A little bit about ‘The Swap”…
I was hanging out on Twitter late one night when I happened upon Love and Olive Oil and The Little Kitchen‘s tweets about their Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. I was in luck as it wasn’t too late to sign up, which I immediately did. I used to attend a local mother’s group cookie swap every year and it was a lot of fun. I am no longer a member of that club and while I still participate in smaller swaps, I wanted to do a bigger one. At the time I had signed up, they had about 550 bloggers from around the world signed up to swap cookies. I thought that was pretty darn cool and it was fun being a part of it. I got to exchange 3 dozen of my cookies with 3 other bloggers, blogs I had never read before! They estimate that over 22.000 cookies were swapped across this big ole world! That’s a lot of cookies and I’m happy I got to be a part of it! If you missed it this year and would like information on how to participate in the next one, sign up here.
A little bit about the cookies I received…
1. Sisters’ Snacktime ( AJ & Jas Hwang) provided me with my first cookies. They sent me two kinds (!) – Peach and Crisp Salted Oatmeal with White/Dark Chocolate.
2. I got my second set of cookies from Lana Watkins at Bibberche. They were called Roses and were Serbian recipe from her Grandmother.
3. My final set of cookies arrived from Chrissy and Dana Marie DeCapite at Sorelle e Cibo. They were a really yummy white chocolate macadamia and cranberry cookie. (Mr. Foodie ate them all.)
Thank you to all of my Cookie Swappers! I enjoyed the different cookies and stories.
A little bit about the cookies I swapped…
I wanted to make a cookie I had never made before and I wanted it to be a little bit different. Don’t get me wrong, I love your standards like chocolate chip or peanut butter, but I definitely wanted to go in another direction. When I was pregnant with Foodie Jr., I became part of an internet message board for moms delivering in the same month and year. I immediately made friends with a gal named Jen and we’ve been friends ever since. And although we haven’t even met in person, I still consider her one of my best, dearest friends. One thing we have in common is a love of food. I sooooooooo trust her taste in food and have not disliked any recipe she has ever passed along. She gave me this recipe for her favorite cookie a few years back and I’ve never gotten around to trying it. I have no idea why I waited so long because these are definitely on MY list of favorite cookies now! This recipe came from her father’s mother and I just love that – recipes that are passed down from one generation to the next. These cookies are pretty simple to make and generally are things you would normally (well, I would) have on hand. These cookies can be made chewy or crunchy. While I think everyone here preferred them on the chewier side (my friend Jen included) the crunchy ones are good too and great for having with coffee or tea. I adore this recipe and am going to make it several more times this holiday season – my new go-to cookie. These would be great iced too so I might have to try that!
LEMON OATMEAL COOKIES
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Shortening
1/2 Cup White Sugar
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 1/2 Tsp Grated Lemon Rind (I used the rind of an entire lemon)
1 1/2 TBS Molasses
1/2 Tsp Vanilla
3/4 Cup plus 2 TBS Flour
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 1/2 Cups Rolled Oats
Directions:
1. Preheat Oven to 400 Degrees (once dough is done chilling.)
2. Mix the first seven ingredients (shortening, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, lemon rind, molasses and vanilla) thoroughly.
3. Sift together the next three ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) and add to the first mixture.
4. Stir in rolled oats and mix thoroughly by hand.
5. Press and mold into a long smooth roll about 2 1/2′ diameter. Wrap in wax paper and chill until stiff (several hours or overnight.)
6. With a thin, sharp knife cut into thin slices 1/8′ thick. Place slices on an ungreased cookies sheet and bake until lightly browned, about 8-10 minutes.
A few notes: These overcook really quickly so if you prefer them on the chewy side, they won’t look quite ‘done’ when you take them out. Just let them sit on the sheet for another 5 minutes before moving to a rack to cool. Also, this recipe doesn’t double well, so make each batch individually.
