{Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies}

Well, the new school year is upon us. I know a lot of people are yet to start, but Bean started his Junior year last week.

And I'm not the least bit excited about it. Not only do I hate going to bed at a 'reasonable hour' and getting up early, I hate that he's so big. Seriously with the time? Where??? I don't even understand.

He used to eat Maple and Brown Sugar Oatmeal every day before school. Every. Day. For years and years. Probably 8 years straight, that's all the boy would eat. Oatmeal, oatmeal, oatmeal. He has, of course, since discovered the joys of Waffle Crisp (which I made into cupcakes here). He still loves the oatmeal, but perhaps not quite as much.

It seemed quite necessary to make it into a cookie though, right? Yes, I thought so.

This is a super simple recipe. It took less than 10 minutes to whip up and 10 minutes to bake. Quick, easy, and a wholesome lunch box snack. You know exactly what are in these puppies.

 It doesn't matter if we love it, or hate it, the fact is, the new school year is upon us. Even if I think it's totally dumb and that time is seriously mean, I just have to deal.

Cookies help.

Tina

Maple & Brown Sugar Oatmeal Cookies

recipes by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

yield: 12-14 three inch cookies 

or 2 dozen two inch cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened 

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup pure maple syrup

1 egg

1 teaspoon maple extract*

1 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt 

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

*I like the taste and texture of the maple syrup, but it isn't maple enough for me, so I also add the extract. You can taste after adding the syrup and decide how much, if any, extract you like. 

(I make my cookies rather large, you can make them smaller. If you make them smaller, watch the baking time, start with 8 minutes, but they generally take about the same amount of time as the larger cookies)

Preheat oven to 375.

Cream together the butter & the sugars. Beat in the egg. Add in the syrup & extract (see above). Then add dry ingredients except oats. Mix well. Then add oats. 

Drop onto parchment lined, silpat lined, or greased baking sheets.

Bake for 8-11 mins. Allow to cool 5 mins before moving to cooling racks.

{Peanut Butter Oatmeal M&M Cookies}

 

You know how they say you can have too much of a good thing?

False.

Because peanut butter, oats, and M&M are all good things. If you mix them together with sugar & butter (again, good things), throw in a little flour and a few extra things, you'd THINK it'd be too much. Too much of a good thing. 

But you'd be wrong.

My husband was once such thinker. When I told him I was making PB Oatmeal cookies he thought that sounded good. When I said I was putting in M&Ms he began to doubt.

"Maybe that's TOO much".

Wrong.

He LOVES them. So clearly, I was right.

As usual. ;)

These are soft, tender, and peanuty with bursts of M&M goodness.

They are quick and easy to make. Make them and your family too will go from doubters to believers.

For real.

You can always use chocolate chips instead of M&Ms, or leave the chocolate out altogether (but, WHY? I ask. WHY??).

The perfect thing about these cookies is this:

Not too much oatmeal for someone who isn't an oatmeal fan, but not too little oatmeal for someone who IS an oatmeal.

Oatmeal cookies are hubs favorite, but not Bean's. Bean's favs are peanut butter and chocolate chip.

So, well, I made this cookie and all was right in the land.

A true winner in our house.

Hope you like 'em too!

Tina

P.S. If you haven’t already,  you can ‘like’ my Facebook page here, and follow me on twitter here, and you can follow me on instagram here.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal M&M Cookies

Recipe by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

3/4  cup ( 1 1/2 sticks) butter (at room temp)

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup M&Ms

Preheat oven to 375 F.

Mix together the flour, soda, oats, and salt in a bowl. Set aside. 

In a mixing bowl, cream the softened butter & the sugars together. Add the eggs, then the vanilla. Mix in the peanut butter. Slowly add the dry ingredients in. Once they are incorporated, stir in M&Ms.

Roll into balls and place on parchment paper lined (or silpat or greased) cookie sheets.

Flatten slightly with a fork in the classic peanut butter cookie "criss cross".

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Allow to cool for about 3 minutes before moving to cooling rack.

{ Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cake & Firefly }

 If I asked you what a Browncoat was, would you know?

Or would you simply stammer, "Uh... a coat..that is brown?".

If you know the correct answer to this question, I'll scootch over on the couch, cause we are about to become good friends.

"Browncoat" is a nickname for the Independence fighters in Joss Whedon's much loved, but tragically short lived series, Firefly.

Quick aside. I freaking love Joss Whedon.

