{"id":3,"date":"2008-09-10T22:39:13","date_gmt":"2008-09-11T05:39:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/?p=3"},"modified":"2008-11-11T15:29:09","modified_gmt":"2008-11-11T22:29:09","slug":"cookies-from-the-newest-blogger-on-the-web","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/cookies-from-the-newest-blogger-on-the-web\/","title":{"rendered":"Cookies from the Web’s newest blogger"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Aleta Watson and I live to cook and eat. Northern California readers may recognize me as the food writer and restaurant critic<\/a> from the San Jose Mercury News<\/a>, but I recently left the rapidly shrinking world of newsprint for the seemingly limitless possibilities of the Internet.<\/p>\n

Here, I plan to explore the culinary universe, following my palate wherever it takes me. I hope you’ll come along for the ride.<\/p>\n

My primary interest is cooking. While I’m fascinated by exotic ingredients, I feel a responsibility for the planet. That means I’ll be cooking mostly with organic, seasonal produce, often from farmers markets. It’s no sacrifice since that’s almost invariably where the best fruits and vegetables are to be found. I may not be ready yet to limit myself solely to food produced within a 100 mile radius from my home, but I think it makes sense to buy locally whenever possible.<\/p>\n

My taste and curiosity are wide ranging. In the past, I’ve written about everything from figs to fava beans, from grits to souffles. Still, nothing makes me happier than a homemade cookie. Bakery cookies just can’t compete and store-bought are rarely worth the calories. So I’m kicking this blog off with a terrific oatmeal cookie I’ve been making for family and friends for years.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The basic recipe comes from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Rose’s Christmas Cookies<\/a>\"\" (William Morrow and Company, 1990). I was first drawn to Mrs. King’s Irresistibles by Rose’s story of enjoying them at the Babbling Brook Inn<\/a> in Santa Cruz two days before the Loma Prieta earthquake in 1989. I live less than 10 miles away in the San Lorenzo Valley and that quake is seared in my memory.<\/p>\n

With the first bite, I knew I’d found a winner. The texture was gloriously chewy and the flavor was homey yet complex, punctuated by dark chocolate and sweet raisins. I’ve made these cookies so many times that the binding has broken and pages tumble out of the cookbook every time I open it.<\/p>\n

These are the ultimate oatmeal cookies, pumped up with granola and walnuts for extra texture. I’ve revised the recipe only slightly, substituting dried tart cherries from Trader Joe’s for the original raisins to bring a sharper edge to the flavors and lowering the oven temperature to 350 degrees for more consistent results in my stove. They’re my son’s favorites.<\/p>\n


\n<\/a><\/p>\n

\nMrs. King’s Irresistibles
\n<\/strong>Makes about 3 dozen 3-inch cookies.<\/em><\/p>\n

1\u00bd cups walnut halves
\n1\u00bd cups dried tart cherries
\n1\u00bd cups granola
\n1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
\n1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
\n1\u00bd cups unbleached all-purpose flour
\n1 teaspoon baking soda
\n1 teaspoon baking powder
\n\u00bd teaspoon salt
\n1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
\n\u00be cup granulated sugar
\n1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks), softened
\n2 large eggs
\n1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract<\/p>\n

Place two oven racks in the upper and lower third of oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place walnuts on a cooking sheet and bake, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes, until lightly browned. Cool completely.<\/p>\n

In a large bowl, toss together the cherries, granola, rolled oats, and chocolate chips. In a small bowl, place flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt and whisk to combine. Chop walnuts coarsely and fold into the flour mixture. Set both bowls aside.<\/p>\n

In the work bowl of an electric mixer, beat the brown and granulated sugars together until blended. Add butter and beat until smooth and creamy. Scrape down sides of bowl. Beat in eggs and vanilla, scraping down sides of bowl again. At low speed, add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Scrape batter into the bowl containing the chocolate chip mixture and stir together until blended well.<\/p>\n

Using your hands or a scoop, shape dough into 1\u00be-inch diameter balls (2 level tablespoons) and place them 2 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes \u2013 rotating the cookie sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking period \u2013 until tops are beginning to turn a light brown. It’s better to underbake than overbake these cookies.<\/p>\n

Cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets until firm enough to transfer to a wire rack with a small, angled metal spatula.<\/p>\n

These cookies keep several weeks at room temperature when stored in an airtight container. They’ve never lasted that long at my house, though. They also freeze well.<\/p>\n

Adapted from “Rose’s Christmas Cookies,” by Rose Levy Beranbaum.<\/em>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Allow me to introduce myself: My name is Aleta Watson and I live to cook and eat. Northern California readers may recognize me as the food writer and restaurant critic from the San Jose Mercury News, but I recently left the rapidly shrinking world of newsprint for the seemingly limitless possibilities of the Internet. Here, … Continue reading Cookies from the Web’s newest blogger<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3"}],"version-history":[{"count":42,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3\/revisions\/11"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.skilletchronicles.com\/content\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}