Friday, August 05, 2011

Carmelita Oatmeal Cookies

This morning Sam woke up with the best bedhead.

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The little bugger wasn’t happy about having a camera pointed at him first thing in the morning.

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I never did get a very good shot, but darn—it was a good ‘do.  My boys are in terrible need of haircuts.  But that’s no fun, so it keeps getting put off—we have a few more weeks until school starts.

Best shot—still, it was the best view front on.

DSCF6268I made granola this morning.  I do often.  I seem to run out fast.  I must eat a lot of granola as I’m the only one around here that eats it.  Though I do put it in baggies and give it away and we’ve had company lately that appreciated it in a yogurt parfait.  This is the granola I always make since seeing this recipe on Barbara Bakes a couple months ago.  Oh, sometimes I change up some of the things I put in it and I often double the recipe, but what I love about Barbara’s recipe is the method.  Mix it up, bake it for just 20 minutes, then leav it on the pan until it’s totally cool.  That’s it, it’s clumpy and perfect.  In fact, it stays almost like a big, thin sheet of granola until you break it up, but it’s not rock hard and is chewy and almost caramel-like. 

Ahh, see where I’m going with this and the title to this post?  While putting away the granola, I sometimes taste it (Who am I kidding, I ALWAYS taste it!).  The granola has brown sugar and honey, sometimes I change the honey with agave nectar.  This morning, when I tasted it, I thought of Carmelita Bars.  Also known as Danger Bars or Chocolate Caramel Bars.  Whatever you call them, they are good—perfectly chocolaty and full of caramel, yet good and healthy with wholesome oats (ha!).

I decided to make oatmeal cookies and thought it would be fun to add a little chocolate on top and drizzle them with some melted caramel.  It turned out to not only be fun, but very tasty!

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I used a recipe from Pillsbury’s website for some Oatmeal Cookies we’d made for Cookie Carnival last year.  I’d remembered that they were a great, chewy oatmeal cookie.  I doubled the batch, but actually only drizzled a dozen cookies with caramel and sprinkled mini chocolate chips on the top.  After that, I just added some chocolate chips to the cookie dough and baked them without adding the caramel after they baked. 

I don’t even feel like typing the up recipe as I made them.  I’m lazy, no really, Kevin and I are going out tonight in just a little bit and I don’t have time.  Then he’s going out of town tomorrow for a week.  Should be quite the week!  I’m sure the boys will just be little angels for me while he’s gone. 

If you go to the link I’ve left there for Pillsbury’s Oatmeal Cookies, I doubled the recipe and used Best Life Buttery Baking Sticks instead of butter and I used whole wheat pastry flour, oh and I added 1/2 cup more flour than the recipe called for because I didn’t want them to be too flat and they were perfect.  I also left out the cinnamon.  Then just for some of the cookies, I sprinkled them with mini chocolate chips after they came out of the oven.  Once they cooled I drizzled them with some caramel, which I made with 4 ounces (15 caramels) of Kraft caramels (don’t forget to unwrap them! ha) and 2 ounces (1/4 cup) of heavy cream.  I just melted the caramel and cream in a glass dish in the microwave in 30 second intervals until it was all melted together.  It only took about two minutes.  Maybe three.  Once the caramel cooled a little, I put it into a piping bag with a small round tip and piped (drizzled) it over the cookies. 

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I got my Carmelita, Danger, Gooey-Oaty-Chocolaty-Caramel fix in with these and that is what I was aiming for!  I know, I could have just made the bars in a pan, and maybe that would have been easier, but I wanted cookies.  And to think, it all began with making some good, healthy granola to go with my yogurt this morning.  Must go now!  Later.

12 comments:

spontaneous-euphoria said...

Oh god. Heaven.

Kathleen said...

Oh! My! Goodness!!!!!

Lisa said...

Irresistible!

Lisa Ernst said...

I love an oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips (that's actually the only way I will eat them). Adding caramel is the "icing on the cake." :-)

Carolyn said...

Well, me with my bars and you with your cookies, we have carmelitas covered! ;)

Anonymous said...

LOVE that bedhead!! Also love the look of those cookies - delish
Mary

Barbara Bakes said...

Loved this post. I just made another batch of granola yesterday and I think it's impossible to get it out of the pan without nibbling on it. The cookies are a fantastic idea!

Lisa said...

Love that look when they need a haircut and after the haircut you can finally see their eyes. Cookies look delicious!

Chats the Comfy Cook said...

How yummy. The photo speaks well for that cookie.

I would be delighted, if you would link this to Bake with Bizzy.

http://bizzybakesb.blogspot.com/2011/08/bake-with-bizzy-12.html

Georgia Pellegrini said...

These look SO delicious. I love the drips of caramel.

Meg Luby said...

holy heavenly cookie, batman! caramlicious too! thanks for sharing!
-meg
@ http://clutzycooking.blogspot.com

Megan's Cookin' said...

The cookies look perfect, Terrific idea. I make a lot of granola too and I'm the only one who eats it. But That's OK with me, the only thing I don't have to share. ;)