Spicy, Salty, Toasty, Sweet

Sometimes, economy leads to wonderful inventions.  In cooking, I think that happens more often than many other places.  In Italian cooking for example, yesterdays leftover bread could become panzanella, pappa al pomodoro and ribollita.  Yesterdays leftover herbs, stray vegetables and a heel of cheese find their way into frittata.  I love that.  I often plan meals that way and some interesting dishes result, with varying degrees of success.  This week, I applied this idea to a treat for Zack to take to work and game night and a rather delicious cookie emerged.  He was pretty insistent I share it with you.

My baking bowl is usually pretty full of fun options.  Different types of chips, dried fruits, nuts, coconut, etc, but it has gotten pretty low of late.  In the bowl were some golden raisins from January (you gotta love that shelf life) and a little bag of leftover white chocolate chips (from Christmas baking no less).  There was oatmeal on the shelf and plenty in the spice cupboard.  This is how it all came together and it was real good.  My base recipe for cookie invention almost always riffs off one of the most perfect cookies you'll ever eat.  I use it's method and ratios to guide me (usually I make a 1/2 batch of dough as compared to the linked recipe) and have fun with it.  You can find another cookie invention here.  Give cookie invention a try!  It's fun. :)

Toasted Oatmeal, Golden Raisin and White Chocolate Spice Cookies
Makes about 2 dozen 2.5" cookies

1/2 cup butter, room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned oats
3/4 cup golden (or regular) raisins
1/2 - 2/3 cup white chocolate chips
Flake salt or fleur de sel to finish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spread old-fashioned oats on a baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes until nicely toasted.  Allow to cool.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients - flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, kosher salt and baking soda.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream together the butter and sugars for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides a couple of times.  Now beat in egg and bourbon until well combined.

Add dry mixture and mix until just combined.  A few streaks of flour are just fine at this point.  Add cooled oats, raisins and white chocolate chips, mixing just 10 seconds or so until all incorporated.

At this point, you need to chill the dough for an hour or for optimum flavor - overnight.

Scoop out the dough using a medium size levered ice cream scoop or a large spoon.  Press down slightly so its not too dome shaped.  For this cookie, this is helpful to ensure it bakes evenly.  Sprinkle cookie lightly with flake salt or fleur de sel.  Skip this salt on some of the cookies if you aren't sure you'll love it.  We do!

Bake for 9-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven.  Cool on wire racks.  Wonderful warm after 10 minutes and every minute after that.