Baking help

[becomingkate]

 I'm a cook, not a baker, so I feel dumb asking this but I volunteered to do a cooking activity with some young kids on Thursday at my church.  Turns out they wanted me to make a dessert so I kind of came up with an interactive oatmeal cookie thing where they can help make the dough and then add their own mix ins to their cookies.

Problem is I don't really know how to make oatmeal cookies. I need a fairly simple recipe that doesn't involve food processors and mixers and all that-is there a good recipe any of you have used that you can just use a spoon to mix?

Thanks so much.

Comments

I LUV BAKEENG

[seventhbard]

OMG, no bake cookies are awesome for being an easy oatmeal cookie, and of course the easiest oatmeal cookie in the universe is the Scottish flapjack. But of course in both cases they're a bit messy and do require the heat source (no bakes need saucepan, flapjacks need saucepan and also to be baked) so your idea is probably a lot better lol!

What a great thought, letting the kids add their own stuff. Choc chips, M&Ms, coconut... there's no limit to the fun tasty bits of things the kids could assault their cookies with lol. EVERYTHING tastes good with oatmeal (I LOVE oatmeal and that is part of the reason)!

Here's the easiest not-quite-so-messy Oatmeal Cookies recipe I know (to which I always add at least choc chips as they're just a touch plain without SOMETHING in them)

Dry Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar

2 cup flour
2 1/2 cup oatmeal
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda

choc chips, coconut, or any and everything else amazing to taste (use at least 1 cup for best results)

Wet Ingredients
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla (more is better than less so if in doubt use 2)

Preheat oven to 200% (ETA um oops I meant degrees, not percent... and uh obviously, that's in Celsius because I'm in the UK, and I uh, I don't know the conversion off the top of my head I'm sorry!)

Cream together all of the wet ingredients with the sugar and brown sugar. Mix all the other dry ingredients together well, and then add them slowly to the wet mixture, stirring to incorporate everything together as well as you can. The dough will be quite stiff. Drop this by spoonfuls onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake about 10 mins.

The extra fun bits could be added either in a small individual bowl or pressed lovingly into each individual cookie with small clumsy dough-coated fingers. ;D

Re: I LUV BAKEENG

[becomingkate]

LOL I figured it was celsius, it's a bit low! And I don't know the conversion off the top of my head either but I could look it up :)

Re: I LUV BAKEENG

[killiara]

Geez, I was about to look up my mom's no-bake oatmeal cookies when you replied.

It looks rather similar, but I think my mom's uses the microwave to melt the chocolate. Or maybe I'm remembering her fudge.

Re: I LUV BAKEENG

[becomingkate]

Oh please, I'm sure it's great. I'll take the recipe even though I plan to bake at this thing. I can make the no bake ones with my son sometime. I can see him now, "How long do these have to cook?" "Oh, you don't cook them. Have one." "*mind blown*"

Re: I LUV BAKEENG

[killiara]

Okay! Here's the lj entry Mom has it posted at. http://may-lyn.livejournal.com/729780.html?mode=reply#add_comment

"this will really keep your kitchen cool. and it has whole grains, protein, and not tons of cookies.

makes 6 cookies, and is 104 calories per cookie. (sodium, 21 mg. hardly any.)

stir together 1/3 cup sugar or substitute 2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa and 2 tablespoons skim milk in a microwave safe bowl. microwave on high for 1 to 1 1/4 minutes or until boiling, stirring once.

stir in 2 tablespoons peanut butter, crunchy or smooth, your choice, and 1/4 teaspoon of vanilla until combined. stir in 1/2 cut quick cooking rolled oats. drop by spoonfuls onto a waxed paper lined plate to make 6 cookies. cool in freezer for 10 minutes before serving. can keep in fridge until the guys discover where you hid them."

Re: I LUV BAKEENG

[seventhbard]

I love No Bakes sooooo much <3 Thanks for sharing, I'm especially excited that this makes a small batch. Sometimes you need some cookies in your life but can't be arsed to find homes for a whole batch and know you won't finish them yourself!

[killiara]

Oh,and I checked. Mom's microwave fudge recipe is in her LJ under the recipes tag, so grab that if you want it. Most of her recipes tend to be high flavor, low difficulty.

http://may-lyn.livejournal.com/tag/recipe

[becomingkate]

I had no idea your mom was on LJ too :) Thanks for the recipes!