I’m rather proud of this next set of recipes: I created them! The onset of Autumn has me obsessed with apple cider, pumpkins and cheesy old scary movies, and this week, I’ve been focusing specifically on the apple cider. (So excited! Grandpa’s brother has a cider press and we’re going to make cider next weekend! I’m like a kid in a candy-apple store.) Taking to the internet, I was disappointed with the recipe results that included both “apple cider” and “oatmeal,” so I decided to venture out and make one up myself. After five batches, I came up with two great recipes that my family is pretty happy with. (Even my dog sits begging at my feet as I eat one now.) One is a chewy cookie that is great on its own; the other is a cakier cookie that makes an excellent whoopee-pie-type treat when some cream cheese enters the picture. Fortunately, the two recipes are nearly identical – they share the exact same ingredients, but for chewy cookies, brown the butter; for the cakey cookie, cream it. (Because of this, the chewy cookie can be made with just a mixing bowl and a spoon – no mixer needed.) Thanks to America’s Test Kitchen for their butter-browning idea.A Few Notes:
Whole Grains: I used all whole-wheat flour in these recipes, and added ground oatmeal to sneak in even more dietary fiber. Often whole-wheat flours cannot be used in whole because the gluten content is higher and therefore the dough of whatever you’re making could be tougher and stickier; many whole-wheat bread recipes call for mostly refined white flour and just a little whole-wheat. I tried using all whole-wheat in these recipes and they were great.
Butter: America’s Test Kitchen gave me the idea to try browning the butter, because of the rich caramel flavor about which they raved. (I also knew I would be adding apple cider – a lot of liquid – to an otherwise liquid-free cookie, so cooking out some of the water from the butter would help me find that thicker dough texture in the end.) I used regular butter in both of these recipes, but I also successfully used light butter in the soft sandwich cookies, and I can recommend vegetable shortening as an alternative for the soft cookies as well, just from my previous experience with other cookie recipes. I can’t recommend light butter (and definitely not shortening) for browning; it simply didn’t brown well, and with a higher water content, the eventual amount at the end (after the water has cooked out) would be much less anyway. Here’s some more info on light butter from Practically Edible. Also, the only place I’ve ever found light butter is at my local Kroger grocery, and only in their store brand; the name brands don’t offer light butter, as far as I can find.Chewy Apple Cider Oatmeal Cookies
2 Cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 Cup (2 sticks) of butter
¾ Cup granulated sugar
¾ Cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
¼ Cup reduced apple cider
1 Cup finely-chopped or grated apple, about 1 apple
1 Cup traditional oats, ground
1. Brown the butter and reduce the cider; preheat oven to 375ºF. In a small saucepan, measure a half cup of apple cider. (TIP: If you wish to make both recipes, double the cider and reduce for both recipes simultaneously.) Simmer over medium heat until halved, about 15-25 minutes. TIP: I used a glass 2-Cup measure to occasionally check the mass of my cider. Just be careful pouring the hot liquid back and forth between the cup and the pan. The reduction is variable, but the longer you reduce, the stronger the apple flavor.
In a shallow sauce pan or skillet, melt the 2 sticks of butter, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon until browned. TIP: I make mistakes so you don’t have to. Don’t use a plastic spatula, even if it promises to withhold high heat – my grandma’s didn’t, and now I owe her a new spatula. TIP: The butter became foamy, and then lost the foam, and then became foamy again before the solids in the bottom began to brown. TIP: Don’t use a dark skillet; you want to see the browning occurring. (See photo above right for browned butter in a glass cup; you can see the browned solids sink.) TIP: This will take more than 5 minutes, but once it starts to brown, it does so very quickly. TIP: The cider will take much longer to reduce than the butter takes to brown, but both need to cool a little before you can add them to other ingredients. Pour your finished butter into a metal mixing bowl, and it can cool while you watch the cider. Then pour the cider into the glass measuring cup one last time and let it cool some.
