Grab some milk and cookies

I can't remember the last time I made cookies.  Okay, I just looked it up, and it was back in April when I made lemon sablés for the Livestrong event.  But those were slice-and-bake cookies, which I pretty much never make.  Occasionally I'll make roll-and-cut-out cookies, especially around Christmas or when I'm in the mood for shortbread.  But my favorite type of cookie is drop cookies.  You know, your usual chocolate chip sort of cookies.  I've been so busy baking other delicious things that I haven't really had time to make cookies.  Not to mention that I haven't really wanted to have them around when there were already other calorie-laden things to eat.  My willpower is getting enough of a workout without that.  =)

Like a lot of the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers, I was happy to see a cookie chosen for this week.  This week's recipe--Granola Grabbers--was chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking.  I've made oatmeal cookies before, but never used granola.  Or wheat germ, for that matter.  So off to the bulk department I went.  Wow--I had no idea that Central Market (and even my local HEB) carried that many different types of bulk granola.  Following Dorie's directive to avoid granola with fruit, I settled on something called Gingersnap Granola, which had a nice cinnamon/ginger flavor.  And my 1/2 cup of wheat germ (only needed 1/3, but I overshot a bit) set me back all of $0.25 (good job, right Prudy? =) )  I hate coconut, so that was out.  Almonds and peanuts aren't high on my list either.  I thought about substituting pecans from my freezer, but decided to leave the nuts out in the hopes that my kiddos would eat the cookies.  I checked the pantry and found about 3/4 cup of mini chips, which seemed like a good addition, and increased the raisins to 1 cup to make up the rest of the volume.  

Dorie's directions call for using a stand mixer, but I rarely bother with that for this sort of cookie.  So I pulled out my favorite mixing bowl and wooden spoon and went to work.  Having the butter sufficiently softened helps when mixing by hand.  I creamed the butter and sugars (white and brown) together.  Since I was leaving out the salty peanuts, I increased the salt to 1/2 teaspoon, and added 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla as well.  After beating in the egg and stirring in the flour, I mixed in all of the additions.  It seemed a bit odd that there wasn't any baking powder or baking soda, but Dorie usually knows what she's doing.  

While preheating the oven, I pulled out some baking sheets (I used rimmed half-sheet pans from my restaurant supply store) and lined them with parchment.  I also got out my favorite cookie dough disher (also from the restaurant supply store--love that place) and started scooping.  I must have guessed right on which size scoop to use, because I ended up with exactly three dozen cookies, and the recipe says about 40.  Close enough!  My cookies ended up baking for about 13 minutes.  They didn't get really brown, but I didn't want to overbake them.

The verdict?  Brianna tried one, but didn't like it.  Gillian liked hers, but she eats almost anything, especially if there's "shawkit" involved.  Oh, and raisins--she absolutely loves raisins. I thought they were pretty good.  The wheat germ gives them an interesting nutty flavor, even though I didn't add any nuts.  I'm not sure if I really like it or not, but it was definitely worth a try.  I liked the flavor from the granola I used, though.  

Want to try these for yourself (and see what was originally supposed to go into them)?  Head on over to Michelle's blog, or go and get your own copy of Baking From My Home to Yours!