Zucchini Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

Well, here in Utah, Zucchini season is starting to wind down, but if you grow zucchini, you will have already had sautéed zucchini, breaded zucchini, baked zucchini, fried zucchini, zucchini pasta, zucchini casserole, zucchini bread, and, of course, the oh so fad-tastic zoodles. *shudder* That word is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Anyway, my point is, we can all use more zucchini recipes. Options are a good thing. These cookies are cake like, in texture, with a bit of chew from the oats, warm spices, and plenty of chocolate.

Here’s what you’ll need: 

• ½ cup butter (1 stick) – softened
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup grated zucchini
• 1 cup flour
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• ¼ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon spice mix
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup oats
• 2 cups chocolate chips 

Preheat your oven to 350°. Then go ahead and grate your zucchini. I like to just use a box grater. Even though I still make a mess, it’s much easier to clean up than the 87 parts of the food processor.

There we go. This looks like a lot, but I was doubling the recipe, so just ignore that.

Now, in your mixing bowl, beat the butter for about a minute, until it’s nice and soft. Add the sugar and mix on medium speed for about two minutes, scraping everything down a time or two in the middle.

Add the egg.

Mix until it’s thoroughly incorporated, scraping everything down again, and then add the vanilla.

When that’s mixed in, add the zucchini. Just a quick note, the zucchini should be room temperature when you grate it, so if you’ve had it in the fridge, make sure you pull it out ahead of time.

Once the zucchini is incorporated, step away from that for a minute to deal with the dry ingredients.

Let’s talk spices for a minute. Along with the cinnamon, I used Penzey’s Pie Spice. It’s just a mix of spices. Cinnamon (China, Korintje, Ceylon, Vietnamese), vanilla sugar (sugar, vanilla bean), mace, ginger, nutmeg, anise seed and clove, to be exact. I also added an extra bit of mace, because I just love the stuff. You can really use whatever mix of spices you like, though. Put them into a bowl along with both flours, soda, powder, and salt.

Give that a good whisk to get rid of any lumps and get everything evenly distributed.

Now, when you go back to your zucchini mixture, it’s going to look like a swampy mess, but don’t panic. The zucchini just needed to give off some water. 

Give it a quick stir and then add the dry ingredients. See, everything is fine. 

Add the oats. I like to use a combination of old fashioned and quick oats, but if you only have one or the other, it will be just fine either way.

Stir them in. This is going to be unlike a typical cookie dough. It will be more like a thick cake batter in its consistency.

Add the chocolate chips. I have a couple opinions when it comes to chocolate chips. Firstly, as long as they’re good quality (I like Ghirardelli, but Guittard is also a good brand.) you can never have too many of them. And secondly, in baked goods, a combination of types of chocolate (milk, semisweet, dark, etc.) is always better than using just one. I used milk, dark, semisweet, and mini semisweet. Use whatever combination you like.

And, one last stir. I like to just use a silicone spatula for this one, and just sort of fold everything together. 

Scoop the dough onto a parchment lined sheet pan. I would definitely use parchment for these cookies, because they tend to be a bit sticky. My scoop is about 1 ½ Tablespoons, which I think is the perfect size for these cookies.

Into a 350° oven for 14-15 minutes. When they’re done, they’ll be dry on top and just starting to brown around the edges. And look how lovely they are with their bits of green and loads of chocolate chips.

Allow them to cool on the pan for about 10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack.

Here’s a look at that wonderful cakey texture I told you about. They’re soft, chewy, and simply fabulous. I have a feeling even picky eaters will love these. Hubby (who is probably the pickiest eater I know) said they are the best cookies he's ever tasted. 

Are you sad to see summer coming to an end, or just glad to finally get a break from the heat?

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Hubby Likes My New Biscuit!

I have to be honest, Hubby’s never really been that thrilled with my biscuits.  Oh, they’re good enough that he doesn’t complain when I make them, but I hear the occasional, “These aren’t like the ones I grew up on.”  With that in mind, I’ve been trying to keep my eyes open for biscuit recipes that are different than the usual cut in butter, add cream and/or buttermilk.  Recently, I stumbled across exactly what I was looking for.  Ok, so I didn’t immediately realize it was what I was looking for.  In fact, when I saw 7 up in the ingredients list, I was more than a little skeptical. 

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 1 ¾ cups flour
• 1 Tablespoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons butter, cold
• ½ cup sour cream
• ½ cup lemon lime soda
• ¼ cup butter, melted

Preheat your oven to 425°.  Melt ¼ cup butter and set it aside to cool.  In a mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. 

Cut your cold butter into little chunks and throw them in. 

Turn the mixer on lowish speed and mix until you have something that sort of resembles moist sand.

A pastry blender will also work fine for that, but as you know by now, I’m lazy.  Add the sour cream.  Now, ordinarily I use low fat sour cream.  For tacos or whatever, I just prefer the texture.  However, biscuits need fat, so make sure you use regular, full fat, sour cream. 

Mix that in until it’s incorporated and you have basically a crumbly mess.

Pour in the soda.  It’ll foam up quite a bit as you add it, but don’t worry. 

I know you’re questioning my sanity at this point, and perhaps you should.  But stay with me on the biscuits, you’ll be glad you did.  Stir just until it comes together into a soft, sticky dough. 

Pour your melted butter into the bottom of an 8x8 pan. 

Dust your countertop with plenty of flour.  Scoop the dough onto it, and sprinkle it with flour as well. 

Pat it into a disc about ¾ of an inch thick.  The dough is soft enough, you won’t need a rolling pin. 

Flour your cutter and push it straight down through the dough.  Gather the scraps and repeat.  You should get 9 biscuits. 

Place the cut biscuits into the pan. 

Then flip them over so both sides are liberally coated with butter.  Oh shush, they’re biscuits, not health food. 

Into the preheated oven for 15 – 20 minutes.  They should be nice and golden brown when they’re done.

You could eat them just as they are, they really are fabulous.  Crispy on the outside and soft and tender within.  We had them with sausage gravy, but honey or homemade strawberry jam are also good accompaniments. 

What childhood recipe does your hubby wish you could make?