Month-of-Desserts: Mini Oatmeal Cranberry-Pecan Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

Back in the day, when we were both working outside the home (because of course there is always work inside the home!), DH packed his own lunch. THE.SAME.LUNCH.EVERY.DAY.

That is beyond boring to me, but he said he liked it because he didn’t have to think about it. Lunch prep had become automatic after decades of doing it. Okay, I get that, but I love the range of tastes and textures too much to enjoy the same lunch every day. He bought healthful cookies, even, that were a small size so he could eat three of them. EVERY.DAY.THE.SAME.COOKIE.

When I transitioned from my paying job to the job of occasionally-paying full-time writer, I offered to make him a new cookie, a better-for-him cookie than the ones he purchased which were full of unpronounceables.

This cookie is the result. I’ve been making it for him a long time now. He can’t even stand cookies from the store anymore. Wahoo!

I use a 1” cookie scoop so that I can give him the little cookies he likes so much. This recipe as written makes just about 7 dozen cookies. I just drop the balls on the cookie sheet so little cookie mounds form, not flat cookies. There are always some ready in the freezer when his cookie jar gets empty.

So what the heck does that have to do with today’s recipe? Wellllll…we like ice cream sandwiches for the occasional dessert and his cookies make perfect little ice cream sandwiches.

I flattened this small cookie sheet of twelve 1” balls of cookie dough so I could make six mini-ice cream sandwiches. They look bigger than they are because you don’t have perspective. Trust me. Two bites and they’re gone.

I filled each cookie half with 4 teaspoons of my homemade ice cream, wrapped most of them tightly (well, he had to test one), and popped them into the freezer for a future dessert.

So having given the directions for making your mini ice cream sandwiches, here are the two recipes for the components.  

David’s Oatmeal Cranberry-Pecan Cookies (about 7 dozen)   

1½ cups butter, softened                          

¾ c packed brown sugar                                   

½ c granulated sugar                                   

2 large eggs                                                     

3 teaspoons vanilla extract                                            

1 teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

1¾ cups flour

2½ cups Old-Fashion oats

6 ounce package dried cranberries

1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped

Heat oven to 375°.

Beat butter and sugars in a bowl with mixer on med speed until fluffy.

Beat in eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt until blended.

With mixer on low speed, beat in flour and oats a small amount at a time to blend.

When well-blended, stir in cranberries and nuts.

Drop 1” balls of dough about 2” apart on ungreased baking sheet.

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cool 1 min on cookie sheet, then put on cookie rack to finish cooling.

Easiest-Ever Vanilla Ice Cream (makes a little more than one quart)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

2 cups heavy whipping cream

3 teaspoons best quality vanilla (I use vanilla paste)

Whisk together the three ingredients until thoroughly blended.

Pour into your ice cream maker and process for 20-30 minutes. The ice cream will easily come off the sides when done and probably will be slightly above the freezer bowl.

Store in an airtight container in the freezer. This is a very creamy ice cream.

NOTE: I have a whole passle of variations for this ice cream basic. Chocolate. Dulce de Leche with Pecans. Chocolate Chip and Walnuts. Candy Bar Ice Cream. Play with it!

DH’s RATING: 10 Tongues Up

Honestly, this man cannot follow rules. He says it’s because he gets to rate each component, the cookie and the ice cream. And he loves each of them. Sigh!

O is for Oats and Osso Buco

O is for Oats

The lowly oats made it into this month of cooking terms because there are so many forms that oats can take. We haven’t always eaten oats; initially they were food for horses, but humans discovered they can nourish people as well, having the most food value of any of the cereal grasses.

While animals can eat them whole, oats for human consumption are cleaned, toasted, hulled, before being cleaned again. The resultant product of that process is groats. At this point, they have retained most of the nutrients of the original oats, but the degree of further processing can reduce nutritional value substantially. NEVER BUY minute/quick oats! Instead, buy less processed oats and cook for a bit longer (sometimes a goooood bit longer as with Irish oats--but worth it).

The forms that oats can take after reaching the groats stage are:

Irish Steel-Cut Oats--groats cut into 2-3 pieces; served as breakfast food or as a non-sweetened side like rice, in salad, or in stuffing mixtures; Irish steel-cut oats take about an hour to cook; I make a slow cooker version that cooks overnight--so easy!

Old-Fashion Rolled Oats--steamed groats are flattened and rolled to make thick flakes; interchangeable with Quick Oats in most recipes. I use old-fashion rolled oats in DH’s oatmeal cookies. (http://sharonarthurmoore.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-way-to-mans-heart.html)

Quick Oats are also steamed then rolled, but thinner so they cook more quickly. They also are not quite as nutritious.

Instant Oats--filled with sugar and cannot be used in recipes calling for oatmeal.

There is also gluten-free oat flour made from ground up groats that I use in apple crisp for my gluten-intolerant friends. I make mine by grinding old-fashion oats in my food processor.

Oat bran is the ground-up outer covering on oats and is a great high fiber source. I put it into baked goods to up the nutritional value.

Leftover cooked oatmeal? Put in muffin pan cups and freeze individual servings. I can have an oatmeal breakfast with little fuss by re-heating in the microwave.

O is for Osso Buco

This will be quick! Osso buco is Italian for “pierced bone”.

Osso buco is braised veal shanks prepared with olive oil, onions, tomatoes, anchovies, carrots, celery, lemon peel, garlic, broth, and white wine. Go to this month’s G entry for the gremolata that is traditionally served on top of the osso buco. You would serve osso buco with a side of risotto.

See why I did braise and gremolata earlier this month? Now you’re all prepared to make this dish!

Not at all a hard dish to make, osso buco does require time!

The Way to a Man's Heart . . .

DH will eat anything I make. Now that’s very nice, but it probably means he doesn’t have the kind of discerning palate that I would like.

Here’s an example. For years, while we both worked outside the home, he packed his own lunch. The SAME lunch everyday--for DECADES! And I mean that literally. Turkey sandwich with mayo, pickles, and cheese. Chips. Grapes. And cookies. Oh, the cookies might vary or he might cut up an apple instead of packing grapes. But you get the idea. B O R I N G!

I cannot eat the same meal everyday. I just cannot. And I am fortunate to have enough money that I don’t need to.

When I stayed home to kick-start my full-time writing career, I told him I would no longer allow him to buy cookies with all those preservatives and other junk. So, I created a cookie just for him. All these many years later, even though he is not packing a lunch anymore, I make these cookies and keep them in his cookie jar. Because they’re small, he thinks he is controlling his diet. They are really quite healthful. If you don’t count the butter. And if you don’t count the sugar. But, hey, NO preservatives!

By the way, he loves his cookies and tells me so often! It may be why we’re still married.

DH’s Oatmeal Cranberry Pecan Cookies (makes ~7 dozen two-bite cookies)

1 c plus 2 T butter, softened                        ½ t salt

¾ c packed brown sugar                             1 ¾ c flour

½ c granulated sugar                                   2 ½ c oats

2 lg eggs                                                      6 oz pkg dried cranberries

3 t vanilla extract                                        1 c pecans, chopped

1 t baking soda

Heat oven to 375°.

Beat butter and sugars in a bowl with mixer on medium speed until sugar is incorporated and the mixture is fluffy.

Add eggs, vanilla, baking soda, and salt until blended.

With mixer on low speed, beat in flour to blend. Stir in oats.

When well-blended, add in cranberries and nuts.

Drop heaping tablespoons (or use small cookie dough scooper) 1” apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Cool 1 min on cookie sheet, then put on cookie rack.

Try these with important people in your life and let me know what they think.