Savory Spice Week: Baking Spice!

For our last recipe fun this week, I cheated just a tiny bit.  You see, none of the sample blends were for the sweeter side of my kitchen and baking and dessert are my favorites.  today was cool and rainy and felt like fall so we were craving something warm and homey.  Luckily, I had pulled a few strings earlier in the week and had a preview of the Baking Spice.  This blend is made up of Saigon cinnamon, Indonesian cinnamon, nutmeg, mace, allspice and ginger.  My idea was to add it to some soft cranberry oatmeal cookies and see how having more than the traditional cinnamon or nutmeg would work.

I began, as I so often do, by pondering where I might have a wonderful soft oatmeal cookie recipe.  My usual starting place for these musings is Smitten Kitchen.  Happily, she has a delightful version here that I used almost directly in my cookie fun today.  However, this recipe is about three years old and before its author, or I, started dabbling more with a multigrain in everyday baking.  So, I turned to my resource for all things grains --Good to the Grain.  There was an oatmeal cookie recipe there too, but I didn't quite have all the ingredients and really wanted that "soft" cookie that the original recipe promised.  I compared the two and made a few adjustments to up the flavor, and maybe the nutritional value, just a tiny bit.  Here is my adaptation -- again, nearly all of the credit goes to these two authors and some delightful Savory Spice.  

Everything is better with a helper!

Softly Spiced Oatmeal Cookies

1 cup butter, softened

1 1/3 c. dark brown sugar, packed

2 large eggs,

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used the Madagascar, double strength variety from Savory)

3/4 c. all-purpose flour

1/4 c. millet flour*

1/2 c. whole wheat flour*

1 tsp. baking soda

1 1/4 tsp. Kosher salt

2 1/2 tsp Baking Spice

3 c. rolled oats (not instant)

1 c. dried cranberries (rehydrated slightly by soaking in hot water for 3 minutes).

1/2 c. white chocolate chips (very optional)

*Other flours are optional and you could mix and match as you like.  I try for the "other" flours to not make up more than 1/2 of the total flour in any given recipe.  

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, cranberries, and chips, if using them

At this point chill the dough in the fridge for at least one hour.

 Preheat oven to 350°F.

Then, scoop them by heaping tablespoons onto a Silpat or parchment paper lined cookie sheet.

Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes.  Smitten Kitchen recommends taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.

I think they were quite good.  The cookies were, in fact, soft as promised, which is a major victory.  I think I'd leave out the white chocolate chips next time, but they were a special request from my helper so in they went.  I did like having more than just cinnamon or nutmeg in the cookies.  I suspect the ratio of the other spices is a substantially smaller than the cinnamon portion as that was still the dominant flavor, which is the right way to go with a baking blend, in my opinion!

And because I can't leave well enough alone, I added just a 1/4 tsp or so of the Baking Spice to the buffalo meatballs we had for dinner. (Ps, we substituted chard from our garden for the spinach in the meatballs, doubled the basil, and cut the parsley.  They were awesome).  Then, I added a bit more to the sauteed broccoli and the buttered noodles that went along with that.  It was delicious on everything!

Here are the earlier days in this series, in cased you missed one!

Savory Spice Week Day 1 -- Long's Peak Spiced Pork Loin

Savory Spice Week Day 2 -- Summit County Seasoning

Savory Spice Week Day 3 -- Wash Park All-Purpose Seasoning

Savory Spice Week Day 4 --Lake Barkley Fried Chicken Seasoning

Savory Spice Week Day 5 -- Homestead Seasoning

Can you believe the store is finally opening Sunday at noon? I'm so excited.  Meanwhile, here is a recent press piece if you'd like a bit more information.  Enjoy!

For those of you that live nearby, you can find the shop and all its wares at 4400 N. Western Ave, Oklahoma City, OK.  If you happen to live elsewhere and want to buy some spices from my brother you can reach him at awblakley (at) gmail.com or the store's phone number will soon be open at 405 - 525 -9119. 

Disclaimer - I am not an owner or employee of the shop and am not compensated in any way by SavorySpiceOKC ...other than the free samples I'm using to cook with that are available to anyone.  I was not asked to write this review and all opinions are my own.