Now, the first thing you should know about these cookies, is that they are not for the faint of heart. These incredible cookies, compliments of the ifyougiveablondeakitchen.com site, are for true lovers of gingerbread and ginger cookies. They are simply the best soft ginger cookies I have ever tasted. And because they are crinkle cookies, they are beautiful as well as delicious. And doesn’t everyone appreciate a beautiful cookie? Of course, we do!

But I must emphasize that these are strongly flavored cookies. The word wimpy could never be applied to them. They are gingery with a capital G. And the texture too is perfect. But because of their pronounced ginger flavor, I doubt they would be the preference of say, a 5-year-old. So, don’t share them with a 5-year-old! Simple solution. Keep them for yourself! (That’s OK to do, you know!) Give the child an animal cracker. (That is, if they even make them any longer.) If not, find some other innocuous cookie to pawn off on the kid. And no, I never did that with my own children, but I think it’s OK if you do! I always made cookies that everyone in the family would enjoy. But I’ve since learned that doing something just for myself is OK. The earth will not stop spinning, summer will still follow spring, and no one really gives a rip anyway! But, whatever you do, make a batch of these cookies. They are really, really tasty.

As always, have fun baking. Have fun cooking. And if you’re like me, try to enjoy preparing salads rather than thinking of them as endurance contests. Because veggie salads are our friend. And don’t forget to make your own salad dressings. First of all, fresh dressings are delicious. And if you build your own dressing you know exactly what you are eating rather than depending on the kindness of strangers not to include unpronounceable ingredients like Phosphoric Guanylate, Disodium Inosinate, Sorbic Acid, and Calcium Disodium Edta! (Whatever they are!) Manufacturers simply have no choice but to add various stabilizers, preservatives, and even synthetic flavorings. It’s what they do! But that doesn’t mean you have to buy their products. You can fight the system and build you own dressings. I call it – using common sense!

Peace and love to all.

3 c. unbleached all-purpose flour, fluffed

¾ c. brown sugar, packed

¾ tsp. baking soda

1 T. ground cinnamon

1 T. ground ginger

½ tsp. ground cloves

½ tsp. kosher salt

12 T. (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, cut into ½-inch cubes

¾ c. molasses (not blackstrap)

2 T. milk

granulated sugar

powdered sugar

In the bowl of your stand mixer, stir the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt together until combined. Add the butter pieces and beat until the mixture is sandy and resembles fine meal.

Reduce the speed to low and, with the mixer running, gradually add the molasses and milk. Mix until the dough is evenly moistened and thoroughly combined. Don’t over mix.

Using an ice cream scoop (I use my #40 – 1½ tablespoons ice cream scoop), drop balls of dough right next to each other on a waxed paper lined baking sheet. (Make sure the baking sheet you use will fit in your refrigerator.) After you have scooped all the dough, roll each scoop in your hands to form smooth compact balls. (This takes no time at all and is a necessary step.) Place the pan uncovered in your refrigerator for at least 2 hours. 

Meanwhile put a bit of granulated sugar in one shallow mixing bowl, and some powdered sugar in another shallow bowl. (I don’t give specific amounts here because you should start with a small amount of each and add more as required.)

After the two-hour cooling off period, roll each ball in granulated sugar then in powdered sugar. Place 1-inch apart on a parchment paper lined baking sheet.  

Bake in a pre-heated 350-degree oven for 12-14 minutes, or until the top feels set, but you would swear on a bag of Cheetos that the middle was not done! Truly, the cookies will feel a bit squishy in the middle. That’s what you want. Do not over bake.

Remove from the oven and cool on the sheets 2 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

  

Based on a recipe from the cafedelites.com site, I offer you this recipe for an extremely moist and fudgy, nutty, and over the top, dark chocolate brownie. But please be warned. If you are not a fan of dark chocolate, this is probably not the recipe for you. Because there is no escaping the fact that these brownies are ultra-chocolaty and super rich. (To my way of thinking, exactly how a brownie should taste. But that’s just me!) And the best part, the dark rich chocolate comes from cocoa. So, no having to melt chocolate! And no having to get out your mixer either. Just a couple of bowls and a short bit of time and you have a pan of brownies fit for a king or queen.

