. The Tartine recipe makes thin and crispy cookies so it will depend on what I’m in the mood for because I like these cake-y cookies too.

http://www.marthastewart….d-cream-cookies

My last baking feat for my last day of work. They have all said they will miss my baking so I thought I’d bring something on my last day. Plus the week after a holiday weekend is always super busy so a sweet treat always helps to make the day a bit easier.

I decided to try this recipe for Blueberry and Cream Cookies but with some changes because I didn’t have all the ingredients. I followed some of the substitutions recommended in the comments on the Martha Stewart website.

Ingredients

* 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (used whole wheat flour)
* 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
* 2 teaspoons salt (used 1 tsp as recommended by others because 2 tsp made the cookies too salty according to the comments)
* 1 cup (8 ounces) Plugra European-style unsalted butter (used regular unsalted butter)
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
* 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
* 1/4 cup glucose (used agave syrup)
* 1 large egg
* 3/4 cup dried blueberries (used 1 cup blueberry preserves)
* 1/2 cup plus 1/3 cup Milk Crumbs (used 1 cup white chocolate chips but recipe for Milk Crumbs available online at Martha Stewart website)

Directions

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper; set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix together butter, sugars, and glucose until well combined. Add egg and mix until well combined.
3. Add flour mixture and mix until well combined. Add blueberries and milk crumbs and mix until well combined. Using an ice cream scoop about 2 1/8 inches in diameter, scoop dough into balls and place about 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Transfer baking sheets to refrigerator until dough is chilled, about 15 minutes. Transfer baking sheets to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until cookies are golden brown and tops begin to crackle, about 15 minutes. Transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool.

I think the cookies came out a bit too sweet so I would reduce the amount of sugars and/or agave syrup (or glucose if following the recipe). One day I’ll have to try the Milk Crumbs recipe to see what they actually are like but since I had white chocolate chips, that’s what I used and it turned out fine. The cookies are pretty dense and cake-like and seem to go well with a cup of coffee or tea (to even out the sweetness). Because I used blueberry preserves, the coloring of the cookies were not that great looking but still tasted good.

Not sure how much I will be baking once baby is born but I’m hoping he will want to join me in the kitchen once he’s old enough.