loveysoven

Several weeks ago, before cookie month even started, I was trying to decide what to bake when a blog post from King Arthur Flour appeared on my Facebook wall.  The recipe was for their Kids’ Choice Chip & Fruit Oatmeal Cookies.  The name was a little unwieldy, but the recipe itself looked delicious (as most KAF recipes do), and the feedback from bakers across the country was coming in at warp speed – they ARE delicious!  I was intrigued by the fact that they used oatmeal and white whole wheat flour, making them vaguely healthy, and also that they encouraged you to use whatever add-in combination you desired.  Mrslovey and I started throwing out combination ideas for when I’d make these at some point in the future.  After several minutes of back and forth, I mentioned that we had some dried sour cherries left over from another recipe.  Oooh, you know what would go good with those?  Dark chocolate chips!  Yep, we’ve got those, too.  But what about the nuts?  And then it hit us both at the same time – PISTACHIOS – and we nearly fell over each other racing for the kitchen.  Who cares about dinner, we have to make these cookies NOW!!!!!

Reading the recipe reviews already posted, it seemed that the only critique was that 3 full cups of add-ins was a bit too much.  I decided to go with 3/4 cups each of fruit, chips, and nuts, which ended up being just about perfect.  The cookies smelled sooooooo goooooooood in the oven, it was sheer torture waiting for them to cool enough to try them.  Oh lord, words can hardly describe these cookies.  They cookies are something special.  No, they are spectacular.  The oatmeal and white whole wheat flour give a nice chew, and the dark chocolate/sour cherry/pistachio combo is the perfect blend of sweet, tart, and salty.

I brought them in to work the next day, put the container in the normal “share your noms” spot, and brought a couple over to two of my coworkers who had come in early, and who appreciate samples.  I can’t rightly translate the noises that they made as they ate them, but they were good noises.  One of them looked up, eyes slightly glazed, and asked me to marry her.  I reminded her that I was already married, but she didn’t care. I then reminded her that she herself was engaged, and the response to that was “he doesn’t make me cookies like this.”  They then both got up and hurried over to the container to grab a few more.  Apparently in addition to being delicious, because they have cherries in them they can be justified as ‘fruit’ for people on point-counting weight loss plans.  “Gotta go get more fruit!” is a refrain I heard more than once that morning.

And how do you know a cookie is really special, and is a recipe for the ages?  When you overhear a snippet of conversation more than a month later “those cookies that lovey made, the ones with the cherries?  Best cookies I ever had.  Think she’ll make them again if we ask nice?”   THAT, my friends, is a sign of a good cookie.  So make away, experiment with your add-ins, and then let me know what you think!  I’ve already thought of another variation that I can’t wait to try.  Wonder if I have everything I need in the fridge?