When life gets topsy-turvy, there’s a handful of things that can help. Among those are: time, patience, understanding, love and cookies. In this instance, the latter two go hand in hand.
Now I admit, I love me some oatmeal cookies (oatmeal raisin and oatmeal chocolate chip included), but my oatmeal cookie baking adventures hadn’t progressed much further than that. Thank goodness Rodney Williams, the culinary force behind Strawberry Creek Inn’s upcoming cookbook, widened my baking horizons. My tummy and taste buds are eternally grateful!
BUT, here’s what every oatmeal cookie lover and baker must realize: What makes this recipe so special, aside from the fact that it produces substantial cookies chock full of flavor, is the fact that your efforts are rewarded early—before the oven even has time to preheat. I call it olfactory nirvana: If a person could bottle the scents of happiness, serenity and satisfaction—this recipe’s aromas would produce a top-selling fragrance. Don’t believe me? I dare you to make this recipe and find out—just be sure to breathe in the aroma of each ingredient as you go along.
Nirvana I tell you…
Caribbean Oatmeal Cookies
(featured on Inn Cuisine, recipe courtesy Strawberry Creek Inn B&B)
Yield: 6 dozen cookies (I don’t recommend doing less than a full batch—you won’t regret it!)
Wet Ingredients 1:
- 5 sticks (2½ cups) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
- 2½ cups (538g or 19 oz) dark brown sugar
Wet Ingredients 2:
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoons buttermilk
- 2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon Ponche de crème (Ponche de crème is a Trinidadian drink somewhat similar to egg nog. You may substitute Bailey’s Irish Creme or plain egg nog in a pinch.)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- dash of Angostura bitters
Dry Ingredients 1:
- 3 cups (411g) bread flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Dry Ingredients 2:
- 6 cups (468 g) rolled oats (NOT instant, quick-cooking, or steel-cut)
- 2 cups (227 g) golden raisins, plumped by soaking in 1 tablespoon rum plus hot water to cover, and then drained
- 3½ cups (227 g) shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened, depending on your taste)
Method:
In a mixer with the paddle attachment, cream the melted butter and brown sugar together, starting at low
speed and gradually increasing to as high a speed as possible without danger of the ingredients flying
out of the bowl. Cream until mixture increases slightly in volume and is noticeably lighter in color and
texture (generally, the longer the better, so walking away to measure out other ingredients is fine).
In a separate bowl (or large measuring cup, something with a spout), whisk together the 2nd set of wet
ingredients.
In another bowl, sift together the 1st set of dry ingredients.
In yet another bowl, mix together the 2nd set of dry ingredients.
Turn mixer down to low and slowly drizzle in 2nd set of wet ingredients.
Add 1st set of dry ingredients in 3 equal batches, waiting between batches for ingredients to incorporate,
and stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as necessary.
Add 2nd set of dry ingredients about a ½ cup at a time. The dough will become very thick and will start to
move up the sides of the bowl in a single mass. Stop the mixer and scrape back down as necessary.
Use a 1-ounce scoop/disher to measure out the number of cookies you are baking now onto a greased
cookie sheet, leaving around 2 inches between cookies. Slightly flatten each cookie with the bottom of a
glass or other flat, smooth surface, creating a disk.
Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 11 to 15 minutes, or until they begin to brown at the edges.
Remove cookie sheet from oven and after a few minutes, move cookies to a wire rack or plate to cool.
Scoop the remaining cookie dough onto a large baking sheet (or as many baking sheets as needed) in
the same manner as before, except that the cookies can be close to each other as long as they don’t
touch and you do not need to flatten the cookies.
You may also freeze individually-shaped cookies for 24 hours, then transfer to large zip-top bags or other airtight freezer containers, and return to the freezer. Take out as many as you would like to bake at any time in the future. Frozen cookies are ready to go in the pre-heated oven when they are soft enough to flatten slightly, which is generally about the time it takes to pre-heat the oven.
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{ 10 comments… read them below or add one }
Guess I’ll have to try these, because I’m having a hard time wrapping my imagination around these flavors! It’s a take on oatmeal cookies I’ve never seen before.
Oh, Lydia…you will love them. It’s a take on oatmeal cookies I hadn’t seen before either. But one taste, and you may never go back to plain oatmeal cookies or oatmeal raisin ever again!
Reading over the ingredients it is easy to see why these would be a delight to all your senses.
olfactory nirvana, eh? i like it–excellent phrase.
this batch of oatmeal cookies is uniquely appealing–i love the coconut in there!
Oh wow these look so good…and a perfect summertime cookie!
Wow, those are the BEST looking oatmeal cookies I have EVER seen. I can’t wait to try these! I hope mine look half as good as yours!
xxMK
Delightful Bitefuls
So what is angostura bitters? Never heard of it.
Sharon – You’re not the first to ask that question. I’m planning an impromptu post to explain all about it! Thanks for your question.
Hi Sandie
When is the book due out.
Jackie – Thanks for your question. The book is due out sometime later this year. For more information, contact Strawberry Creek Inn B&B of Idyllwild, California.