So, really, there’s nothing left to say, except, you simply must prepare a batch of these brownies for yourself. And if you happen to be feeling magnanimous, you might offer a bite to your significant other or a dear friend. But don’t bother offering any to your kids. Children under 12 wouldn’t appreciate them. And a teenager would simply inhale them, not having the sophistication to nibble on them slowly in order to savor every tiny morsel of chocolate goodness. These brownies were simply designed to be eaten by brownie connoisseurs. And not to be wasted on the uninitiated!

So, as always, have fun playing with your food. And sometimes, just for the pure delight factor, have fun baking something that is strictly for yourself!

Peace and love to all.     

½ c.(1 stick) unsalted butter

1 T. vegetable oil

½ c. + 2 T. granulated sugar

½ c. brown sugar, packed

2 lg. eggs

2 tsp. pure vanilla extract

½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour, fluffed

½ c. good unsweetened cocoa powder (I use Valrhono, Scharffen Berger, or Hershey’s Cocoa Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder)

½ tsp. espresso powder (I use Medaglia D’Oro)

¼ tsp. kosher salt

½ c. mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

¾ c. chopped walnuts

coarse sea salt

Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan (glass preferably) with cooking spray. Set aside.

In a large glass mixing bowl, melt the butter and keep heating it until it is hot. Whisk in the oil, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until well combined. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat for a couple of minutes until the mixture is lighter in color.

In another mixing bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, and kosher salt together. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined. (Do not over mix.) Then gently fold in the chocolate chips and walnuts.   

Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top out evenly. Lightly sprinkle with coarse sea salt. (Not too much. Just enough to give each bite a tiny hint of salt.)    

Bake on the top rack of your pre-heated 325-degree oven (350-degrees if using a metal pan) for 23-27 minutes, or until the center of the brownies no longer jiggles and the top is just set to the touch. (Forget using a toothpick. It will come out with batter still attached. And you might be tempted to leave the pan in the oven too long! Don’t forget, the brownies will keep baking in the hot pan as they cool). If the top part of your oven tends to capture the heat, bake the brownies on the middle rack.

Remove from oven and allow to completely cool before cutting into squares. Store in an airtight container.

So, this started out to be my recipe for knockoff Levain Bakery dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookies. But alas, there were no peanut butter chips in my freezer. I had used every single peanut butter chip I owned at Christmas time, and obviously failed to add them to my grocery list. Well, slap my hand for that senior moment! (And yes, peanut butter chips are now on my current shopping list. At least I remembered to do that. And yes, mental acuity comes and goes when you get to be my age!) So, I decided to make the same cookie batter but use mint chips in place of peanut butter chips. After all, how bad could that be? And as it turned out, I may have to write Levain Bakery offering to share my recipe with them. Because frankly, I think they’re making a grave mistake by not offering this cookie in their remarkable line up of cookies. Because these cookies are amazing. And yes, I am tooting my own horn. But when fair is fair, then I go for it!

Now for those of you who have never experienced a real Levain Bakery cookie (and that would probably include most of you since the bakery is in New York City) or even a knockoff Levain Bakery cookie, you are in for a treat. First of all, these are big cookies. They have a crisp outer layer with an extremely chewy, doughy center that melts in your mouth. (Think not quite set cookie dough that doesn’t fall apart!) Levain Bakery cookies are simply the best cookies imaginable. And very different from any cookies I had ever made or eaten before. And for the life of me I can’t remember where I heard or read about this bakery. But I will forever be grateful for whatever it was that turned me on to these cookies. And after you try one, I know you will be too! So, for your gastronomic edification, I offer you two other recipes for knockoff Levain Bakery cookies. Knockoff Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies and Almost Knockoff Levain Bakery Oatmeal Raisin Cookies. Both are super yum!

So, as always, keep having fun in your kitchen. Keep thinking positive thoughts. And keep baking cookies. Because I don’t know anyone who doesn’t feel better with a cookie in their hand. Peace and love to all.  

And yes, look for my recipe for Knockoff Levain Bakery Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Chip Cookies in the near future.

1 c. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 c. brown sugar

½ c. granulated sugar

2 lg. eggs 

1 tsp. vanilla extract

½ c. good dark cocoa powder

1 c. cake flour, fluffed 

1½ c. unbleached all-purpose flour, fluffed

1 tsp. cornstarch

¾ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. coarse sea salt (I use coarse salt because it gives each bite of cookie just a lovely little burst of salt)

1½ c. mint chips

Place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on medium low speed until smooth and completely blended, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat just until the eggs and vanilla are incorporated with the butter/sugar mixture.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the cocoa powder, cake flour, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix only until combined. Add the mint chips, and again, mix only until combined. Chill the dough for 10 minutes.

