Saturday, April 7, 2012

Peanut butter, oatmeal, chocolate, oh my


Back to basics: As much as I love elegant confections, there's nothing quite as satisfying as the all-American cookie--plain old grocery store ingredients, no chilling or rolling or sea-salt sprinkling. These little guys hit all the right notes: peanut butter, oatmeal, and chocolate chip, the holy trinity (can an atheist say that the day before Easter?)

I used this recipe and was delighted to see that the Brown-Eyed Baker suggested using my favorite cookie technique, stolen from Baking Illustrated, which is detailed here. It's only a bit of extra effort and the cookies always turn out magazine-pretty.

These kept very nicely in an air-tight tin for a number of days, longer than most cookies (or maybe I was just happy to keep eating them after they passed their peak. What's the difference?)


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Girl dogs: This last week has been crazy-busy for me work-wise but lucky for Soph, her BFF Ruby came to stay with us, so she didn't even notice my reduced attention. Those two girls! They played and wrestled and snoozed, slurped water and chomped cookies. What a life!

Frances was more of an independent spirit--she liked other dogs perfectly well, but with the exception of a yellow lab named Sunny she saw once in awhile, we never really observed her playing so exuberantly. She was more of a person-dog. Sophie and Ruby are dog-dogs, like littermates, playing in that mouthy, puppy way, making their odd dinosaur noises, then collapsing in a heap. The other morning we woke to find them deeply asleep in the same bed, although they had started the night each on their own nest.

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The Hungry Dog goes abroad...again! Well, it's a bit premature as no flights have been booked, but we're planning our first trip to Italy! We'll go in the fall for two weeks, most likely Rome and some time in Tuscany, although nothing is settled yet. Recommendations, please!

18 comments:

  1. How did you know my favorite cookie was chocolate chip oatmeal---and the peanut butter just makes it better...now I have to click over and find out the secret technique!

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  2. The cookies sound delightful and the dogs a hoot. You live a fun life.

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  3. Thanks for that link...it was an interesting read. I copied and saved everything. For sure, this is one gorgeous cookie!
    Love the happy dogs photo! Good friends for sure. :)
    Exciting about your trip!
    Have a lovely Easter weekend!

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  4. Sue: the secret technique is brilliant!

    zoom: I think so too...at least most of the time! (not when I have to work on a weekend--like today...)

    Barbara: You are most welcome. Happy Easter!

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  5. Nice, thanks for the tips -- am always looking for ways to improve the classics. And cookies are probably the thing I bake the most often, spur of the moment. The world seems a little better afterwards, with a fresh-baked cookie. And a loving, fuzzy pup-face, of course.

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  6. i'm glad your pup has a good buddy. :)
    great cookies--they appear to have the ideal texture!

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  7. Roma! How exciting, I bet you love it more than your Paris trip. I find Italy more vibrant than France, for obvious reasons (must be all the wine). You should definitely visit Florence (Firenze), smaller and more quaint than bustling Rome, although Rome has a great metro. It's been years so I'm sure the food recommendations won't be applicable today, but I don't think you'll find a bad meal in Italy! Especially lots of gelato and artichoke pizza by the (square) slice!

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  8. denise: what's up, wasabi, nice to see you here!

    grace: they do indeed!

    Ben: Yeah, I'm pretty excited about the prospect of genuine Italian food! We will definitely go to Florence. Gelato every day!!

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  9. OH MY! I was so excited I went out and bought ingredients last night. Our temporary apartment has an oven but all my baking gear is on the way over on a shipping container. The photos were so inspiring I'm attempting this by hand and without a proper measuring scale :) Btw, where did you add the PB? I looked at the original recipe and it didn't have any, did you just sub some for butter?

    Also, the girls look SO cute together and have lots of fun in Italy. (Having serious food envy here).

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  10. Those two are so cute! Bosom buddies.

    Italy! So excited for you! I've only been to Rome, but my friend told me the food in Bologna is amazing.

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  11. shaz: so glad you posted a comment b/c it made me realize I posted the WRONG LINK to the recipe. It is now fixed. :)

    Jessica: Yes, I have heard the same thing about Bologna...

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  12. Bologna is also, literally, the seat of Western universities. Their university is older even than Oxford and Cambridge. If I was headed for Italy, that would Bologna would definitely be a stop on my itinerary!

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  13. Zoom--I would love to go to Bologna too. Perhaps we can work it in...

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  14. Yum. Those look delicious. And the woofs look too cute. I loved the dinosaur noise reference. I can hear it now. We too are planning a European adventure in the fall - likely October. We'll have to compare notes.

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  15. Ash: The dino noises remind me of Tallah & Paxie! We should definitely connect and see if we'll overlap anywhere in Europe! We could end up going in October too. Thanks for your call on Saturday, perhaps we can connect this weekend? xoxo

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  16. I have to give you Rome tips and loan you my books..I cant wait to read your post vacation posts!!

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  17. I love all of those ingredients and don't think I've had them all in one cookie. Looks fantastic! And what adorable pups...

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  18. ALY: Yes, please!

    foodhoe: They are very good cookies indeed...

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