Maple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

It's a pretty funky morning. Funky good. I had some weird dream about helping a woman give birth. It made me want to write. So here I am, posting this maple oatmeal raisin cookie recipe I created when I was avoiding all refined sugar. I love this recipe! I should make them again soon. It's been awhile.

Maple Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2 C white unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 C whole wheat pastry flour

2 C rolled oats

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 C maple syrup

1 T molasses

1 tsp vanilla extract

4 T unsalted butter (melted or softened)

4 T palm shortening

1 egg (slightly beaten)

1 C raisins 

1/2 C chopped dates

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. In a large bowl, combine syrup, molasses, vanilla, and egg. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir to combine. Add the butter and palm shortening and stir to combine. Now add the raisins and dates and mix them in. 

The batter will be a little wet. That's okay. You can add more raisins and/or dates if you like. Place parchment paper on a baking sheet and measure out the batter into cookie form and place on the sheet.

I use a T measuring spoon and make each cookie 2 T. Place them a 2 or 3 inches apart on the baking sheet, as they will spread out a bit. 

Bake at 350 degrees for @ 15-18 minutes. Allow them to cool a bit before you try and take them off the baking sheet.

Nom nom nom!

You know, I am happy to have work today. But at the same time I totally want to chill at home, making cookies and listening to music. 

I would play this while cooking today Keep You by Wild Belle. And I would have it on repeat.

Brownies

So here I am on a Friday night, drinking a can of bud that I snagged from my landlords and poured into a glass hoping to make it taste better (I think it worked), listening to various covers of the Talking Heads "This Must Be The Place," acknowledging that no one ever has or ever will do it as good as them, and thinking to myself, "I should post that brownie recipe."

I really want to listen to Sharon Jones and The Dap Kings "Making Up and Breaking Up" but it's nowhere to be found on youtube, and I'm being too frugal at the moment to purchase it. It really is the perfect brownie song though. Especially since I'm such an emotional eater. Add to that the Budweiser that's bringing back teenage memories of sneaking out with boys and doing bad things and it's a total breaking-up-making-up-brownie kind of night.

Good thing Josh is at work so he doesn't have to witness the nostalgic overload taking place. Not that he ever complains if he gets something sweet to eat out of the deal. This is the guy that eats brown sugar by the spoon full.

I know what you're thinking now. "Surely, you jest!" Oh no...it's the truth. We were buying one of those Costco bags of brown sugar a month for about a year when I finally inquired about the sugar deficit. I was only teasing when I said, "What are you, eating it by the spoonful?" To which he replied, "Well, yeah. You know I have a sweet tooth." My God! Somebody call a doctor!

I got this recipe from a cook at Food and Thought, the little cafe I use to bake in. It is all about the brown sugar and the butter. If you don't have sucanat you can substitute brown sugar and have even more brown sugar! Just make sure you have room to run around. I ate one of these before giving a massage one time and about freaked out.

The quantity here makes two 9"x13" pans of deliciousness. I half it if I'm just making it for home.

Brownies

2 Cups sucanat sugar

1 1/2 Cups brown sugar

2 Cups unsalted butter (melted)

1 1/2 T vanilla extract

6 eggs

2 Cups all purpose flour

1 1/3 Cup baker's cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 Cups walnuts (optional)

1/2 Cup chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees or 325 if you have a convection oven

Combine the butter and sugar then add the eggs and vanilla and mix together. Now add all the rest of the ingredients, mix well, and pour into two greased and floured 9"x13" pans. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. I have a convection oven and bake at 325 for 35 min. I like mine semi-gooey and that's how they turn out.

Allow them to cool for a bit before diving in. Sometimes I put cream cheese icing on them when I'm feeling especially naughty. But that's usually a hormonal thing as opposed to an emotional thing. Or maybe there's no difference between the two.

Anyway...

Enjoy!

Now for the music. This Talking Heads journey has taken me all over the place tonight. There are some absolutely terrible covers out there! But there are some good ones too. I came across this guy doing a cover of the Talking Heads' "Don't Worry About the Government" on a ukulele of all things. If the song doesn't impress you, the mustache certainly will.

Jordan D. White covers Don't Worry About the Government

This lead me to click on his other cover songs, which lead me to his cover of "Between Friends" by Get Set Go, a band I had never heard before tonight. "Between Friends" is the perfect brownie song! It worked out after all! 

Jordan D. White covers Between Friends

Get Set Go "Between Friends"