Divide the dough into 16 equal parts. Or as equally portioned as possible. (I cheat. I gently round the dough in my #16 (1/4 cup) ice cream scoop.)

Drop dough onto parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking pans about 3 inches apart. (I used three half sheet (roughly 18 x 13-inch) baking pans. Six cookies on sheets 1 & 2. Four cookies on sheet number 3.) Refrigerate for about an hour. (To make life easier on myself, and because I don’t have room in my refrigerator for 3 sheet pans, I plop the balls of dough close together on one of the parchment paper lined pans. Then I refrigerate the whole mess. When I’m ready to bake the little darlings, I take 6 from the fridge and place on another of the parchment paper lined baking sheets. The others dough balls I just leave in the fridge until I am ready to bake them off.)  

Bake in a pre-heated 400-degree oven for 9-12 minutes or until the top looks set. The inside will still be a little under-baked. That’s exactly what you want.

Remove from oven and let the cookies rest for at least 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. (They finish baking and set up a bit during their 10-minute time out.)

Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

First off, I know Levain Bakery doesn’t put walnuts in their oatmeal raisin cookies. I got that. But I love walnuts in my oatmeal raisin cookies, so my recipe – my choice. And to be completely up front with you, I’ve surmised that Levain Bakery doesn’t use vanilla either. But I just couldn’t see myself building an oatmeal cookie without vanilla. (Hence the “almost knockoff” part of the recipe title.)

Now another thing you should know. I have never actually tasted a Levain Bakery cookie. So, I thought to remedy the situation, I would order a package. I quickly changed my mind. $27 for 4 – 6 oz. cookies, plus a $49 shipping charge. Well then, that sure as heck wasn’t going to be happening. At least not on my watch! Holy moly! I could build several batches (16 count each for the size I prefer, 8 count for a full 6-ounce cookie) for that amount of money and enjoy them any darn time I felt the inclination. So, I would just have to build my own unsubstantiated “Levain Bakery” cookies. Possible warts and all! Like I did with my Knockoff Levain Bakery Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies. (See recipe on site.)

I started by comparing several knockoff recipes on-line. Then after much deliberation and a fair bit of cookie baking knowledge, I cobbled this recipe together. And I must say, these are the best oatmeal raisin cookies I have ever tasted or produced. They are semi gooey in the middle (the trademark of a Levain Bakery cookie) and sweet, but not too sweet. With a bit of crunch from the nuts. And a delicate hint of the essence of the vanilla bean. In other words – perfect. I also enjoy the occasional burst of salt from using coarse sea salt. Just another dimension of yummy as far as I’m concerned. (And remember – it’s really, just all about me!)

Anyway, I would love to have you bake up a batch of these delicious cookies. And because I couldn’t make up my mind about golden versus regular raisins, I used a combination. (Nothing like compromise for finding the perfect solution.) And no, you don’t have to include nuts. Just add a few more raisins. And if you don’t choose to use vanilla, I won’t think less of you either. You would be wrong, but that’s on you!

So as always, have a blast in your kitchen. Try new recipes to keep yourself invested in the whole business of keeping everyone in your family well fed. If nothing else, it might help stave off boredom for yourself and your family. And boredom is a serious concern for many of us right now, especially with the holidays so close at hand.

I miss going to plays, concerts, live music performances given by Mr. C. and his musician buddies, restaurants, and all the other cultural events that are such a vital part of our lives. I miss getting on an airplane and visiting foreign lands. (Well not the airplane part, but you catch my drift!) I also really miss all the places and natural wonders that we can visit while towing our travel trailer all over God’s creation. But mainly I miss visiting our family and friends and having them in our home. (My normal minimum weekly hug quotient is way off the bottom of the scale and I am severely feeling the loss! I know. Everyone is in the same boat.)

So, I continue to pray daily, to every deity I can think of, for a speedy resolution to the covid-19 crisis. But I know until that happens, I can’t let down my guard. So, I mainly stay at home, continue to cook up a storm, try new recipes, and if they work – post them on my blog. That’s how I have chosen to keep joy alive in my life. (Plus keeping myself on the right side of sane while this crazy world sorts itself out! I pray about that daily too!)

