Chocolate M&M Oatmeal Cookies and Apple Cinnamon Walnut Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Oatmeal M&M cookie with flax and Omega 3's

Yup, I'm still on the same kick as a little while ago. I do get obsessed sometimes with the variations of a recipe, and at times make myself sick of it by preparing it to many gazillion ways. This Oatmeal Cookie thing seems to be heading that way. There is a good chance you won't be seeing this for a year when I'm done with her!
Speaking of - this blog might be a handy thing to check in a year or two from now what I liked cooking back then!

Well, well... so it happens I am in the cereal aisle of a well-known Minnesota grocery store, and with no hidden agenda I run into a bunch of different looking instant oatmeal containers. These look somewhat wholesome, they are made from the whole rolled oats, not the shredded little Quaker instant oats. They advertise added flax and omega 3's and interesting flavor combinations! If you want to check them out they have a website at: www.betteroats.com with even more flavors!

So, at less then a $1.50/box what's a girl supposed to do?

Make more cookies, I guess?!

Now, I have to admit, one other culprit had his hands in the cookie jar! My brand new ice cream scooper! I have been dreaming about one of these for years! It's the kind that scoops and then releases it all with a swift swoosh of a little blade inside by pressing the little handle! For ice cream of course, even sized cookies, filling muffin tins or cupcake papers with the perfect amount, making pretty scoops with mashed potatoes or rice, and so forth! This one is the biggest size they had at 1/4 cup size! I get so excited! So, finally I had to bring this one home. Except, now I want one in every size for even the tiniest bite size cookies!

After all that I couldn't wait to make something "scoopable"! But first the two Oatmeal mixes needed to be "enhanced". There was just too many possibilities in reach to bring these to a new level! So, the Apple Cinnamon oats were accompanied by walnuts and a finely peeled, cored and diced apple. To the Dark Chocolate oats I added an extra 1/4 cup of cocoa and some M&M's. These particular oats came in a 5 pack box. So I adjusted the butter accordingly using a little less. 

Here is the recipe again. I almost have it memorized now! :o)

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1 3/4 - 2 sticks of softened butter (adjust according to #of packets)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

5-6 packs of Instant Oatmeal of your choice

1 cup flour (or 3/4 cup flour + 1/4 cup cocoa powder for the chocolate ones)

1 tsp. baking powder

about 1/2 to 3/4 of a cup of things you want to add (nuts, chocolate chips, fruit, raisins, etc.)

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Preheat oven to  350F.

Beat soft butter and brown sugar until creamy.

Add egg and combine.

Add dry ingredients, and add-ins until fully incorporated.

Drop plops of dough onto cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. With this big scoop it yields 12 gigantic cookies! For that size I increased the baking time to 15 min. Still yielding soft cookies!

Apple Cinnamon and Walnut

These cookies won't last more then a day or two. They will get very soft in an enclosed container due to the moisture of the fresh apple. You could substitute dried apple or use the mix as is. I might go that route next time. However, they are delicious the first day!!

 Dark Chocolate M&M Oatmeal cookies

you can see the whole rolled oats!

the dough looks a lot darker after you add the additional cocoa powder,
giving it a nice intense chocolate flavor!