Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies

It was early Sunday morning and T refused to get out of his pj's.  Fine, I thought, I'm not getting out of mine either; and what's more, lets make this a lazy Sunday funday.  Gorgeous light streamed in through the kitchen window, making the it the only room I wanted to be in at that moment.  So clad in said pj's we proceeded to make some of the best. cookies. ever.  No really they're easy, crowd pleasers that rock so what are you waiting for? 

Oatmeal Chocolate Cherry Cookies

adapted from Smitten Kitchen

(not because the recipe needed changing, just used what I had on hand and to suit our tastes.  I'm sure this recipe, like all her recipes, is perfect)

you will need:
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick) at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon allspice
1 cup steel cut oats
12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup chopped unsweetened dried cherries

I wash out glass jars from pasta sauce etc. and use them to store pantry items, like the oats in the bottom right.  A great way to reuse and store your food in safe glass containers instead of plastic, two things I'm trying to do more of.  

Preheat the oven to 350°.  With an electric mixer, beat the butter in a large bowl until light and fluffy.  Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla.  Beat a few minutes until well mixed.  Add the eggs and mix just to include in the batter.  In another bowl add the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice and stir well with a metal whisk.  Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture with the mixer on low.  Once mixed in, add the second half.  Next stir in the oats, chocolate chips, cherries and almonds.   

Use a tablespoon to drop the dough onto a greased cookie sheet, spacing them about two inches apart.   

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until golden.  

Remove from the oven and let cool for one minute.  Then transfer to a rack to completely cool.  Store at room temperature in an air tight container.  

Needless to say they were a hit.

This recipe yields about 3 dozen cookies.  Next time I will try flash freezing some of the dough.  In case your wondering this is done by dropping the dough with a tablespoon onto the cookie sheet and then storing the sheet in the freezer until firm.  Then transfer the frozen dough pieces to a freezer bag.  This will help with the tons of cookies that are baked and eaten in too short a time (our small house hold doesn't need three dozen cookies!)  And I can bake a few off at a time for fresh cookies wheneva!  When baking the frozen dough, adjust your cooking time, cookies will need a little longer to golden.

oxx Dion