I fervently hope you too have found joy, peace, and love in your life. Happy Thanksgiving.

1 c. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes

1 c. light brown sugar, packed

½ c. granulated white sugar

2 lg. eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract 

½ c. cake flour (fluffed)

2 c. unbleached all-purpose flour (fluffed)

1 T. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. coarse sea salt

½ tsp. ground cinnamon

1½ c. old-fashioned oats 

1½ c. raisins (golden, regular, or a combination)

1 c. chopped walnuts, opt. (but why?) 

Place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on medium low speed until smooth and completely blended, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat just until the eggs and vanilla are incorporated with the butter/sugar mixture.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the cake flour, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and oats together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix only until combined. Add the raisins and walnuts and slowly mix until combined. Refrigerate dough for 15 minutes.  

And now the hard decision has to happen. Do you want cookies the size that made the Levain Bakery in NYC famous? Or do you wish to make a smaller, more manageable version? My choice – smaller. But for those purists out there, I’m providing both ways to enjoy these incredible cookies.

Purist (8 cookies per batch)  

Divide the dough into 8 equal parts, about 6-ounces each. Line two half sheet baking pans (roughly 18 x 13-inches) with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  Use your hands to shape the dough. Place in a staggered pattern, 3″ apart on the baking sheet with only 4 cookies to a pan. Do not flatten the dough. The cookies are meant to be roughly shaped. Refrigerate for about an hour. Start heating your oven to 400 degrees after the cookies have been cooling in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes.  

Bake one sheet at a time on the middle rack of your pre-heated 400- degree oven for 9-12 minutes or until the cookies appear dull and light golden brown on top.  Do not over-bake. The top should look done, but the cookies should not be fully set. 

Remove from oven. Cookies will continue to finish cooking as they set and cool on the baking sheets for at least 20 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely. The cookies are quite delicate after just baking, so handle them carefully. They should still be plenty gooey inside.

Bigger than normal cookies, but half the size of Purist (16 cookies per batch)

Divide the dough into 16 equal parts, about 3-ounces each. (Or as equally portioned as possible.) Drop dough onto parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking pans about 3 inches apart. (I used three half sheet (roughly 18 x 13-inch) baking pans. Six cookies on sheets 1 & 2. Four cookies on sheet number 3.) Do not flatten the dough. (I round the dough in my #10 ice cream scoop and proceed from there. Cheating I know, but I’m lazy!) Refrigerate for about an hour. (To make life easier on myself, and because I don’t have room in my refrigerator for 3 sheet pans, I plop the balls of dough close together on one of the parchment paper lined pans. Then I refrigerate the whole mess. When I’m ready to bake the little darlings, I take 6 from the fridge and place on another of the parchment paper lined baking sheets. The others dough balls I just leave in the fridge until I am ready to bake them off.) 

Bake in a pre-heated 400-degree oven for between 8-10 minutes. I found, after baking each of the three pans of cookies a different way, that 5 minutes regular heat and 4 minutes convection heat worked the best for me. But you may find your oven works differently than mine.  Just don’t over-bake the cookies. The top should look done (browned), but the cookies should not be fully set.  

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.

Store the cookies in an airtight container on your kitchen counter.    

I looked at a lot of online knockoff or copycat recipes for these cookies. All the recipes were pretty much the same, but I decided to go with my own slightly different conglomeration. But the main thing all of the recipes had in common, was that every author almost guaranteed that these would be the best chocolate chip cookies you would ever taste. And I have to admit, they are totally amazing. These babies make it completely clear why Levain Bakery has helped put New York City on the map. And why you should spend absolutely no time deciding to whip up a batch at your earliest convenience.

When you look at the ingredient list, almost all of the ingredients are exactly what you would expect to find. Ok, not the use of cold butter or necessarily a bit of cornstarch, or even the use of cake flour. But there certainly aren’t any peculiar ingredients, like half a cup of parsnip puree or anything like that. Pretty standard ingredients found in many baked goods. So what makes these cookies different? Well first of all, they’re big cookies. And I bake mine half as large as the Levain Bakery offers. And these cookies are pulled out of the oven before the center gets fully set. And the ratio of nuts and chocolate chips to dough is greater than called for in most of the chocolate chip cookie recipes I have previously made. And believe me, I have made a lot of chocolate chip cookies over the years!

