Kid's Choice Cookies (or Mama's Choice!!)

In my case, it was Mama's choice. I baked them, so I got to choose what went into them. Plus, I did it when Camden wasn't at home (or maybe he was just in the other room, either way) - and I knew if I asked him if he wanted walnuts, he would say NO. This way, they got in there AND he ate them. :) And liked it.

I got the recipe for these oatmeal cookies (Kid's Choice Chip & Fruit Oatmeal Cookies is the long name) from the King Arthur blog I subscribe to. Love that blog. Love that website. Love it all. (This is a great food blog to subscribe to, if you're interested. They don't do just sweets but also lots of breads, soups, and all sorts of things! They have great photos, tips, funny stories... It's a great blog to follow. And they only post every couple days, so it's not overwhelming.)

The deal is, you take the recipe and then you add a total of three cups of whatever add-ins you want (chips, chunks, dried fruit, nuts, etc, etc.). Somewhere (maybe the blog, maybe the actual recipe from the website) it was suggested to use dark chocolate chunks (I had chips), dried cranberries, and walnuts. Well, that sounded perfect to me, so that's exactly what I did.

And I made these right after Lent began (yes, it was a while ago - but I still just had to share the recipe b/c they are so good! ummm...I mean, surely they're good. I wouldn't really know since I gave up cookies for Lent and all, right?). Since I couldn't have these, I wondered to myself, how will I know they taste right? Well, obviously Camden would be the judge this time, but I did test a bit of the cookie dough before cooking anything. That's ok, right?

What isn't ok, I am pretty sure, is continuing to eat the cookie dough... More about that in a moment.

So, I made a couple batches of the cookies. Actually, just a couple cookies in each batch. Camden was having a friend over, so I baked four cookies using King Arthur's tablespoon scoop (actually is much larger than a T) and then four using the teaspoon scoop. They liked both, by the way.

The rest? I scooped it out with the teaspoon scoop, put them on a baking sheet, and popped those babies in the freezer. You didn't think I was going to bake a whole batch of cookies when only one of us in the house could eat them, did you?? (Ryan also gave up cookies.) And actually, I made half of the batch with little mini chocolate chips. Not dark. Ryan made the comment that while he likes all the other cookies I make, sometimes he just wants plain ol' chocolate chip, implying that I need to make some plain ol' chocolate chip (and he reminded me that meant NOT dark choc chips, which is what I usually use, because, hey, that's what I like).

So, all of that was frozen. And somehow a few of those frozen balls of cookie dough made their way right into our mouths... I'm not sure HOW that happened! Actually, I have never been so tempted to eat cookie dough! After a couple, I told Ryan that I was deciding that the dough counted as "cookies" and we were to eat no more! My guilt was getting to me. And we now have a bag full of cookies waiting to be baked once Lent is over and we can once again indulge. ;)

Here is the link to the blog post about the cookies. They do a great job of showing pictures of the process and writing up their tips and whatnot (such as using the jumbo muffin scoop, which is about a quarter cup, for bake sales - or just for eating on a Saturday night, right?). The actual recipe is here, along with how to bake the frozen ones. On the blog, I noticed they say you can freeze the cookie dough balls up to two months; on the recipe they say one. I say...are they really going to last that long???

UPDATE 3-2-09

I made these again to have some for a playdate. I discovered that I made the first set with the jumbo scoop instead of the tablespoon scoop. How did that happen?? Well, my husband has this tendency to "clean up" my stuff, and he took the scoop, which was still in its box, and some other baking things I had just bought and put them somewhere else. I finally realized this and got everything back out - and put them where they actually belonged.

The tablespoon scoop made perfect sized cookies. (And yes, I tasted the dough again. And it is one of the best cookie doughs I have ever had. No kidding.) Camden tested a couple cookies after they came out of the oven. His reaction? His eyes got as big as they could, he made lots of mmmmmmmmm noises, and said "these are REALLY good!!!" So - I guess you could say they pass the test. They still had the nuts in them, and he said they were so good even with them. Even better than last time. (How? I don't know. The recipe is exactly the same...) According to him, they were just how I wanted - a tiny bit crunchy on the edge and a little chewy in the middle. Perfect! Here's a pic of the tablespoon sized cookies. Every one came out perfectly sized. I love those little scoops!

I've had a terrible time resisting these cookies!! I'm sending the rest with Ryan to work... They are calling my name, and I can't just say "no" anymore! Come Easter...I won't have to!