Cookies for Santa's Spicy Side

With Santa coming this weekend, it’s definitely time to start thinking about cookies.  So many people put out super sweet sugar cookies, or rich chocolate chip ones, sometimes he needs a change of pace.  Let’s serve him up something that will wake up his taste buds.  My spicy oatmeal cookies are crisp around the edges, chewy in the middle, and filled with a warm blend of cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg.  A delight for anyone who might find themselves placing presents under the tree a few short hours before Christmas dawn.   

Here’s what you’ll need:

½ cup butter, softened
¾ cups sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup flour
1 ½ teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon cardamom
½ teaspoon nutmeg
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ cups rolled oats

Cookie dough comes together fairly quickly, so go ahead and preheat your oven to 375° before you begin.  As with most cookie recipes, this one starts by creaming together the butter and sugar.  Be sure to scrape down the bowl at least once.

When that’s done, add the egg and vanilla.

Beat those together until they are fully incorporated. 

That’s it for the wet ingredients, so now for the dry.  Sift together all the dry ingredients except the oats.  Yes, I know you don’t have cardamom on hand, and yes I know it’s expensive.  But we’re talking about Santa here.  I mean, with all the cookies he eats on the big night, you want yours to be memorable, don’t you?  Not interested in impressing Santa, or really can’t get your hands on some cardamom?  I suppose you could replace it with ½ teaspoon of ground ginger, but it won’t be the same.    

If they end up looking like this,

Just whisk them together before adding them to the wet ingredients.

Don’t over mix once the flour goes in, but make sure you do get everything incorporated. 

It’ll be quite soft for cookie dough, but that’s ok because a bunch of oats are going in.

Stir those in and the dough is done. 

Line a sheet pan or cookie sheet with parchment if you want easy cleanup and easy cookie removal.  Now, usually in the world of cookies, I prefer small ones.  However, with these, I think the texture is better when they’re a bit larger.  Basically just scoop a big spoonful. 

Mine is probably about 2 Tablespoons, if I had to guess.  This dough is a bit sticky, so I’m not sure how well a cookie scoop would work here, but if you have one the right size, have at it.  Me?  I just scrape the dough off of the spoon with my finger. 

I know it’s not pretty, but it won’t matter after a trip into the oven.  Just make sure you leave plenty of space between them and try to get them relatively the same size. 

Into the oven for 12 – 15 minutes.  They should be just barely starting to brown on top and around the edges. 

They might look a little wet in the cracks, but that’s ok.  This is perfect. 

Allow them to cool on the pan for 2 minutes and then move them to a cooling rack.  (if you have one)

So there you go, Santa.  A cookie that’s not covered in icing and artificial colors or filled with chocolate.  Enjoy! 

Santa sent my gift a little early this year, via UPS.  A KitchenAid food processor!!  I’d call it the Ferrari of kitchen gadgets, but with its size, I think Cadillac might be more fitting.  I’m sure I’ll be showcasing it sometime in the near future.  Now I just have to find a place to put it. 

What do you want Santa to put under your tree this year?

'Tis the season... for football, that is!

I don’t know what your house is like on Sundays, but at my house, during the season, football is on the tv from the time I get up, until the time I go to bed.  Preshow talk, post show talk, fantasy football talk, oh yeah, and the games themselves.  Hubby’s slightly obsessed.  Especially when he’s winning in his fantasy football league.  When I say obsessed, I don’t mean he dances around in the snow in the stands wearing nothing but shorts and paint for the camera, and therefore the rest of the world, to see.  He does, however, scare the bejesus out of me and Otto when there’s a touchdown or a fumble and he jumps out of his chair and yells at the top of his lungs.  Personally, I’d rather cook than watch football, so why not make hubby something to munch on while watching the game.  This snack mix is perfect.  It’s tasty, and it vacuums up easily in case of touchdown or fumble or some other exciting event. 

Here’s what you need:

6 cups Crispix cereal
1 cup shredded oats cereal
1 cup mini crackers
1 cup plain pretzels
1 cup sesame sticks
1 cup honey mustard & onion pretzels
1 cup baked cheese crunchies
1 cup cheese and garlic croutons
4 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon season salt
½ teaspoon garlic powder
½ teaspoon onion powder
¼ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon black pepper

Whew!  That’s a lot of ingredients.  Now, these are just the things I used.  Feel free to substitute whatever you want, really.  Just try to keep the proportions the same.  I don’t like my snack mix to all taste the same, so I like to combine plain things that I’ll be seasoning with things that are flavored.  Keeps the tongue from getting bored while munching.  Ahem… not Seeley, not going there.  You’ll just need one specialized tool for this project. 

No, this is not an advertisement for Whole Foods.  You need a paper bag.  It makes for easy coating and easy cleanup.  So, in goes the crispix.

Next the pretzels.  They’re a little stubborn about cooperating in the measuring cup, so I just mounded them up. 

In they go.

Next come the sesame sticks.

Then the baby crackers.

And last but not least, the shredded oats cereal. 

Yes!  I finally got an action shot!  Seeley and I do a little dance when we get a cool picture like that that actually turns out.  Well, I do anyway.  I can't really speak for how much dancing goes on in Seeley's kitchen.  Ok, so everything’s in the bag now. 

 

Next, melt the butter over low heat.  Pour in the Worcestershire sauce and stir until they’re well combined. 

Sprinkle on the spices.  I didn’t actually measure the black pepper.  I like lots of it, so I just ground it in until my hand got tired.

Stir those in, then drizzle the mixture over the stuff in the bag. 

Fold the top closed and shake shake shake until everything is evenly, well mostly evenly, coated. 

Pour the whole mixture onto a sheet pan, or a big roasting pan would work well too. 

Um… I seem to have forgotten to mention preheating your oven.  You’d think we plan that, we do it so often.  Nope, we’re just that scatter brained.  Somewhere back a few steps, preheat your oven to 250°.  That way, you can now slide your snack mix into a preheated oven.  Bake it for 1 hour, stirring every 20 minutes.  Pull it out and allow it to cool completely.  I like to just sprinkle the rest of the ingredients over the top. 

That way, when you pour it into a big bowl, everything mixes together.

Serve in a big bowl… actually, on second thought, individual servings are much easier to clean up when scattered across the floor.  If it’s a small enough amount, you can even just let the dog take care of it.  Lord knows you’re not going to beat him to it anyway. 

What are your favorite game day snacks?