So are these now my favorite chocolate chip walnut cookies? You bet your sweet – – – they are! And I believe they will become your favorite too. They are just that delicious. And very easy to prepare, especially if you have a #10 ice cream scoop.

Now you know I don’t have any advertisements on this site. And I am not specifying any brand of scoop that I think you should purchase. But if you do a lot of cookie baking, or make meatballs, muffins, and cupcakes, to name a few uses for ice cream scoops, you should own a few scoops in different sizes. Makes life a lot easier when you have the right tools. Remember, Christmas is coming. And I know my Mr. Santa always loves hints at about this time of year. And being the good wife, I never fail to help him out! And usually my hints are for gifts that most people would find unromantic. But I figure, that’s their problem. Anything that makes my life easier or more pleasant is a gift I would never think to discourage. Besides, romantic gifts are overrated in my opinion. Give me practical gifts. Like a round trip ticket to Iceland, for example. That and a new frying pan are practical gifts I would never consider turning down! 

So as always, make life pleasant for those around you. Create a home atmosphere that is comfortable, cozy, and inviting. I don’t know anyone who doesn’t appreciate a smile or a kind word. Simple gestures, but very effective ways to spread joy to those you love. Peace and love to all.   

1 c. (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

¾ c. light brown sugar

½ c. granulated sugar

2 lg. eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

1½ c. cake flour (fluffed)

1¼ c. unbleached all-purpose flour (fluffed)   

1 T. cornstarch

1 tsp. baking powder

¼ tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. coarse sea salt

2 c. walnut halves, roughly chopped

2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (a 12-ounce bag) (I prefer Guittard semi-sweet baking chips)  

Place the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar in the bowl of your stand mixer. Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars on medium low speed until smooth and completely blended, 2-3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat just until the eggs are incorporated with the butter/sugar mixture.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the cake flour, all-purpose flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together. Add to the wet ingredients and mix only until combined. Add the walnuts and slowly mix until combined. Add the chocolate chips, and again, mix only until combined.

And now the hard decision has to happen. Do you want cookies the size that made the Levain Bakery in NYC famous? Or do you want to make a smaller version for us normal folks. My choice – smaller. But for those purists out there, I’m providing both ways to enjoy these marvelous cookies.

Purist (8 cookies per batch) (these would make some humongous damn cookies!)

Divide the dough into 8 equal parts, about 6-ounces each. Line two half sheet baking pans (roughly 18 x 13-inches) with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.  Use your hands to shape the dough. The cookies are meant to be roughly shaped. Place 4 on each pan. Do not flatten the dough. Refrigerate for about an hour. Start heating your oven to 400 degrees after the cookies have been cooling in the refrigerator for about 45 minutes.

Bake in the pre-heated 400 degree oven for 11-13 minutes on regular bake or a bit shorter time on convection bake. The cookies are done when the top is a bit golden and the bottom is also golden. The top should look done, but the cookies should not be fully set. Do not over bake.

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. This allows the inside of the cookies to bake a bit more and helps prevent breaking the cookies while they are being transferred to the cooling rack. They should still be plenty gooey inside. Serve slightly warm if possible.   

Bigger than normal chocolate chip cookies, but half the size of Purist (16 cookies per batch)

Divide the dough into 16 equal parts, about 3-ounces each. (Or as equally portioned as possible.) Drop dough onto parchment paper or silicone mat lined baking pans about 3 inches apart. (I used three half sheet (roughly 18 x 13-inch) baking pans. Six cookies on sheets 1 & 2. Four cookies on sheet number 3.) Do not flatten the dough. (I round the dough in my #10 ice cream scoop and proceed from there. Cheating I know, but I’m lazy!) Refrigerate for about an hour. (To make life easier on myself, and because I don’t have room in my refrigerator for 3 sheet pans, I plop the balls of dough close together on one of the parchment paper lined pans. Then I refrigerate the whole mess. When I’m ready to bake the little darlings, I take 6 from the fridge and place on another of the parchment paper lined baking sheets. The others dough balls I just leave in the fridge until I am ready to bake them off.)  

