Recipe of the week - Everything Cookies

"So, what's in them?"

"Uh, Everything. Duh."

These cookies were a desperate attempt to have something yummy, but with chocolate in it. And the way we roll, is to wait for the kids to go to sleep before we crack into the desert aisle in the pantry. The kids have no idea it even exists.

So, I made oatmeal cookies and instead of raisins, I used chocolate chips. And then I thought shredded coconut would be good, and then maybe some peanut butter. And it's just taken off since then. I even used cocoa one time.

My recipe is to take the oatmeal cookie recipe off the back of the oatmeal box and then just start adding stuff. I've tried to make this clean-er. But clean means no sugar, or as little as possible. And clean also means your chocolate should be 85% cacao or more. And I've tried it. I just can't do it. And if I did, I'd add more sugar, defeating the clean purpose. Still, it's a pretty hearty and healthy cookie. You gotta let these cool completely, or they'll crumble. They are totally dunkable.

I went to make these cookies one day and realized that I put the oatmeal in a plastic container and ditched the box, there fore the recipe. So, I did what any desperate mom in need of a cookie fix when the kids go to bed would do, I resourced one of my 115 cookbooks and found the perfect cookie guru: Paula Deen. So, this is what happens when I get together with Paula Deen in my kitchen. Hope you like.

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature. But who can wait for that to soften? I throw it in the microwave for just about 10-15 seconds. Don't walk away from your microwave, or you'll have melted butter, and that doesn't work. You need softened butter.


• 1 cup sucanat (unrefined sugar)


• 1 cup as organicy and unrefined brown sugar as you can find.


• 2 egg whites. (I use 1/3 cup of egg beaters egg whites.)


• 1 teaspoon vanilla. I never measure this. Eye ball it and over estimate. Vanilla is yummy and Mexican Vanilla is delicious.


• 2 cups whole wheat flour


• 1 tsp baking soda - I measure this. I think this is where the chemistry of rising or fluffiness comes in and I'm not willing to mess with that.


• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder - I measure this too. Same reason. I mean, do they cancel each other out, or what's the deal? I don't know, so I do what Paula tells me.


• 1/2 teaspoon salt


• 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg. Don't use that bottled powder stuff. There's a significant difference in ground nutmeg and freshly grated nutmeg. Get some nutmeg and grate it.


• 2 cups quick cooking oats. I haven't ventured into steel cut oats yet, but I'm willing to try eventually.


• Paula says to add raisins and walnuts here, but I'm going with chocolate instead. And I am the only one in my family who will dare eat a cookie with nuts in it. So, I appease the masses and no nuts.


• About 1 cup of peanut butter. We get the real healthy stuff. Or sometimes I use this PB2 stuff, it's powedered. But just use your own peanut butter at your own risk.


• 1 1/2 cups shredded coconut. I just throw it in, so, I'm guessing on this measurement. And I've been wanting to toast the coconut first, but by the time I get to it, I just want a darn cookie and things like fancy toasting of coconut, well, I can't be bothered with.


• Atleast 2 cups chocolate chunks. Don't get those wuss chips. Get chunks. And I'm guessing I use more than 2 cups, I get a bag of them, I pour it in. I don't look at petty things like how many ounces. I eyeball the bag of beautiful chocolate chunks and dump it in, y'all. Go with it.

Okay, so preheat your oven to 375. I use my mixer and you should too. I guess you could hand stir all of this and get a workout stirring. Then you'd burn off all the calories you're about to consume. But I use my mixer. So, throw the butter and sugars and mix that til it's light and fluffy. Then add the eggs and mix that well, then the vanilla. Then I know you're supposed to mix all of your dry ingredients in a separate bowl. But I never do it and it always works out for me. So, add in your flour gradually. Then add the baking soda, baking powder, the salt and nutmeg. Mix that into a fairly creamy mixture. Then add everything else in the order listed, scraping the sides to make sure everything gets mixed up well. Save the chocolate chunks for last so they don't get all crumbly, thus defeating the purpose of the actual chunk. Respect the chunk.

Dollop a spoon full on to the cookie sheet. It's pretty thick dough so, I make a ball and then smush it down. I use no-stick cookie sheets. Hey, if it's no stick, then how does the Teflon stick to pan? I'm just sayin. Anyways, I don't grease my cookie sheets. But it's up to you. If you have cookie sheets from 1940, you probably know whether to grease or not to grease. This recipe makes plenty. So, if your cookies are glued to the sheet, you'll have enough to try again. Ball them up, smush them down. Keep about 1" atleast between the cookies to allow for greatness. Throw them in your preheated oven and cook for about 12 minutes, or until yummy golden brown.

Let them cool. And then go to town! Mmmm! They make great milk dunking cookies.

This recipe makes a lot, even if you're willing to share with your kids. Which is rare at my house, but I share. So, we put ours in a reusable plastic container with a good lid and bake them as we need them. Which is every night about 9:30p.m. I'm just sayin. I hope you try them and let me know how you like them! Or if you try some other thing for Everythings, I want to hear about it.

That's how I roll.
Song of the Day: My Favorite Things from For the Kids Too! Album