I have two words for you. Dorm. Room. This is totally a recipe I'd like to send to my dear cousins off at college as soon as it gets cool enough that these wonderful items don't melt or fall apart before they get there. And if you're lucky enough to have a fridge in your room (we did, even in high school), you can totally make this recipe in your dorm room and be a hit on your hall.
I love to take photographing opportunities to highlight special gifts we have received. I found this olive wood tray that Paul's folks brought us from Greece to be a perfect way to display the cookies. . .although as good as the cookies are, the tray would constantly need to be replenished.
OATMEAL COCONUT CRISPIES #1
2 C quick oats
¾ C brown sugar
½ t. salt
¾ C coconut
½ C chocolate chips
½ C chopped nuts (generally almonds)
½ C oil
½ t. vanilla
1 or 2 eggs, beaten
Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the mixture. Stir oil and flavorings together and pour into the well. Add egg whites and mix until dry ingredients are moist. Using two soup spoons, form ball of cookie dough in bowl and place onto oiled cookie sheet and pack tightly to shape cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes. The number of eggs depends upon amount of added ingredients, such as raisins, nuts, chips, etc. I usually make a triple batch as these cookies are habit forming.
OATMEAL COCONUT CRISPIES #2
6 C quick oats
1 ½ C brown sugar
1 ½ t. salt
2 ¼ C coconut
1 ½ C chopped nuts (generally almonds)
1 ½ C chocolate chips (opt)
1 ½ C Smart Balance oil
1 T vanilla
2 t. almond flavor
5 egg whites
Place dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Make a well in the middle of the mixture. Stir oil and flavorings together and pour into the well. Add egg whites and mix until dry ingredients are moist. Using two soup spoons, form ball of cookie dough in bowl, place onto un-oiled cookie sheet, flatten and pack around edges to shape cookie. Bake in a 350 degree oven 12-15 minutes. Cool cookies in pan for 5 minutes before moving to a wire rack. Push cookies back together if they break apart when taking them from the cookie sheet. They usually set okay. Variations: Try using other foods you might find in granola. Raisins tend to burn. Yield: about 50 medium cookies.
The following is a copy of an email I sent to our most devoted house guest, Garrett Nudd, for which our "Gachett Suite" is named. (Those not in the know may not know how much fun I get out of calling Garrett this name. It originally came from Paul and Garrett's barber who has a hard time saying Garrett because of the language barrier. However, she's great at cutting hair, and that's most important.) Paul was reading over my shoulder and said I wrote a complete blog post to Garrett and was leaving out important information other readers may glean, too.
Possibly, this idea came from allrecipes.com. I won't take the credit for it, but I do recommend it. I'm not generally a fan of oatmeal cookies, but with the additional ingredients, I will eat them with no additional encouragement.
Ok, the first thing about this recipe is DON"T TURN YOUR NOSE UP AT IT! It came out of the Moosewood Simple Suppers cookbook. Moosewood also has recipes for fruit flavored mousse. It doesn't taste like cheese. It just tastes like fluffy chocolate.
This is a great recipe to do something productive with the leftovers from lasagna. Moreover, why not serve it as dessert FOR the lasagna? The recipe is easy, but I think I remember asking my husband to mix the ingredients because he could do it faster than me. Time is of the essence because the chocolate chips can harden so quickly.
