DRIED BLUEBERRY AND APRICOT OATMEAL COOKIES

More COOKIES!!

Hi Poppytalk readers! Long time no see. Sorry for the long break - I had a baby! He's five weeks old now and he's as cute as can be. I've finally had the urge to bake again so here is a nice and simple cookie recipe that has a bit of an "Autumn" vibe....

I thought about calling this cookie the "fruit and fibre" cookie - dried fruit with both spelt flour and oats! But that had too much of an early 90s old lady prune juice sound to it. Doesn't Dried Blueberry and Apricot Oatmeal cookies sound a bit fancier?

This cookie is a nice blast of fibrous health in a crisp, salty sweet cookie. But I guess it can't be construed as too healthy - it does have a cup of unsalted butter in, it too! Oops. The teaspoon of sea salt helps balance the sweetness of the cookie, as the dried fruit makes it extra sweet. You can use any type of dried fruit in these - dried sour cherries would be awesome! And I really enjoy replacing all purpose flour with spelt flour lately. Such a simple swap and a nice secret way to add some fibre to your life...

DRIED BLUEBERRY AND APRICOT OATMEAL COOKIES

Ingredients:
1 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
1 cup oats
2 cups spelt flour (or all purpose flour)
1 teaspoon of sea salt
1 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup dried apricot, chopped into small pieces

Make it! 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper (if so desired). Makes roughly 2 dozen or so cookies.

1. Using a stand mixer or handheld beaters, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy.
2. Add the egg until incorporated.
3. Add pure vanilla extract extract to combine.
4. In a medium bowl, sift the dry ingredients to combine.
5. Slowly add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture until combined.
6. Fold in dried fruit with a spatula, or just throw 'er in to mixer and mix.
7. Using a small ice cream scoop or your clean bare hands, dole out 2 inch balls onto parchment-paper covered baking sheets, a dozen per sheet.
8. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-14 minutes, depending on how hot your oven gets! Turn the pans once halfway through. Leave to cool on baking sheets to crisp.
 9. Snack on them and enjoy!!

Originally published on Poppytalk 

ALMOND BUTTER BLACKBERRY JAM THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Yeah! Another cookie recipe! Cookie crazy!!!

File these under: super easy and super delicious. Also, healthy-ish! I made them with whole spelt flour and pure maple syrup, and a ridiculously delicious, tartly-sweet, rustic blackberry jam my friends Ashley and Hayden gave me (Hayden made the jam). You can also replace the spelt flour with whole wheat flour (or regular all purpose flour), or rice flour to make these gluten-free! Oh yeah! You can also use any type of jam you like. I like a nice tart jam. I'm actually a bit jam-crazy. It's hard for me to resist an adorably packaged jar of lovely fruit jam. This recipe is easy-on-the-sugar and while it does have maple syrup, it relies on the jam for its sweetness.

ALMOND BUTTER BLACKBERRY JAM THUMBPRINT COOKIES

Ingredients:

1 cup of almond butter
1/2 cup of pure maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of whole spelt flour
1/2 teaspoon salt


Make it!


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. This recipes yields about 1.5 dozen cookies!

1. In a medium bowl, combine the almond butter, maple syrup, oil and vanilla extract until well-mixed.
2. In another medium bowl, sift the spelt flour and salt.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet, and mix until nicely combined.
4. Using a small ice cream scoop or your hands, dole out the batter into 1.5 inch balls on parchment-paper covered baking sheets.
5. Squash those balls right down with your clean, just-washed thumb! Make sure you've created a nice well that the jam can happily sit in.
6. Spoon your chosen jam into the thumbprint-created wells!
7. Bake for 12-14 minutes, turning baking sheets halfway to ensure even baking.


Chomp into these easy-breezy almond butter jam cookies (like I did, above)! Enjoy!

See you again soon!

xo Lyndsay

Originally published on Poppytalk

Milk Chocolate Chunk Cookies With Pink Sea Salt

So I am slowly moving all of my recipes from Poppytalk over to my Trompe Chompe blog for sharing here, too! Enjoy!

MILK CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES WITH PINK SEA SALT

Is there another word for chunk? I did a thesaurus-y type search but didn't come up with anything I liked. "Piece" doesn't describe the size like "chunk" does. Morsel sounds too... mushroomy, or small? Blob or glob sounds too blobby and globby. Anyhow, let me know if you think of anything! It's driving me crazy!

Fall is here in Vancouver, big time. The leaves start to turn from green to red and orange and the morning air is crisp and cold, blankets pile up and feet slide into slippers and warm sweaters are hung over shoulders... and for me, my oven cranks even higher into the stratosphere! When the Fall chill hits, the only thing I want to do is make warm things. Pies, muffins, casseroles, soups, roasted vegetables... and COOKIES!

This cookie may make you want to punch yourself in the face because you ate too many due to their "dangerously delicious" factor. Don't punch yourself. Simply wrap up the rest and distribute among your friends, family, neighbors or co-workers. You will make them happy and you will have stopped yourself from eating every last one!

Try to source a lovely couverture (high cocoa butter and high quality) milk chocolate for these. It will be well worth it!


MILK CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES with PINK SEA SALT

(makes about 3 dozen)

Ingredients:

3 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 teaspoons of salt
1 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
2 cups of Golden Yellow or Brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons of pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups of Lindt Piccoli Extra Milk chocolate, chopped into chunks (or any high quality milk couverture chocolate!)
Teensy bit of pink sea salt for each cookie.

Make Them!

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour and salt to combine.
3. Using a stand mixer, mixmaster or hand-held beaters, cream (or beat) butter and sugar on medium speed for 4-5 minutes until fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl.
4. Add eggs, beating on low to combine.
5. Add pure vanilla extract to combine.
6. With mixer on low speed, slowly add flour mixture until just combined.
7. Fold in milk chocolate until well integrated!
8. Using a small ice cream scoop, scoop balls of dough onto lined baking pans, 1 dozen per sheet.
9. Sprinkle a teensy amount of pink sea salt crystals on each cookie before baking - don't oversalt. Probably 7 crystals is enough!

Bake cookies for 11-14 minutes (some ovens are hotter than others), turning pans halfway through for even browning, or until cookies are lightly browned on edges and your kitchen smells like delicious cookies! Let cool on pans. Enjoy with a glass of almond milk, or plunk on top of a dish of vanilla ice cream!

Cookie recipe adapted from the lovely blog Not Without Salt.