Books I Cook On is an event I’m doing for January where I review one of my top 5 favorite cookbooks each week and post my favorite recipe from that book.  Learn to cook, eat healthier – it’s fun!

Before I started this blog, I wrote a food blog where I took a picture of everything I ate and occasionally posted recipes. I hated it.  It took a lot of convincing from my sister to give blogging another shot because I didn’t like blogging on my food blog AT ALL.  Turns out, I have more of a passion for reading and it makes this blog a joy to write on. However, I do like cooking, so I wanted to do a feature this month of some cookbooks that I cook from over and over again.  And hey, cookbooks are books, right?

This week’s cookbook is Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich.

My husband bought me this book and I love it. Mostly because I love cookies.  Alice spent a lot of time going through the chemistry of making the perfect cookie and questioning traditional methods to see if they really did make the best cookies.  The biggest things I learned from the intro were measuring flour very carefully so you don’t use too much and refrigerating the dough.  Those two things will make the chewiest, yummiest cookies ever.  Plus, this book has lots of pictures. Alice’s recipes are so good that my cookies actually look like the pictures when they are done. Huzzah!

This is hands down my favorite recipe from this book.  These oatmeal cookies are chewy and delicious.

Wheat-Free Double-Oatmeal Cookies

If you love oats as I do, the idea of oatmeal cookies with both rolled oats and oat flour (instead of the usual wheat flour) should tempt you, regardless of whether you can eat wheat or not.  I like these so much that I may never look back.  Xanthan gum is the magic ingredient (it’s also, by the way, a natural ingredient) that acts like gluten, adding chewiness to cookies made with flours that don’t naturally contain gluten.  You can even adjust the chewiness of your cookie by mixing the batter more or mixing it less.  Even chewy cookies are improved by crunchy edge, and that’s what the dull side of the foil provides.

1 cup plus 3 TBS oat flour

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp xathan gum

1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

Generous 1 cup coarsely chopped or broken pecan or walnut pieces

1 cup raisins or chocolate chips (or butterscotch chips are yummy!)

 

Combine the oat flour, rolled oats, salt, baking soda, and xathan gum in a medium bowl and combine with a fork.

 

In a large bowl, mix the melted butter, sugars, cinnamon, nutmeg, and vanilla.  Whisk in the eggs.  Stir in the oat mixture and mix the batter briskly for about 1 minute (to activate the binding power of the xanthan gum – the more you mix, the chewier and less crunchy the cookies will be). Stir in the nuts and raisins.  Let the dough stand for at least 1 but preferably 2 hours or (better still) cover and refrigerate overnight.

 

Preheat the oven to 325 F.  Scoop 2 TBS of the dough and place 2 inches apart on lined or greased cookie sheets.  Bake for 16-20 minutes, until the cookies are deep golden brown.