Day One on the Island
Arriving to the home where I grew up in makes me feel such at ease. I put my bags down and realize that I won’t be moving for a good 6 months and that lets me relax even more so. After a long and not so pleasant traveling experience (delayed flights, luggage limits of 50 pounds and no way to pay the difference, making me buy a new bag and carry on 25 pounds that where in both my suitcases, delayed flight again…) I made it home, safe and sound. My parents, as always, were joyous as well. Mom made for dinner a whole Taco Night set-up with everything from guacamole, pico de gallo, tortillas, beef, pulled chicken and greens! Sooo good to go to bed with you belly full and happy. I was exhausted!

Today we had our morning coffee and organized all my suitcases and clothes. I for one cannot arrive somewhere and leave luggage around for days and weeks. I NEED to unpack so we did. Afterward, we had a lovely lunch of Stir Fry Rice and Sweet Plantain Casserole.

Baking for the Day was Spiced Oatmeal Cookies
If you don’t own “The New Best Recipe” Cookbook, from the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated, I recommend you go out there and buy it! Here’s the link to buy it on Amazon. Well worth it, because the folks over at Cook’s Illustrated take their job seriously and the recipes are tried and tested. We decided to try their Oatmeal Cookies on page 782 and were quite pleased. Although, we did adapt the recipe to our liking a bit:

  • Cook’s Illustrated points out that most of the times, the oatmeal flavor is covered up by the amount of cinnamon in the recipe and they substituted it with nutmeg. Fine choice for them, but my famaily is a cinnamon lover so I included it. 
  • Also, the eggs they recommend are large eggs but crazy enough we now own chickens in our backyard so I used fresh laid eggs, smaller but so much tastier! I used the same amount and still found the cookies texture perfect. 
  • The recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar (one brown, one white) and I followed that but next time I will probably use 1/2 cup less of the white. It seemed to sweet for my taste buds. 

Other than those few points, the cookies turned out crunchy on the outside and moist in the center. I had dried cardamom pods I added by opening up and chopping the seeds. This added that perfect floral/spiced aroma that made these cookies different than your normal Oatmeal cookies. I can’t post the recipe on here, so go out and get the book so you can start testing these great recipes! I’ll leave you with some pictures of the cookie making! What’s your favorite cookie to eat and bake? How do you make your oatmeal cookies special?

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Sugars: Light Brown and White. No discrimination here!
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Flour and Baking Powder
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Measured Spices
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Freshly laid, organic, backyard eggs. Yes, I am lucky.
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Sexy Dough.
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NOT a close-up but a Far-Up.
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Why an Almond? Cause my mom said so 😉

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6 Comments

  1. Snickerdoodles are also my personal favorite!!

    I like to leave my oatmeal cookies on the soft side and add in some dark chocolate chunks. yummm!

    and like you, I must unpack ASAP!

  2. Shey: Thanks! Will look into that!
    Patti: yum, I do love a good Snickerdoodle and I didn’t know they were from the Midwest (my favorite area of the US!) so even more so now!
    Happy Cookie Baking!

  3. My favorite cookie is the Snickerdoodle 🙂 It’s a midwest favorite. Goes really well with a tall glass of fresh lemonade.
    I always include dark chocolate chips in my oatmeal cookies and a bit of molasses as well. mmmm yum.
    Your post has officially made me want to bake cookies!
    Lovely job 🙂

  4. Sounds lovely doll! que risa con tus gallinas! hehehhe si tu supieras que creo que mientras digas que la receta es de cooks illustrated la puedes copiar, pq la chica de smittenkitchen pone muchas de ellos, solo que siempre cita su fuente… no se… just thinking…

    :*

  5. Hehehe, I can see we would get along great! (Well, we already do!) And yes yes, a visit is a must! We should meet in Boston!! Xoxo!

  6. Dried Cardamon pods??? Jealous!!! Cardamon is my new favorite spice to enjoy:) You love eggs, and bread? We would soooo get along, we have to visit each other when you come back to the states:)

    AND moms do know best, the almond gives it a perfect touch:)
    Hugs,
    Terra