Oatmeal Cookie Salon
Date: February 19, 2011
Attendees: Sarah V.B., Brooke M., Giovanna Z., Beth S., Joanna M.
- Top row – from left:
- Fanny Farmer soft (with toasted oats) – Giovanna
Gourmet Cookbook (with raisins) – Sarah - Smitten Kitchen, Thick and Chewy (with raisins) – Joanna
- Martha Stewart, banana oatmeal – Brooke
Bottom row, from left
• Fanny Farmer, crisp – Giovanna
• Good to the Grain, quinoa oatmeal – Giovanna
• Gourmet Cookbook (no raisins) – Sarah
• Basic Chocolate Chip with oats – Sarah’s Babysitter
• Around the World Cookbook (with dried apricots) – Beth
Notes:
My favorites were:
1. The Around the World with apricots (above photo- Beth’s special touch, the recipe calls for raisins). I love how toothsome, chewy and brown-sugary these are. And, being my kin, she salts her cookies as much as I do. Yes! They absolutely knock down the oatmeal cookie jones for me. Pleasing.
2. At the risk of immodesty, I really love the Smitten Kitchen thick and chewy – for all of the reasons described above. But…this is why I used that recipe; I already knew I loved them.
Others in the group dug the basic simplicity of the Gourmet recipe (with or without raisins) brought by Sarah. I don’t disagree. I am particularly excited about the idea of toasting the oats (Fanny Farmer soft); this is a technique I’d like to play with in the future.
While the little quinoa nuggets from Good to the Grain were far from a classic oatmeal, I kind of got into them. They are an almost savory biscuit to be eaten with coffee or tea and my friend who doesn’t like sweets (who obviously did not attend the salon) gobbled up the ones I brought home with me. They had an earthy quality and were almost sesame-flavored, a flavor imparted by the quinoa. Again, very good – just not an oatmeal cookie oatmeal cookie.
I think we decided that Brooke’s banana oatmeal would be the most appropriate “breakfast cookie.” It was a little more “muffiny” in texture, and the added banana (in exchange, I believe, for a portion of the fat), makes it a conceivable healthy way to start the day.