Oatmeal, Cinnamon Chip, and Pecan Cookies

Hi all=) So the past few days I have been sick. Like REALLY sick=( Even as I type this post I'm still only just recovering. That being said, food is the last thing on my mind. I've barely been eating and I prefer to just sleep all day and watch tv. But I wanted to keep you guys updated and let you know what's going on with me.

Don't worry, my lovely boyfriend has been taking amazing care of me=) When I was starting to feel like I could eat again he made me tomato soup and the best grilled cheese sandwich ever! Whole wheat bread with swirled Colby jack cheese. Mmmmmmmm=) And he even skipped his after school track practices to bring me chicken noodle soup and OJ. He's the best!

Even so, I have this recipe I made before I got sick and I wanted to share it with you. You probably have all the ingredients for in your house. I knew I wanted to use up my cinnamon chips so I saw this recipe and adapted it to accommodate my needs. They have a great texture, and it has been awhile since I've had a good oatmeal cookie. We loved the flavors and though chocolate chips were called for in the original recipe, I liked the cinnamon chips better because combined with the pecans it tasted like candied nuts. Kinda. They are just really good so you should try them!

Oatmeal, Cinnamon Chip, and Pecan Cookies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon 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 ground clove
1 cup quick-cooking oats
1 cup chopped pecans
10 ounces cinnamon chips

Preheat oven to 350°F. Using an electric mixer, beat the butter in a bowl until light and fluffy. Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla, and beat until well mixed, about three minutes. Stir in eggs, one at a time. Sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove in a separate bowl. Add half of the flour mixture to the butter with the mixer on low speed. Once the flour has been incorporated, add the second half. Stir in the oats, pecans, and chocolate chips.

Drop the dough, by the tablespoon, onto the cookie sheet and bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and cool the cookies on a rack. Store at room temperature in a cookie jar or other airtight container.

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

These were kind of yucky. I'm not beating around the bush in this post. I seriously did not like this. Not every recipe's a winner right? Yeah well these didn't even place in the top ten. I'm sad to even admit where I got these from because she usually never fails me. I've gotten so many great recipes from her blog, and I even follow her on Twitter! But for the first time, a Joy the Baker recipe failed me. Or rather, I failed at her recipe is probably more accurate. I read through a ton of the comments and everyone gave the recipe rave reviews and said they'd make it again and again. Weird.

These oatmeal pancakes sounded like a a good option. They were a slightly healthier pancake, and looked fluffy enough. Unfortunately, they were completely not. They were extremely runny, resulting in flat (non-fluffy) pancakes. My least favorite, ever. The thing was, I did not taste "cookie" (or "oatmeal" for that matter) in the pancake at all.

Don't you hate the never ending cycle of needing buttermilk but not having it, and having buttermilk and then it going bad because you have no use for it? Maybe it's just me but it can be a bit of a problem. These pancakes called for a whole 2 cups. I didn't have any so I did the ole make-it-yourself version with milk and cream of tartar. Right after this, I began to realize something was wrong. I don't know, something about the aroma it was giving off gave me an odd feeling, but I kept going. Once everything was all combined, then I could visibly see something was a miss. It was very watery. After a small taste test, I was completely repulsed. I know pancake batter isn't necessarily sweet or anything, but this was borderline foul. Soooo sour and gross. This is why I wonder if my "homemade" buttermilk may have been the problem.

The oats in the batter were not very noticeable, despite the fact that these are oatmeal pancakes. And I would never consider these reminiscent of a cookie. And terribly so, this batch made well over 40 pancakes! And they were averaged sized ones, too. So I ended up shoving a ton in the freezer and not telling anyone in my family that I didn't like them. So hopefully they will unsuspectingly finish them up hehe.

Oatmeal Cookie Pancakes

from Joy the Baker

2 eggs
1 1/2 cups flour
heaping 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
healthy pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
2 cups buttermilk
1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
4 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup golden raisins (I omitted these)
oil or cooking spray (for cooking)

Step 1: In a large bowl beat eggs. Add buttermilk, butter , maple syrup and vanilla and mix well. Add flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt. Mix well until mostly smooth. Fold in raisins and let batter set for a few minutes.

Step 2: Heat griddle or pan over medium heat. Add a teaspoon of oil to the pan or spray with cooking spray. You can test to see if the pan is hot enough by adding a few drops of water, when the drops start to dance its hot enough.

Step 3: Pour 2 Tablespoons of batter onto the griddle. Cook on the first side until bubbles that form start to pop. You can also gently lift up the pancake to make sure the bottom is not overcooking, if it is the pan may be too hot and you will need to adjust the heat. Flip the pancake over with a spatula and cook until golden brown. Repeat until all the batter is gone. Let cooked pancakes rest on a heat proof plate in a 200 degree F oven until ready to serve.