Kids' Choice Chip and Fruit Oatmeal Cookies AND French Fridays

The folks at the King Arthur Flour blog have come up with another winner in the form of their Kids' Choice Chip and Fruit Oatmeal Cookies.  Of course they had me when they professed these cookies were for every time challenged parent who didn't want their reign as the home baked goods king/queen to vanish when their teenage son comes home and "reminds" them of the hockey potluck that night and "don't you remember you promised to bake 5 dozen cookies?"

I was just that parent yesterday except it was me saying to myself, "Oh yeah, you promised to have play group over here today and wouldn't it be nice to offer them something warm from the oven?" that got me to try this recipe.  King Arthur Flour promised 10-15 minutes of hands on time before popping the cookies in the oven and I needed them to be that quick.  Play group was expected at 9:30am, I started mixing ingredients at 9:17, and at 9:31am, when the doorbell rang, I was scooping the last tablespoons of dough onto the pan to pop in the oven.  Talk about quick and I was even putting the ingredients back in the pantry as I went!

The cookies were VERY yummy!  I usually love to try new recipes but this will be one that I pull out again and again as it was just too good and too quick not to.  I will print out the recipe as King Arthur Flour blog wrote it, and then I'll also (in parenthesis) write how I adapted it.  It was Kids (Mom's) choice after all!

Kids' Choice Chip and Fruit Oatmeal Cookies slightly adapted from King Arthur Flour blog

Hands on time:  10-15 minutes

Baking time:  12-14 minutes per batch

Total time:  22-29 minutes

Yield:  4 1/2 dozen

1/2 cup butter, right from the fridge, or at room temperature

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 cup brown sugar, light or dark

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 tsp. salt

1 Tbls. cider or white vinegar

1 large egg

1 tsp. baking soda

1 3/4 cup all purpose flour

1 cup old fashioned oats

3 cups chips, chunks, dried fruit and/or nuts of your choice.  (I used 2/3 cup chopped dates, 1 1/3 cup chopped pecans, 1 cup dried cherries)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease or line with parchment two baking sheets.  (I did not grease or line my non-stick cookie sheets and the cookies didn't stick.)

1.  In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter, shortening, sugars, vanilla, salt and vinegar.

2.  Beat in the egg, then the baking soda, flour and oats.  Stir in the chips, fruit, nuts, or whatever combination you chose.

3.  Drop the dough, by tablespoonfuls, onto the prepared baking sheets.

4.  Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes, until they are golden brown.  Remove the cookies from the oven, and cool on a rack or right on the pan.  Lighter colored cookies will be chewier; darker colored, crunchier.

Your reputation as the home baked goods king/queen is saved!

French Fridays

*On a side note, a few of you expressed interest in reading French Women Don't Get Fat after my previous post.  I am very exited to invite you to a "book club" of French Women Don't Get Fat, Fridays in January.  I'll call it French Fridays.  We'll take those 5 weeks to read through the book which will be very slow but will allow for incorporation of new ideas and shedding of old ones.  For me, the timing will be perfect.  I have maintained my 34lb. weight loss for six months now.  However, I am ready, and will be MORE than ready after the holidays, to re-read this book that helped me lose the weight and to start losing more.  The format will be a discussion format either through the comments, or if you are interested, through links to your own blog if you have a lot to say.  If you don't own the book already, you can order it through my Amazon store here, or put it on your Christmas wish list and hope that Santa brings it for you.  If you are planning on joining in, just drop me a comment so I know how many to brew some virtual tea for!  Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to keep a food journal for the month of December.  There will be no one checking it but you so be honest with yourself.  So you had two (or six) of the above cookies, and then also had ice cream after dinner, this journal is for informational purposes for yourself so you can gauge your weaknesses (petite demons) so be honest with yourself.  Good luck with your food journal and I'll see you here Jan. 2 for our first discussion!  Bonne chance!