Chocolate-Peanut Crinkles & Oatmeal-Chocolate Chippers
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Not all cooking disasters are spectacular, call-the-fire-department, buy yourself a new oven kinds of disasters. Some are weird, some are just boring, and then there are the ones like these cookies, which taste fab, but can't be considered anything but a miserable failure because... well, take a look at them.
These are a riff on the lemon-glazed cookies from earlier this summer, themselves a riff on the 'basic drop cookie' recipe I posted all the way back in July. But while those cookies were perfectly delicate and crumbly, rounded and fluffy and moist and delicious, these ones were... not so much. Oh, don't get me wrong: the texture and flavour of the oatmeal cookies was so good I ate three (or what would have been three) in the time it took me to get them off of the cookie sheet, but, as you can see, they melted into one cohesive unit and didn't exactly look appealing after they were done.
I made these cookies in two batches: first the oatmeal and then the chocolate, so I assumed that the oatmeal disaster was (somehow) going to be unique to that batch and that the other one would come out just fine. It did not, and I was thoroughly disappointed.
Here are all the things I think could potentially have gone wrong:
I overmixed the butter/sugar. My butter was really cold, so it didn't 'cream' very well... my solution was just to keep on mixing it, so by the time I added the dry ingredients, the mixture was pretty runny. Maybe that was part of the problem?
I used goat butter. Judson is convinced that goat butter can't be used for any of the same tasks as standard butter, but I convinced him to let me buy it because I wanted to see if it tasted any different. It doesn't taste any different, but maybe the fat/sugar content of it is enough of a change to mess with the cookie's texture?
I just messed up an ingredient, plain and simple. I was halving both of these recipes at the same time, so it's completely possible I just screwed up a quantity without realising it (though that wouldn't explain why both recipes turned out iffy).
That said, I can't bring myself to give them less than 2 spoons because they were just so damn tasty. If you (like me, and like all reasonable people) dislike peanut butter cookies because they're always too dry, crumbly, and lacking in chocolate (except for these amazing ones!), then try these Chocolate-Peanut Crinkles. They've got the flavour of a Reese's cup and the perfect amount of saltiness to cut through the otherwise super-sweet and chocolate cookie dough. They're like a grown-up peanut butter cookie-- rich with the flavour of bitter dark chocolate and a tender crispness that falls apart in your mouth.
As for the oatmeal cookies... well, I think it's time to get one thing straight. On this site, we will never make oatmeal cookies with raisins.* There's nothing worse than biting into what you think is a chocolate chip cookie, only to have to endure a raisin. Oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, though, are a food of the gods (along with frosting, cheese, oysters, and most wines), and these were no exception. Super thin and delicate without being crunchy or dry, they go perfectly with a cup of coffee or tea, or even a bedtime hot chocolate. While I can't say they'll be my go-to recipe due to the spectacular failure of their shape, I do think I'll make them again... just not when I'm planning to take them anywhere.
*Unless I find a recipe for oatmeal raisin cookies in the box, in which case I will have to make them, but I will only eat one and it will be begrudgingly.
The verdict:
2 spoons out of five. Based on flavour alone, these get 4 spoons for sure. But since I can't ignore the fact that they melted into one solid cookie in the oven, I'm docking two spoons.
The recipe:
Chocolate-Peanut Crinkles
the directions:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F and grease a cookie sheet.
Cream together sugars, butter, shortening, egg, and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Do not overmix.
Add chocolate, peanuts, flour and baking soda.
Blend well.
Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes.
Let stand 30 seconds before removing from cookie sheet onto cooling rack.
Yields 2 dozen cookies.
the ingredients:
½ c sugar
¼ c brown sugar
¼ c butter
¼ c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
½ c salted peanuts, chopped roughly
1 c flour
½ tsp baking soda
The recipe:
Oatmeal-Chocolate Chippers
the directions:
Preheat oven to 190C/375F and grease a cookie sheet.
Cream together sugars, butter, shortening, egg, vanilla and milk until light and fluffy.
Do not overmix.
Add flour, baking soda, chocolate chips, oats, and walnuts.
Blend well.
Drop from a teaspoon 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheet.
Bake 8-10 minutes.
Let stand 30 seconds before removing from cookie sheet onto cooling rack.
Yields 2 dozen cookies.
the ingredients:
½ c sugar
¼ c brown sugar
¼ c butter
¼ c shortening
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp milk
1 c flour
½ tsp baking soda
1 c chocolate chips
1 c quick-cooking oats
½ c walnuts, chopped