Classic Oatmeal Cookies

The weather God has been playing good and we have been receiving decent occasional showers of rain in the evenings. I feel much better being rescued from the scorch of heat. The summers were bad, not as bad as other parts of the country though. But it still came with potful of troubles with continued power cuts at peak hours of the day, sufficient to give a baker her nightmares!

It can't get more irritating when I have my goodies baking half way through in the oven and then the unexpected power cuts that can go on for atleast a couple of hours leave me feeling miserable and I end up with flat cakes or cookies that have to be used as alternatives or end up in thrash! I am hoping it gets better with more rains, though at the moment it's not any good.

All I want to do right now is to dive down cozily into an armchair, with a thought that I am totally carefree and have nothing much to do. Would probably just want to grab a novel, a cup of tea in one hand, cookies to sink my teeth into, melodies of the past being played on radio in the background, cool breeze kissing my cheeks, the murmurs of rain adding a zing of music to my ears... I am feeling exactly this way at the moment. Does this sound a perfect way to lazy around on your weekend or may be a nice holiday?

With the climate changing to better, the temperatures falling and with a few showers, it feels nice to see the dry, sun burnt grounds converting to patchy greens and hopefully lesser power cuts too! And with the cool breeze kissing my cheeks, it reminds me that it's time I convert my home to a baker's bliss, the time when vanilla and chocolate-y flavors waft through air and we descend gracefully into it's blissful aromas.

So I headed straight to make these simple delightful cookies for our evenings. I adapted the recipe from here, however made a couple of changes. I kept it neat with no dry fruits or nuts added to the dough. Instead I chose to frost my cookies with chocolate and finely chopped pistachios. My Oatmeal and Raisin Cookies have been appreciated in the past. These are classic American cookies and the best bet for the ones like me who dislike oats in their true nature. Recipe is quite simple and follows a standard procedure of dry into wet ingredients format.

Classic Oatmeal Cookies

INGREDIENTS

1 cup plain flour
1 1/4 cups oatmeal
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 tbsp flax seed powder
2 tbsp water
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
A pinch of salt

Decorate:

1/2 cup melted dark chocolate
Slivered pistachios

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 375° F. Mix 1/2 tbsp flax seed powder into 2 tbsp water and keep in the fridge for a few hours. You will notice that the flax seed water will turn to a slimy mixture exactly like that of an egg. I have produced the best results from this mixture.

In a mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar, vanilla and butter until well blended. Add the oatmeal, flax meal water and stir well.

In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Gradually add to the oatmeal mixture, stirring well. Scoop the dough by tablespoonfuls, spacing each about an inch apart, onto the baking tray. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool.

For the frosting, melt the chocolate over double boiler or in a microwave. Dip one half of the cookie into the melted chocolate. Drain excess chocolate using the edge of a spatula. Dip into a finely chopped pistachios and allow it to cool over a plate.

These are good as is without any frostings. Frosting them is purely optional. I am not good at frosting, or must I admit that I have the least patience to decorate. However, this time I thought I must leave my laziness aside and try some hand at frosting. I opted to coat them partially with molten dark chocolate and pistachios.

I have been experimenting a lot with flax seeds and honestly, off late, I have begun to dislike even the faintest taste from flax seeds. Though the smell is not so pronounced in this recipe, my taste buds seem to identify it easily, which I don't like. So the frosting made it good for me. However, do not resist to try this. If I don't like it, it doesn't mean it's gross. You may love it. My family did. In fact, they merrily enjoyed it. You may use 1 egg instead of flaxseed.