Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

These cookies fit perfectly with the sweet and salty trend making its way through grocery stores (tried those yummy Nature Valley granola bars?), restaurants (we've heard of chocolate bacon), and blogs (these cookies!). We adapted a recipe found on PickyCook, a well-organized blog with a huge range of culinary ideas.

Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

(the name is quite a mouthful...)

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

14 tablespoons butter, softened but still cool --> this works out to about 3/4 cup + 1/8 cup

1 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1 egg

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract (we put in about 2 teaspoons)

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats --> do not use instant or quick-cooking oatmeal!

1 cup white chocolate chips

Flaky sea salt

• Stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl.
• In a large bowl, beat butter and sugars for about 20 seconds. Increase mixer speed and beat for a minute longer, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl before adding egg and vanilla to the mixture. Beat until well-combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl again.
• Add flour mixture into the large bowl, mixing on low speed until just combined. Slowly add oats and mix well.
• Add white chocolate. We found it easiest to stir with a wooden spoon, but you can mix for a few seconds if you would like.
• Form dough into balls between 1 and 2 tablespoons each.
• Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat... We'd used our silpat (ours is Patisse brand) mat to roll out cookies on the counter before, but we had no idea it could go in the oven. Very cool! And the cookies really don't stick.
• Place cookies on baking sheets, leaving an inch or two between each one so they have room to spread.
• Use your hand to flatten the dough balls so they are 3/4-inch thick. Sprinkle with sea salt.
• Bake in preheated 350 F oven until cookies are golden brown and edges are starting to crisp - 13 - 16 minutes. We let ours bake for 15 minutes, which left the centers a bit chewy. Let the cookies cool a little bit before transferring to a wire rack.

Combining the wet and dry ingredients.

The original recipe called for a chopped-up white chocolate bar.

Chocolate chips are a little bit easier, but we're sure the chocolate

bar would be decadent!

Dough is done, pan is prepared, oven is on.

Sprinkling the salt.

Brown Buttercrunch Cookies

Mrs. Fields, you made it look so easy.

We expected Brown Buttercrunch Cookies to be relatively simple. We've made a similar recipe before (minus the chocolate) and, although messy, there isn't a whole lot of effort involved. Oh boy. This recipe involved a a few extra steps, a bowlful of frustration, half a roll of wasted wax paper, and sheets of cookies that ended up in the trash. 

Don't worry, we promise you a happy ending. 

11 edible cookies emerged from the chaos.

The recipe is from Mrs. Fields "Best Cookie Book Ever."

Cookies:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup corn syrup

2/3 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup old-fashioned oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• Preheat oven to 375 F. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper (more on this later...)
  
• In a medium-sized pot, melt butter, corn syrup, and brown sugar over medium heat, stirring constantly until sugar dissolves. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Remove pot from heat and stir in remaining ingredients. 
  
• Bake cookies one pan at a time. Drop dough by 1/2 teaspoons (they spread a lot) onto lined cookie sheets. 
  

All of the above was done with ease: 

   

• Bake for 8 minutes or until cookies begin to brown.
  
• Let the cookies cool for a minute or two before rolling.
  
• Roll cookie around a pencil or wooden spoon handle, creating a tube. If cookies cool too much, pop them back in the oven for a few seconds. 
  

... and then disaster descended upon the darkening kitchen (okay, dramatic - but the sun really had set).

The cookies STUCK. There was NO getting these cookies off the waxed paper. 

Attempt 2. We tried greasing the waxed paper a little. No luck. They were stuck.

Attempt 3: Aluminum foil. They still stuck. 

Attempt 4: Greased aluminum foil. Success!!!! All 11 cookies made it off the tray! 

Further reflection and a Google search led to an A-ha moment: wax paper is NOT the same as parchment paper. Who knew?!

      

Chocolate glaze:

1/4 cup heavy cream

6 oz (1 cup) chocolate chips

2 teaspoons light corn syrup

• Heat cream in small pot... remove just before it boils. Stir in chocolate chips and corn syrup. Cover and let stand 15 minutes, or until chocolate has melted. Gently whisk until smooth.
• Dip cooled cookies into the chocolate glaze. Put in the fridge to set.