orange blossom dried cherry oaties

a recipe, that takes the grandma of all cookies and makes it even MORE grandma like!

Hi hi hello!

This month is all about cookies, alright? Let me remind me about my big life philosophy that any (insert baked good) served at (insert event/time of year) is a (event/time of year) (baked good). Right, any cake at a wedding is a wedding cake. Any cookie during the holidays IS a holiday cookie. It doesn’t have to be a peppermint blowout extravaganza if you don’t want it to be. This is just me trying to justify these orange blossom oat cookies as deserving of a place in your holiday cookie line-up okay!! Just give her a chance!!

In the last post, we changed the base recipe without really having to change anything about the cookie, right? We added a little espresso powder and swapped the dark chocolate for white and called it a day. Okay, so when it comes to adapting recipes to make them more of your own it’s important to learn when an ingredient is there for the structure/make up of the recipe or something more to the affect of being an “add-in”. For different recipes, different ingredients will fall into different categories. Right, so choc chip cookies are on the mind right now. The chocolate in the cookies can virtually be switched up and switched out without consequence, you would just be changing the flavor profile. Like, yeah you can switch 70% dark chocolate chunks for chopped up milk chocolate, if you so choose, you’ll just have a cookie with a milder chocolate flavor that eats a little sweeter. In this instance, the chocolate is an add-in, and while the composition of chocolate (chips, wafers, feves, or chopped bars) might slightly affect the spread of the cookie, if not do or die here.

But, chocolate in something like a mousse recipe is a huge part of what makes/sets a mousse. Here, different chocolates cannot be used interchangeably. If you use white chocolate in a mousse recipe designed for dark chocolate, you run the risk of it not setting up, due to the properties of each chocolate.

So circling right on back to our “base” choc chip cookie from last week, we’re gonna transform her into a orange blossom oat cookie. The most divisive of the cookies made all the more divisive with orange blossom water! We’re adding something that is going to change the make-up/structure of the cookie (rolled oats) and swapping out the chocolate gram for gram with dried cherries. As a refresher here is the base cookie recipe:

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Base cookie ingredients:

• 150 grams butter, melted & cooled

• 75 grams granulated sugar

• 140 grams dark brown sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 large egg yolk

• 225 grams all purpose flour

• 1 tablespoon (10 grams) cornstarch

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder

• 3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

• 150 grams dark chocolate of your choice

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So, to turn this into an oatmeal cookie we cannot simply add rolled oats as a mix-in and call it a day. While the oats don’t contain gluten, they do act like the starches in flour- which absorb moisture from the surrounding ingredients. So, if we were just to add in 100 grams of rolled oats to the cookie we would end up with a dry cookie. I don’t know about you, but I don’t want a dry ass cookie. So, we do drop the amount of all purpose flour and sub in rolled oats gram for gram for the flour we took out.

Since we dropped the amount of flour, the cookie is going the spread out more, naturally. To counteract this, we also drop the amount of baking soda by half and omit the baking powder completely.

For flavor, we add in orange blossom water, and while there isn’t vanilla in the original recipe (because I don’t think a choc chip recipe needs it!!) the would stand in for vanilla. It is totally okay to omit this, if you’re not feeling that vibe. Or swap it for an extract you feel is better aligned with your tastes. We also add in a little cinnamon, because it is an oatmeal cookie after all and that is a classic touch.

Now, the base recipe has chocolate chips as the mix in. Great, beautiful, if you are anti-dried fruit in an oatmeal cookie, leave the chocolate in! Skip the cherries. But, this cookie needs something tart or dark to balance the level of sweetness- imo!! I opt for dried cherries, because I love them and always have them on hand but, a dried cranberry moment here feels awfully festive. The chocolate is a mix-in and can be swapped out virtually for whatever you’d like. In the case of this cookie, you could also do a roasted pistachio if the cherries aren’t what you’re feeling. Remember, I just developed and wrote the recipe but, you’re the one making it, have fun with it.

You can always add more of the mix-ins if you’d like too. If you fuck heavy with ‘em add more. Just keep in mind, that at a certain point too many mix-in’s will affect the spread of your cookies!

Now, for the remixed version of the choc chip recipe:

can you believe these started off with the same base recipe??

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Orange blossom dried cherry oaties:

Tools:

• Stand mixer or electric hand mixer *optional*

• Digital Scale

• Rubber Spatula

• Baking Trays

• Parchment paper, precut sheets for the WIN

• Cookie Scoop

• Mixing Bowl

• Teaspoon measures

Ingredients:

• 150 grams unsalted butter, melted and cooled

• 105 grams granulated sugar

• 105 grams dark brown sugar

• 3/4 teaspoon orange blossom water

• 1 large egg

• 1 large egg yolk

• 130 grams all purpose flour

• 100 grams rolled oats, toasted

• 1 tablespoon (10 grams cornstarch)

• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

• 3/4 teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt

• 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 150 grams dried cherries, chopped

Directions:

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the 150 grams melted butter, 105 grams granulated sugar, 105 grams dark brown sugar and 3/4 teaspoon orange blossom water. Beat with the paddle until combined. Yeah, you can do it by hand or with an electric hand mixer too.

2. While the butter and sugar gets to know each other, weigh out the 130 grams all purpose flour, 100 grams rolled oats, 1 tablespoon cornstarch, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda, 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 3/4 teaspoon DC kosher salt into a medium bowl. Use the spatula to quickly give it a mix and disperse the leavening agents throughout. Set aside.

3. To the butter and sugars add the 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk. Beat until the mixture is emulsified and smooth.

4. Add the dries to the mixer. Mix on low speed just until the dries are just incorporated to the wets, with a few floury streaks remaining. Stop the mixer and scrape the bow and the paddle to ensure an even mix.

5. Add the 150 grams of chopped dried cherries to the mixer and beat on low for a few seconds just until the cherries are evenly dispersed, you can finish folding everything together by hand with a rubber spatula.

6. Let the dough rest on the counter for 10-15 minutes before scoop, to allow the oats to absorb some liquid and firm up the dough for ease of scooping.

7. Using a cookie scoop, scoop your desired size of cookie onto a parchment lined sheet tray. (This recipe was developed using a 2oz disher to size out the dough) They can be close enough to touch at this point because you’re gonna put the dough in the fridge/freezer for at least an hour but preferably overnight. Wrap the tray in plastic wrap to keep everything fresh and free of freezer smells. *you can also stick the dough balls in the fridge just long enough to firm up before transferring into a freezer bag or other container*

8. 30 minutes before you’re ready to bake preheat the oven to an actual temp of 365F.

9. Arrange your dough on a parchment lined baking tray.

10. Now, the size of your desired dough ball varies and so will the bake time. Smaller cookies will take 8-12 minutes to bake, while larger cookies can take up to 18 minutes. 8 minutes is a great starting point, at which time you can rotate the baking sheet and add more time as needed for cookies. You’ll know the cookies are done when the edges are golden brown and the center is set, it won’t have that oily sheen to it.

11. These cookies have a tendency to spread out a little wonky, if you like a perfect round to your cookie, use a round cookie cutter, or wide rimmed glass, something bigger than the cookie itself. Use this to gently mold the cookie back into something nice and round- while the cookies are fresh from the oven and still warm enough to be pliable!

12. Allow to cool before eating, just enough so you don’t burn your mouth (;

    

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See ya next later for the next cookie (BROWN BUTTER PECAN, MY FAVE OF THE BUNCH!!) where we take that base cookie and once again transform it into something new ♡

Till then, you can find me in the group chat for all your cookie needs!