2. Process the oats and apple. Use a food processor to grind the oats, and then use it to chop the apple. Both can be put in a bowl together; set aside. TIP: I grind the oats to keep the cookie from having huge pieces in it; it appears to be more of a chewy cookie than an oatmeal cookie, but there's still nutritious oatmeal in there. TIP: If you don’t have a food processor, small ones are now available at many retailers for around $10. I’m amazed at how often I find myself pulling it out of the cabinet now that I have one.3. Combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Set aside.
4. To butter, add sugars, then vanilla and eggs, then cider. Stir the sugars in until evenly mixed with no lumps. Add vanilla and eggs and stir until well-combined. Stir in ¼ Cup reduced cider.
5. Stir in flour mixture, apple and oats. First add flour mixture until well-combined, then stir in apple and oats.6. Scoop and chill. Using a 1” dough scoop or two spoons, place dough balls on a plate covered in waxed paper and place in the freezer for five minutes to express-chill.
7. Bake. Remove from freezer. Optional: Roll dough balls in sugar; I like the chewier exterior of sugar but my grandpa liked the lighter sugarless cookies. (See the photo bottom left; the cookie on the left has sugar, the right, doesn't. I think the sugar looks better, as it crackles the exterior a
little.) TIP: Use a fork to move dough from bowl of sugar to sheet so you don’t carry extra sugar to the sheet. Place 12 on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and bake 1 sheet at a time in center of oven for 6-7 minutes. Cool for 1-3 minutes on sheet and then remove to a cooling rack. TIP: After placing first sheet in oven, keep remaining dough balls in the refrigerator, not the freezer; you just want them cool, not frozen.
There were a few loiterers in the kitchen, waiting for samples. Louise's tail is blurry in the photo from wagging so much.
 |  |
Soft Apple Cider Oatmeal Sandwiches
2 Cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 Cup (2 sticks) of butter, softened
¾ Cup granulated sugar
¾ Cup brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
¼ Cup reduced apple cider
1 Cup finely-chopped or grated apple, about 1 apple
1 Cup traditional oats, ground
Filling:
8 ounces cream cheese or Neufchatel cheese
¼ Cup powdered sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1. Reduce the cider and preheat oven to 375ºF. In a small saucepan, measure a half cup of apple cider. (TIP: If you wish to make both recipes, double the cider and reduce for both recipes simultaneously.) Simmer over medium heat until halved, about 15-25 minutes. TIP: I used a glass 2-Cup measure to occasionally check the mass of my cider. Just be careful pouring the hot liquid back and forth between the cup and the pan. The reduction is variable, but the longer you reduce, the stronger the apple flavor. TIP: The cider will need to cool a little before you can add it to other ingredients. Pour the cider into the glass measuring cup one last time and let it cool some.
2. Process the oats and apple. Use a food processor to grind the oats, and then use it to chop the apple. Both can be put in a bowl together; set aside.
3. Combine the dry ingredients: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves. Set aside.
4. Cream butter and sugars, then add vanilla and eggs, then cider. Beat the butter and sugars until creamy and almost fluffy. Beat in vanilla and eggs. Stir in ¼ Cup reduced cider.
5. Stir in flour mixture, apple and oats. First add flour mixture until well-combined, then stir in apple and oats.
6. Scoop and chill. Using a 1” dough scoop or two spoons, place dough balls on a plate covered in waxed paper and place in the freezer for five minutes to express-chill.
7. Bake. Remove from freezer. Place 12 on a parchment-paper-lined baking sheet and bake 1 sheet at a time in center of oven for 7-8 minutes. Cool for 1-3 minutes on sheet and then remove to a cooling rack. TIP: After placing first sheet in oven, keep remaining dough balls in the refrigerator, not the freezer; you just want them cool, not frozen.
8. Fill cookies. To make filling, mix cream cheese, powdered sugar, cinnamon and vanilla until smooth. Using a pastry bag or plastic zipper bag with the tip cut off, pipe the filling onto bottom of cooled cookies, and sandwich with another cookie.
 |  |  |
I really hope you enjoy these recipes; I am very pleased with them and will certainly make them again soon. They only get better with a cup of coffee, which Grandma brewed just in time for me to take my hair down.
No comments:
Post a Comment