03.06.2010 The Doll Drums

I’ve been pondering which direction I want to take this site into, hence the wordless Wednesday post that seemed to be the easy way out yesterday. It’s like I have a zillion things to blabber about but they all want to come out at the same time and make me want to kick them in the shins. So I do. But the thing is – they fight back, these suckers.

Anyway, after doing hara-kiri to my facetwit and other livebook accounts and being very, very happy about it, I still feel like I have (mildly interesting to the extremely bored among us) stuff to share (great raw chocolate! awesome book I read! vegan cheese that tastes like the hard goat cheese I used to live on!) but then I remember I’d like to see have cake remain recipe-centered.
I might either birth a new site or build an aside to this one. I’ve never been good at multitasking though, so I might simply put it all together and merrily bore you to tears. Then I’ll point at you and pull a Nelson by going Ha-Ha in your general direction. (I would never do such a thing…or would I?)

Onto the recipe for super big oat-y cookies that taste sweet and salty thanks to the addition of Salty Sweet Oats. It’s basically like saying that chocolate cookies taste like chocolate thanks to the addition of chocolate, yes? Awesome!

Salty Sweet Oats:

2 cups (160 g) old-fashioned oats
4 ounces (113 g) crushed pretzels (I leave them in the bag and smack them with a rolling pin until they crumble. S’okay if a few bits remain a bit larger.)
1/4 cup (48 g) raw sugar
2 tablespoons (42 g) light agave nectar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons (30 ml) peanut oil
2 tablespoons (30 ml) water

Preheat oven to 325°F (170°C, or gas mark 3). (I never have issues with granola/oats sticking to sheets, but if you are accustomed to either lining them or coating them with any sort of grease, go for it.)
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl, stirring to combine. Place evenly on a large rimmed baking sheet.
Bake for 8 minutes, stirring well. Bake for another 8 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool on sheet before storing: this is important because while the oats may seem soft when out of the oven, they will harden as you let them cool on the sheet.

Yield: 4 cups (400 g)

Note: If you want to lower the amount of oil, go for it. If the oats are lacking in liquid though, replace up to half of the oil with water.

Salty Sweet Oats Cookies:

3 cups (300 g) Salty Sweet Oats
1 cup (120 g) whole wheat pastry flour
1/3 cup (73 g) packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (48 g) evaporated cane juice
1/2 cup (112 g) nondairy butter
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (66 g) mini semisweet chocolate chips (I use these)
Pinch fine sea salt
Nondairy milk, as needed

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
Using a mixer, combine sugar, cane juice, and butter. In a separate medium bowl, combine oats, flour, baking powder, chocolate chips and salt.
Add dry ingredients into wet and stir until combined. Add nondairy milk as needed until the dough holds together when pinched.
Using 1/2 cup (120 g) of dough, shape 6 cookies and flatten a bit as the cookies won’t spread out much while baking.
Bake for 16 minutes or until golden brown around the edges. Let the cookies firm up on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before transferring them onto a wire rack to cool.

Yield: 6 large cookies

Note: If you want to make smaller cookies, then by all means…Just be sure to adjust baking time accordingly.