Baking Challenge Week 24 - Alcohol - Rum Raisin Oatmeal Cookies

Okay, so I'm very late posting this.  I made the cookies last Saturday and meant to post them Sunday, then forgot.  And then there was the massive heat wave that sapped my will to do anything, no matter how minor.

They look unimpressive, I'll admit.  And I'm not going to share this recipe, because I'm not happy with it. Why?

A few years back we tried the Good Eats Oatiest Oatmeal Cookies Ever, and sadly, were mostly unimpressed.  I love GE, and 95% or more of my recipe attempts have turned out anywhere from fine to fantastic.  But it turns out that replacing your standard gluten-forming wheat flour with home-ground oat flour gives you the thinnest, crispiest, crumbliest rendition of an oatmeal cookie that ever there was.  We were disappointed.

The one thing the recipe got right--soak your raisins in rum!!!

Remembering that, I tried a different oatmeal cookie recipe and just tweaked it with the soaking.  However, where in the first recipe there wasn't enough flour for the oats (having none at all), this one has way too much.  Can you even see the oats in those cookies?  Only barely.

My ideal oatmeal cookie is moist, chewy, and packed full of oats to just short of the point where there wouldn't be enough gluten to bind the cookie together and make it stable.  Neither recipe gave me this.

But if you have a favorite recipe?  Just use that but soak your raisins in rum for half an hour or so first!

Spiced Cranberry-Apple Oatmeal

I have a confession--I used to hate oatmeal.  I wanted to like it.  I tried  to like it.  But while the taste was fine, the texture was incredibly off-putting.

Then I discovered the existence of steel-cut oats.  As it turned out, I only hated instant oatmeal.  Steel-cut, I adore.

They do take a lot longer to cook, but it's an easy weekend breakfast, and if you make a double batch (which I often do) you can divide it into individual servings and fridge them all week, just popping them in the microwave to reheat.  (If you do that, I'd recommend leaving off the garnishes until after reheating.)

Also, I deliberately developed this as a lightly-spiced and lightly-sweetened dish.  If you like your oats bolder, feel free to add more of the spices and/or sugar.

Spiced Cranberry-Apple Oatmeal
(4 servings)

• 1 cup steel-cut oats
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger
• dash ground cloves
• 3 cups water
• 1 cup milk
• 1 apple, peeled and diced
• dried cranberries, slivered almonds, and honey, to serve

In a saucepan, mix together the oats, sugar, and spices.  Add the water and milk and bring just to a boil.  Reduce the heat to low to maintain a simmer, and add the diced apple.  Cook, stirring frequently to avoid burning, 30-35 minutes or until the desired consistency is reached.  Divide among bowls and garnish with the cranberries and almonds, and drizzle lightly with honey.