My friend Jonathan was talking about how he'd been sprinkling some cinnamon, cardamom and vanilla into his coffee grounds. It made me want to make up a chai spice for my own coffee. When I made it, it smelled so amazing, I knew I wanted to make cookies with it (and if you haven't noticed, I'm not big into baking.) Leaning towards a chai-spiced sugar cookie initially, I changed my mind when I saw my canister of oats. These cookies came out so chewy and awesome. Though there are 2 teaspoons of chai spice in it, the finished product is not overwhelmed by the spice. In fact, if you really wanted a spiced cookie, I'd go with 3 teaspoons instead of the 2 in the recipe!
I have no specific reason for choosing this video except that I love the Street Dogs. And this is their video for "Punk Rock & Roll". -jen
CHAI OATMEAL COOKIES Prep Time: 10 minutes plus 30 minutes to refrigerate Difficulty: Easy Makes: about 18 cookies
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temp
2/3 cups dark brown sugar
1 egg
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons Chai Masala (see recipe below)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 and 1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup raisins (optional)
1/2 cup pecans, chopped (optional)
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, brown sugar, egg and almond extract with an electric or stand mixer. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, Chai Masala, and salt. Add dry mix into wet mix until combined. Fold in oats, raisins and pecans.
Cover dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes or more.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Scoop dough into rough balls about 1-1/2" diameter. Lay 2" apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 11-13 minutes. Allow to cool on cookie sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
CHAI MASALA Prep Time: 5 minutes Makes: 1/3 cup (15 teaspoons)
4 teaspoons ground cardamom
4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground all spice
Whisk all ingredients together. Store in air-tight container. I'm still discovering the uses for it, but it smells amazing! I've put it in my coffee grounds pre-brewing. The oatmeal cookies were great! I've sprinkled some in a milkshake. We have a ton of apples and I'm thinking about using it to make a spicy chai apple crumble.
You might be wondering what the hell a Choner Bar is, besides an incredibly delicious, chewy dessert. Well, it's my understanding that stoners get the munchies. And I've been told that when stoners get the munchies, they don't want to drive anywhere, so they start digging through their cupboards, making outrageous concoctions with what they have on hand! So a hypothetical stoner might hypothetically have all these ingredients in the pantry and make a hypothetical chewy stoner bar out of them. But we wouldn't want to title our bars Chewy Stoner Bars! That could come with some negative implications, and it's hypothetical, after all... so we shortened it to Choner Bars. Who are we to pretend like we know the culinary cravings of stoners just because we live in Humboldt County?! Please... as if!
I chose The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" simply because someone was talking
about Adam Ant today, and I was explaining my first crushes... which
included Joe Strummer, specifically from this video. So it was just rollin' through my head today. -jen
1 cup chopped nuts of choice (I used 1/2 Hazel nut, 1/2 roasted peanuts)
2/3 cup dark chocolate chips
2/3 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Generously coat a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick cooking spray and set aside.
Combine brown sugar, granulated sugar and softened butter in a mixing bowl and beat with a mixer until creamed together. Add vanilla, baking powder, salt and cinnamon; mix in. While continuing to mix, add eggs, one at a time. Then slowly beat in the 2 cups of flour. Fold in coconut, oats, nuts, chocolate chips and raisins.
Press dough evenly into prepared pan and bake at 350 degrees for 35-40 minutes, until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow to cool before cutting and serving.
Prep Time: 10 minutes plus 30 minutes to refrigerate