Bake in a pre-heated 400 degree oven. I found, after baking each of the three pans of cookies a different way, that 6 minutes regular heat and 4 minutes convection heat worked the best for me. But you may find your oven works differently than mine. Just don’t overbake the cookies. So anywhere from 9 minutes all convection, or 11 minutes regular oven should work out fine for you. Just be aware, the top should look done, but the cookies should not be fully set.   

Remove from oven and let cool for at least 15 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack.

Store the completely cooled cookies in an airtight container on your kitchen counter. Then you will always be reminded that they are there just for lifting the lid. You don’t want them to go stale after all!  

So when I thought about what kind of cookie I wanted to make for our upcoming trailer trip, I decided an oatmeal cookie would be absolutely perfect. But I wanted an oatmeal cookie that was just a little different than how I usually doctor up my oatmeal cookies for more flavor. So no chocolate chips. No peanut butter. But maybe introduce a lot more spice action.

So I thought some kind of dried fruit would be nice. But not the usual suspects, like dried cranberries, or dried cherries, or dried blueberries. It just happened that I had a few thin slices of dried apple in my stash of dried this and that. Not enough to feature in a major cooking project. But too much to simply discard. So I thought, why not an apple presence in an oatmeal cookie? But the apple slices, in many ways, except flavor, resembled shoe leather. (OK, I’ve never tasted shoe leather, but I’m pretty sure it doesn’t taste like dried apples!) So I knew that something had to be done to soften up the chopped up apple slices a bit. And what better way to macerate fruit than by a small application of some type of booze. And since I just happened to have some spiced rum on hand, I felt it was the best bet since the cookie recipe I was developing already had ground cinnamon and ground nutmeg as important flavor additives. And really, can a bit of spiced rum ever hurt? I think not! And of course, you can’t really taste the rum. It’s more like you just kinda sorta know there is a just a little something extra in the mix. 

So if you too are a fan of oatmeal cookies, you are going to love these babies. They are soft, but chewy, sweet, but not too sweet, and between the golden raisins and the dried apples, there is just a nice fruit note in every bite. And of course there is a delightful crunch from the chopped walnuts. In other words, these cookies are yum!

So as always, keep having fun in your kitchen, keep helping your friends and family cope with the devastating circumstances of life right now, and take especially good care of yourself. You can’t be of any value to anyone, including yourself, if you let down your guard or start feeling that all is out of your control. Everything is not out of your control. You can still choose to be happy. You can still choose to be positive. You can still choose to be that one person who helps lift the spirits of those around you. And yes it’s not fair. Why should you always have to be the designated good guy? Well, dear readers, first of all, let me explain that life is not always fair. (You’ve probably already figured that out for yourself.) But we are cooks. We are used to nourishing bodies and minds through the food we fix. But there is even more that we can do. We can smile. We can say please and thank you. We can liberally offer praise. We can offer help, when help is needed. We can refuse to let the little everyday “revoltin’ developments” (thank you Chester A. Riley) get to us. And no it isn’t easy. But it is so much better than the alternative. And of course after a long day of helping others and listening to and watching all the news about fires, the pandemic, racial injustice, and the current political catastrophe, there’s always the option of quietly going into your bedroom closet to let out a silent scream. I find that often helps me when dealing with all of life’s little unpleasantries. Well that and a big old bowl of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia ice cream.

Peace and love to all.  

2 T. spiced or regular rum

½ c. chopped dried apples (I use thin dried apple slices, cut into small pieces)

1¾ c. unbleached all-purpose flour (fluffed)

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. baking powder

½ tsp. fine sea salt

2 tsp. ground cinnamon

½ tsp. ground nutmeg

1 c. (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened slightly 

1 c. brown sugar, packed

½ c. granulated sugar

2 lg. eggs

1½ tsp. vanilla extract

3 c. rolled old fashioned oats

¾ c. chopped walnuts

½ c. golden raisins

Mix the spiced rum and apples together in a small bowl. Set aside.

Lightly grease or line baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg together.  

In the bowl of your electric stand mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until soft. Mix in one of the eggs, then blend in the second egg and vanilla extract. Add flour mixture and mix just until combined. Add the oats, chopped walnuts, golden raisins, and the macerated dried apples (including any liquid that may remain).

Form dough balls with a small ice cream scoop, and place on prepared baking sheets about 2-inches apart.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven until golden brown on edges and nearly set, about 10-12 minutes. (Center should look a bit under-baked.)

Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.