Salted Lime Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies + 5 Delicious Oatmeal Cookie Links

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The flu hit our house last week and one by one we fell.  Before this unwelcomed visitor got the best of me, I made a batch of cookies hoping these crisp, salty/sweet treats might entice my little people to eat.  It worked.  Sitting in their pjs, flush with fever, hair unkempt, they each nibbled down a cookie.  “Mmm” and a thumbs up is all they could muster.  I didn’t expect anything more, just watching them eat again made me smile.

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I’m now recovering, slowly, from the flu.  I have a cup of lukewarm Echinacea tea sitting in front of me and a comfortable bed calling my nap name.  Attempts to write anything meaningful feel half-hearted, so for now I’ll rest.  Make these cookies, enjoy many, and share with friends and family.

Salted Lime Oatmeal White Chocolate Chip Cookies

Salty and sweet oatmeal cookies studded with white chocolate chips and paired with lime may just turn even the most devout dark chocolate lover! 

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes about 2 dozen

Ingredients:

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

3/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

14 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 cup sugar

1/4 light brown sugar

1 large egg

zest of 1 lime

1 teaspoon of fresh lime juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

1 cup good-quality white chocolate chips or 6 ounces of a good-quality white chocolate bar, chopped

1/2 teaspoon of Maldon Sea Salt or Pink Himalayan Salt for sprinkling

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.  Line 1 or 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.  Using a medium bowl whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.

Next, zest your lime and using your fingers combine the lime zest with the white sugar.  Add sugar to stand mixer bowl.

Using a paddle attachment, beat butter and both sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes scraping down the bowl once.  Add the egg, lime juice and vanilla and beat until combined.  Again, scrape the bowl making sure everything is well mixed.

Slowly add flour mixture and mix until just blended.  Add oats and white chocolate.  (I used Vermont Nut-Free white chocolate chips.)  Mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Using a medium cookie dough scoop (about 1 1/2 tablespoons) place dough on prepared baking sheets. Gently press down on each cookie ball until 3/4-inch thickness.  (I used my fingers, but the back of greased spoon will work as well.)

Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of salt.

Bake for about 14-16 minutes or until the cookies are golden brown.  Allow to cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack.  Cookies will last for a couple of days in air-tight container, at room temperature.  Enjoy!

5 Delicious Oatmeal Cookie Links!

I made these oatmeal brown sugar cookies two years ago and still get requests for them!

A s’more +a kiss cookie + a chewy oatmeal cookie  = heaven.  Head to Cooking Classy for Jaclyn’s creative and delicious recipe.

Biscoff fan?  Check out Two Peas and Their Pod’s recipe for deep dish Biscoff oatmeal toffee cookies. Wow!

My chewy oatmeal ginger cookies remind me of our summer vacation in Little Compton, RI last year.  Thinking of warm memories on a zero degree day helps!

My favorite kind of oatmeal cookie doesn’t have raisins in it.  I prefer chocolate chips- two fantastic cookies in one!

Support YES as I run the Boston Marathon on Aril 20th. https://www.crowdrise.com/youthenrichmentboston2015/fundraiser/kellyfitzpatrick1 Thank you in advance for your kindness and generosity!

Frosted Red Velvet Cookies + 5 Holiday Cookie Links You Can’t Miss!

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Did you ever watch Steal Magnolias?  The Julia Roberts movie that came out in 1989? No? You should put it on your Netflix list.  My sister and I watched it over and over.  We were obsessed with the movie and with Julia Roberts.  If you did watch it you might remember the groom’s cake: a red velvet cake shaped like an armadillo, covered in gray frosting.  This was my first introduction to red velvet.  Many years later when the cupcake craze hit Boston, I ate my first red velvet cupcake.  After taking a single bite I understood the obsession and, well, I became obsessed.  I ordered red velvet anything whenever I got a chance.  At my brother’s wedding two years ago, I stood in my beautiful, pewter colored bridesmaid dress and devoured two red velvet cupcakes during the course of one song.  I’m not ashamed; they were best I ever had!

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The combination of the cream cheese frosting and the cocoa are amazing together, but the thing that gets me every time is the bright, red crumb.  It’s not magic, I know.  The cookies get their vibrant color from red food coloring and natural cocoa powder.  It’s just magical baking science.

Last December, I saw a recipe for frosted red velvet cookies in Cook’s Illustrated.  I dog-eared the page, but never made the cookies.  This year I made sure they were in my holiday cookie rotation.

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Bubba and kids went nuts for them.  C asked, just before she shoved a cookie into her mouth, “Umm, are they red velvet?” My girl is hooked.  I know this is the season of sharing, kindness and generosity, but we didn’t share these cookies.  We ate them as if they were about to vanish.  Before long one cookie and a few crumbs remained.

Frosted Red Velvet Cookies

Recipe barely adapted from Cook’s Illustrated Christmas Cookies

makes about 22 cookies

Ingredients:

1 + 3/4 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon natural unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

12 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tablespoon red food coloring

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup of 2% Greek yogurt

4 ounces of cream cheese, softened

11/4 cups confectioners’ sugar

holiday sprinkles for decorating, optional

Directions:

Pre-heat your oven to 350F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a small bowl, whisk together your flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream 8 tablespoons (1 stick) of softened butter.  Add sugar and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes or so.  Next add your egg, food coloring and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and beat until combined.

Lower the speed and add half of the flour mixture, then the Greek yogurt and ending with the rest of the flour mixture.

Scoop up 2 tablespoons of dough and drop on prepared baking sheets.  Leave about 2 inches in between each dough mound.  Bake each sheet, separately, for about 16 minutes or until the centers are set.  Be sure to rotate the pan halfway through baking.  Allow the cookies to cool on the sheet pans for about 5 minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

While the cookies cool, prepare the cream cheese frosting.  Use a clean, dry bowl!  With a paddle attachment, mix the cream cheese, 4 tablespoons of butter and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla on medium speed for about a minute.  Lower the speed and add the confectioners’ sugar.  Mix for a minute.  Increase the speed to medium/high and beat until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.  Spread a spoonful of frosting on each cookie and decorate with sprinkles, if desired.  The cookies taste best the day they are made, but taste great the next day too!  If you have any left over, store them in an air-tight container at room temperature.  Enjoy!

5 Can’t Miss Holiday Cookie Recipes

Love white chocolate? How about peppermint?  Check out Not Without Salt’s white chocolate peppermint cookies with vanilla salt.  That’s right, vanilla salt. Yum!

My kids love hot cocoa.  Hot cocoa with a handful of marshmallows floating on top is their favorite winter-time drink.  I think I will blow their minds when I make Laura’s, at Fork Knife Swoon, recipe for flourless hot cocoa cookies!

Chocolate, caramel and salt need to happen during the holidays.  Head to Bakers Royale for salted chocolate caramel snickers cookie recipe.  My mouth is watering.

If you love thumbprint cookies, check out mini chocolate thumbprint cookies at Pinch of Yum.  They look like just the dessert to serve at your next holiday gathering!

My most pinned recipe: lemon ricotta cookies.  They will make your family swoon this holiday season!

The Great American Milk Drive is taking place now.  Feeding America will donate a gallon for a gallon until December 31st.  Consider making a donation today!