Stirring it up:

Storm the kitchen: Tasty, chewy and quick to make – what more could you ask for? Oh, and the two friends? Toffee bits and Craisins .

Makes:

About 4 dozen  -depending on the size of your cookie scoop

Oven:

350°F    175°C

Bake:

8-10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1-1/2 c flour (from King Arthur Baking Company, of course)
• 1 t baking soda
• 1 c butter
• 3/4 c white sugar
• 3/4 c brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 t vanilla extract
• 1-1/2 c oatmeal (old fashioned style)
• 1 c chocolate chips (your choice)
• 1 c Craisins
• 1 c toffee bits

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350°F/175°C.
• Sift the flour and baking soda together and set aside.
• In another bowl cream the butter and sugars together until well blended.
• Add egg and vanilla extract.
• Gradually add in the flour-baking soda mixture. A little at a time and carefully if you are using a stand mixer or you’ll have a flour storm!
• Gradually add the oatmeal, Craisins, chocolate chips and toffee bits.
• Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls and place 2″/5cm apart on parchment lined baking sheet. You may wish to chill the dough before baking although I found it didn’t make a lot of difference (maybe it’s my oven) and I’m partial to the thin, spread-out cookies.
• Bake 8-10 minutes although as the saying goes – your mileage may differ

Dishing it out:

This winter has been a good one. We’ve had lots of snow storms. Sugarbush Resort, just one mile from us, is reporting a total of 18 feet of snow at the top of the mountain, that’s almost 5.5 meters of snow.  Today we had a big storm. Well actually the storm started yesterday and was still going this evening. In ski country this a very good thing . When all is said and done, the accumulation was about 18″/45cm. In addition to what we have already received, the snow banks are getting higher each day.

Our guests were keen to get to the slopes so everyone was finished breakfast and out the door, ready for the 9:04 mountain shuttle pick-up.

With the skiers gone for the day, morning housekeeping was completed in short order.

This was an excellent chance to bake up a storm! Time to try some new recipes with no interruption, well,  except for our cat Tigger wanting to be fed… again!

Now which ones to try With so many cookbooks and little pieces of paper with recipes scribbled on them, my choice was limited only by what was in the pantry. I like recipes that use every-day ingredients and after careful consideration, this one was the obvious choice.

Chocolate chips, toffee bits and Craisins, three of my favourite items to add to cookies

Look out kitchen, ingredients were flying out the the pantry and onto the counter faster than the snowflakes were falling outside – which was pretty fast!

While the storm brought pristine white flakes to the outside world, the stand mixer, turned on a bit too fast, brought a storm of white flour to the baking counter! Cleaned up and ready to proceed, the cookies were popped into the oven. I could hardly wait for them to be baked and cooled so I could “test” one.

Verdict? My baking storm produced a very tasty and chewy cookie.

Bon appetite!