I mean, Firefly, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, The Avengers. And.. Hello people, he wrote the screenplay for Toy Story. TOY STORY. Do you hear me??? *I love you Joss* (Don't tell my husband).

As I said, Firefly was short lived, short as in one season. 14 episodes. 14 episodes, however, of goodness.

There is also a movie, Serenity, made some 3 years after the end of the show, but that's another story
(story is, I haven't watched it yet! gasp!).

This is Malcolm (Mal) Reynolds, the captain of the Serenity. 

I have no idea where this photo is actually from, but I assume all copyright belongs to Fox or Joss Whedon
mmmm... Nathan Fillion. 

Ok, a little background here, and this will sound SO weird, but... This show takes place in what seems to be the old west... in outer space.

Confused? Yeah, ok, but 'saucesome. Believe me.

What does any of this have to do with baked goods? Well, my friend Darla of Bakingdom, who is also a rabid fan, asked me if I'd like to team up with her to do a Firefly post. Um. OK!

So, here we are. Today marks the 10th anniversary of the premiere of the show.

Now, 10 years ago I did not watch it. If you were a fan back then, you can blame me as one of the non-watchers and therefore, I am, in part, responsible for the show's demise. Don't rub it in too much though, I blame myself as well. Bad Tina! Bad! BAD!

 I'd like to thank Netflix for allowing me to stream this wonder into my house now though! 

Firefly takes place in 2517 and our planet is now referred to as "Earth That Was".  Food is not easy to come by up there in outer space and they mostly live on artificial proteins and flavorings. Very, very basic.

The cake I decided to make is rustic & quite basic. Now, they would have a hard time coming across the sugars in this cake, and possibly the flour. In episode eight (Out of Gas), when Kaylee makes the Doctor a birthday cake, she mentions that she couldn't find enough flour & that it was mostly made of the same proteins they'd just eaten for dinner.

I don't think I could make ANYTHING delicious from their stores!

Basically, as River once said: "My food is problematic." 

So this is what I've ended up with.

This recipe, like my last, Striped Delight, comes from the Family Cookbook I mentioned.

It's an Oatmeal Cake.

When I told my hubs I was making an Oatmeal Cake, he objected. 

When it was done, he no longer objected. The Bean didn't either. In fact, the Bean went back for seconds.

This is my Mother In Law's recipe, but tweaked a bit.

You'll  need:

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cake

Cake:

1 1/4 Cups Boiling Water

1 Cup uncooked Quick Oats

1/2 Cup (1 stick) Butter, softened

2 eggs

1 Cup Brown Sugar, packed

1 Cup White Sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon Cinnamon

1 1/3 Cups Flour

dash of Nutmeg

 For Icing:

1/2 stick butter

1 Cup brown sugar

1/4 Cup evaporated milk

Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F.

 Measure your oats into a large, heat proof bowl. 

Boil up your water.

Pour over your oats & allow to soak for 15 minutes.

Measure out your cake ingredients and beat together.

After the 15 minutes, your oats will be super thick & sticky, like this.

Add them to your cake mix & beat a couple minutes.

Pour into a greased 9x13 pan & bake for 30 minutes.

While baking, prep your icing.

This is where mother in law and I parted ways. Her icing contains nuts (which I don't like) and coconut (which the hubs and Bean do not like). 

Internet, save me!

And so it did. I found an extremely similar recipe by My Wooden Spoon, yet her icing was much more appealing to us. From her recipe, I also got the idea to add the cinnamon & dash of nutmeg (her's calls for 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg, but I just wanted a hint).

So, I made her caramely icing.

 Heat the brown sugar, butter, and evaporated milk in a pan. When melted nicely, remove from heat.

 Then add enough powdered sugar to thicken, but still be able to pour. Just throw in a little at a time until you get to a nice consistency. As you can probably see in the photo above, I poked holes into the cake so that the icing would seep into the cake.

YUS.

Pour over hot cake.

Serve warm or cold.

Amazing both ways.

If my picky boys like it, I'm pretty darn sure Mal and the Serenity crew would approve!

Now, go visit Darla and see her AMAZING Mudder's Milk cupcakes!! Chocolate amazingness folks! 

Go see!

photo by Darla of Bakingdom.com

 Bakingdom

Happy Firefly Day!

also not my photo. It's Fox's. Or Joss'. Or someone else's!

Tina

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Somewhat Simple