Favorite Brand Name Recipes: Chunky Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
In another installment of the cake mix cookies series, today I will be featuring the Chunky Oatmeal Raisin cookies recipe that I got from my Cake Mix Cookie book published by Publications International, Ltd.
Chunky Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Trust me, the cookie actually tastes better than it looks. I didn’t take better pictures because I was exhausted from baking at 11pm at night time.
Recipe:
Ingredients:
- 1 package (approximately 18oz) yellow cake mix
- 1 1/2 cup of oats
- 1/2 cup of all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch of grounded cloves (I added this to the original recipe)
- 1/2 cup of packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
- 1 cup (2 sticks) of melted unsalted butter
- 1 cup of raisins
- 1 cup of walnuts pieces, toasted
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine cake mix, oats, flour cinnamon and cloves in a large bowl until well blended. Beat brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a medium bowl until well blended. Add egg mixture and melted butter to dry ingredients; stir until combined. Fold in raisins and walnuts.
3. Drop tablespoonfuls (I use a cookie scooper) of dough 2 inches apart onto prepared cookie sheets. (Make sure to spray PAM cookie oil onto the sheets) Bake 14-16 minutes or until bottoms are golden brown. Remove to wire rack; cook completely.
Yield 4 dozen cookies.
To get the cookies to look a little flat, just take two fingers and press on top of the dough so it flattens a little. I made 3 dozen cookies with my cookie scoop, but I’m sure I could have made 4. I don’t like small cookies so these cookies worked out well for me. The cookies are soft like a cake, and chewy like how a cookie is supposed to be. The combination between raisins and oats are heaven to me. I only used 1/2 cup of walnuts because I’m not a big fan but I appreciate the texture in the cookie.
Anyways, good luck if you choose to use this recipe. It is so easy to make, but difficult to make it look nice!
Chunky Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
Close up of chunky oatmeal raisin cookies
Until next time,
<3, FCG
What’s for Lunch at the Lord Series – Day 4
Cosi
1 Exchange Place
Jersey City, NJ
(201) 451-0535
So naturally I was excited when my co-workers invited me to have lunch at Cosi. There is only one sandwich that I absolutely love at Cosi and that is the Hummus and Fresh Veggies flat-bread sandwich. I have this soft spot for warm bread and hummus. In my opinion the combination between the creaminess from the hummus and the hard, yet soft texture of the warm bread is the perfect marriage of deliciousness. The best part about cosi is that for the most part they serve healthy and delicious foods.
Cosi Fresh Hummus and Veggies Flat-bread Sandwich
Next time I need them to take out the onions, but nonetheless this is a very delicious sandwich. Cosi is always bristling with crowds of people. If you come here at a later time like 1:30pm+, it is less crowded.
Until next time,
<3, FCG
Penang Malaysian Restaurant – Chinatown, NY
Penang
41 Elizabeth Street
New York, NY
(212) 431-8722
Penang Malaysian Restaurant - Chinatown, NY
One of the few Malaysian restaurants in Chinatown, Penang is located right off of Canal Street and right into the heart of Chinatown. Growing up, if I was hankering for Malaysian food, it was either at Penang or Nyonya, which is on Grand Street. There are a few more Malaysian restaurants that has popped up in Chinatown, but they are not as popular as the two that I mentioned about.
To be quite honest, I have always enjoyed the food at Nyonya. But this isn’t a post about Nyonya, it is on Penang. The atmosphere in Penang seems very quiet and desolate. I guess you’ll have to pick the right time, but I came here at 7pm with my party of eight and there were only two people there. No music was playing in the background and let me stress how quiet it was. Not only that, the lighting seems to be kind of dim which made me feel a little creeped out. Let me tell you, the atmosphere/feng-shiu at Nyonya is definitely not like that. I have only eaten the Hainanese chicken and the roti canai here since they were signature dishes which I will talk about that later.
Yes, if you can do take-out, do it!
Penang Menu
When you eat at a restaurant in Chinatown, most locals eat it family style. Hence the nice round tables with multiple seats. Let me know you the dishes my friends and I ordered:
Chinese Steamed Cupcakes – Faat Go/Prosperity Cakes
:Edit:
If you happen to live in New York City and you want to try this faat go recipe, I suggest that you take a visit to Chinatown and purchase a bag of homemade “wet” rice flour which is low-gluten. I can honestly tell you that I don’t know how to make this flour but I can tell you where to buy it. Having the right kind of flour is key to your prosperity cakes.
Fong Inn Too, Inc.
Fong Inn Too Menu
Now in Cantonese it is called, “Zhi mai fun.” Once you tell the clerk that you want this, he will give you a bag of rice flour which is shown below:
Hong Kong Rice Flour
Notice that this flour is clumpy and not dry like most flours. My mother tells me that this flour is essentially rice and flour that has been fermented for two days. Unfortunately I do not possess the know how, but I can tell you how it was made.
Good luck!
***
It all started with an obsession with Chinese cupcakes. AKA faat go (or huat kueh) as you say in Cantonese. My good friend Sally over at the tastyconfection and I wanted to learn how to make Chinese cupcakes because we have always eaten them. These special cupcakes are only available in Chinese bakeries during the time of Chinese New Year since they represent prosperity and success. There’s an old Chinese proverb which my mother always says that translates, “The more the cake blossoms, the more prosperous your year will be.” Something along the lines of this. Sally and I can care less about the superstitious properties that these cakes hold and wanted to eat them whenever we wanted to. The journey to find the most successful recipe was a frustrating one.
Complicated and non-traditional prosperity cupcake recipes disappointed me. I was amazed how I could not find a good old fashion Chinese recipe. There are many Malaysian and Singaporean recipes, but they’re not the ones that I am used to having. Sally tried learning the recipe from her grandmother, but unfortunately the cupcakes’ corners did not form which is why she is uncomfortable with sharing the recipe.
Now one day, my mother decided to make these cupcakes for my father’s birthday. She got the recipe from my aunt and then a couple of hours in the kitchen, she makes this:
Steamed Chinese Cupcakes aka Faat Go
Paula Deen’s Old Fashioned Cupcakes with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Paula Deen's Old Fashion Cupcakes w/Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting
Easy, simple and your back-to-basics old fashioned cupcakes. I am not one that possesses many skills in the art of baking, but luckily there are recipes that simplifies it so everyone can bake anything. Making cupcakes seems pretty simple, but nowadays people jazz it up with all sorts of fancy decorative frosting which to me is admirable and way too challenging for me. Fortunately, the people whom I love to bake for which includes my family and friends like it light and simple. I think I can speak for most of the older Chinese adults because they cannot handle too much sweetness. So I am pleased to show you the cupcakes which I baked and the chocolate frosting that I specifically made for my friend who loves chocolate! This frosting is not a Paula Deen recipe and I probably understand why because it doesn’t contain a lot of butter! Haha, bad joke.
