Oatmeal Apple Cookies

From December 20, 2008.   This is my take on quaker's vanishing oatmeal cookies.  I mix the dry ingredients with a wire whisk in a steel bowl, and then everything else with a wooden spoon in a huge ceramic bowl that my grandmother gave me that probably has lead in the glaze. It never gets hot, though. I think most people would prefer a mixer, though, since getting the butter and sugar to a smooth consistency is a pain.

I'll also sometimes switch the apples out for other dried fruit and nuts.   just a cup of those combined.  (cherry & almond would be good in this).
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1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
2 cups Oats (quick, uncooked)
1 cups Oats (whole rolled, uncooked)
1 cup chopped sour apple


preparation
1. Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat margarine and sugars until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and apples; mix well.
2. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Peach-Apple Cobbler

From July 25, 2008.   I tend to keep some dry apples on hand.   Dehydrating them is an easy way to preserve them, and they will keep next to forever in the freezer.    I occasionally break them out for a sweet but healthy snack, but about as often, they get used for one thing or another in cooking.   They go well in oatmeal or other porridges, cold cereal, or as a sort of filler, as in this recipe.   I had made one cobbler a couple of weeks previous to this, and it turned out way too watery.   The dry apples soaked up the water, and also added some nice tart flavor.

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8x8 stainless pan
a few handfuls of dry apples
10 peaches
1 stick butter
1t vanilla
1/2t cinnamon powder
1/2t ginger powder
1/2t salt
3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg

preheat oven to 375F.
lightly grease pan with butter.
put butter in small saucepan on low heat and let it melt. when it's mostly melted, add the vanilla.
mix cinnamon, ginger, salt, sugar, and flour together well and then mix in the egg, so it creates a slightly crumbly consistency
layer the dry apples on the bottom of the pan. it doesn't have to be solid apples everywhere, since i'm just using them to soak up some of the liquid. cut up the peaches and put them on top of the apples, then add the crust mixture fairly evenly on top of the fruit. pour the vanilla-butter on top, and put it in the oven for 50 minutes.

Blondie

I made this on August 29, 2006.    I wasn't in the mood for chocolate, but I wanted something sweet, so i modified the Brownie recipe...
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1C flour
1 stick + 2T butter
1/2 C light brown sugar
1/2 C dark brown sugar
1t baking soda
1t baking powder
1/4t cinnamon
2 eggs

mix dry ingredients. melt butter. add butter and eggs to dry stuff and mix until smooth, then pour into a 8x8 baking pan, and toss it in a 350F oven for 25-30 minutes.

Another Apple Cobbler

This one is from August 7, 2006.   This particular combination of items in the crust is a direct consequence of ingredient shortages.  

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2-3T lemon juice
a bunch of apples
1 stick butter
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2t cinnamon

first, i got the oven preheating on 350. then, i squirted some lemon juice into the pie dish, and as i peeled and cut the apples, i put them into the dish. the lemon juice helps to keep them from oxidizing, and it sours things up somewhat. once the dish was pretty much level-full, i stopped. i think there are 2 apples left out of that 3lb bag. next, i got out a stick of butter and got it started melting. then i realized that i didn't have sugar, so with some quick improvisation, i mixed up the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl. those are approximate amounts, both due to the way i cook (measuring utensils make handy scoops (i.e. What do you mean, "level it off"?), and due to me finishing off both the barrel of oats (slightly more than advertised) and the bag of sugar (slightly less than advertised). i have no idea if it'll actually be a good mixture or not, but we'll find out tomorrow. anyway, drizzle the melted butter on top, and i set it to cook for 55 minutes. basically, until i saw that it was bubbling in the middle.

An Apple Cobbler

 I love a good cobbler.   The crunchy, sweet topping contrasting with the soft, sour fruit underneath...   Especially when it's warm and covered in some ice cream.   I made this one for a party, and it wound up disappearing in about 15 minutes.   I can't remember if I got a piece of it or not.
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1/2 cup flour
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
~1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
1 stick and 3 tablespoons of margarine (or butter)
a dash of nutmeg
a few dashes of cinnamon
~1 tablespoon lime juice
enough peeled and sliced apples to fill a 16x9 baking dish

peeled and cut the apples and stirred them around in the lime juice, so they wouldn't turn brown (this turned out to be unnecessary, but i'm sure it had some effect on the flavor). mixed up the dry ingredients while i melted the butter, and dumped them on top. poured the melted butter on top of it all, and tossed it in the oven at 350 for an hour.

the apples were winesap apples from my parents' orchard.... nice and sour.

Macerated

What's better in late spring and early summer than fresh picked berries, covered in sugar and acid, and left alone for their cell walls to disassemble?   Or any time, for that matter.  

This was a batch from May 28, 2004, that I brought in to work to dump on some brownies.    A little whipped cream will bring it all together.
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1 lb. strawberries (you can do this with any berries, though)
1/4 cup sugar
1/2t lime juice
2T red wine
3T water

Combine everything in a bowl, cover and refrigerate.  A couple of hours would be good, but overnight is even better.  

Brownies

There are a couple of recipes that are pretty much burned into my memory.   They're good, they're simple, and I've made them for years, and eaten them for even more years.

These are great hot out of the oven, with ice cream melting on top of them.   They're also quite tasty at room temperature for breakfast.   They're not nearly as dense as some brownies, and the outer edges get a little bit cake-like.  

As well as the English walnuts, I have added one or more of the following at various times:

• 1/4t ground cinnamon
• 1/4t cayenne powder
• 1/4t ground nutmeg
• 1/4 C Black Walnuts + 1/4 C dried sour cherries (instead of the black walnuts)

3/4 C flour
1/2 t baking powder
1 stick + 2 T butter
3 T cocoa
1 C sugar
1/2 t salt (optional)
2 eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 C nuts (optional... English walnuts are great)

Melt butter in a saucepan on low and preheat the oven to 350F.   Meanwhile, mix all the dry ingredients except the walnuts thoroughly.   Once the butter is melted, stir in the wet ingredients until smooth, and then add the walnuts. Pour into 8x8 greased pan. Bake at 350 F for 25-30 minutes.  Shorter cook times will yield a gooier center.