Oatmeal Streusel Cookies

Please don't ask why I'm baking a lot of Autumn themed food lately. If someone didn't know better they would think that I was longing for cold weather when in actuality I really dislike the cold. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that it doesn't feel like late Spring. The temperature has made it past the 70 degree mark for only three or four days so far and I still need a down blanket at night. I think my brain is on auto-pilot due to the colder weather. It just doesn't want to believe that the 'warm' weather months are passing by so it's pretending that it is October ( my runner up in favourite time of the year after May-July ). Anyway I found solace in this delicious recipe from Nicole at Baking Bites. I don't have too many oatmeal cookie recipes under my belt so I thought I would just jump head first into something that was different from all the other standard cookie recipes out there. And just as Nicole stated on her blog, These cookies really do taste like a bowl of oatmeal mixed with a slice of coffee cake!

The streusel itself was like a cookie. I kept picking at the dough while trying to take a picture of it. If you make this recipe I would recommend that you break up your streusel dough into smaller pieces. I think mine were a bit too big and the sizes were not uniform. The result was still delicious but some of the smaller pieces were burned. ( Still ate them though ).
When the streusel is done baking be sure to let it cool off before breaking it apart. Patience is not one of my virtues and my fingers paid the price. Also, try to resist the urge to pour cream onto the streuel and eat it like a cereal. ( I came sooo close...) For some reason I love the part of a recipe when you get to incorporate the different ingredients. It's so beautiful to watch a dough morph into a new shape and texture.

Don't eat all the dough...don't eat all the dough...I have to remind myself constantly. There should be a Dough Eaters Anonymous.

Oatmeal Streusel Cookies:

Preheat the oven to 350. Prepare the streusel first.

Streusel:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Method:

Line a large jelly roll pan or baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, brown sugar and salt together in a large bowl. With a blender at low speed, add the butter until the mixture is coarse and sandy. Stir in the pecans by hand.

Drop clumps of the streusel onto the baking sheet, breaking them up with your hands. Try and keep the pieces uniform so they will bake evenly. Bake for about 25 minutes or until it turns a light golden brown. Place on a rack to cool before breaking up into smaller pieces.

Oatmeal Cookies:

• 1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 3/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups quick-cooking oatmeal
• 1 1/2 cups pre-baked Streusel broken up into small pieces. ( I used the entire batch )

Method:

Keep the oven at 350. Mix together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices in a small bowl. In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars until light. Beat in eggs, one at a time, followed by vanilla extract. Stir in flour mixture, and when no streaks of flour remain stir in oats and streusel and mix until well combined. Taste some to be sure it's well incorporated.

Drop by rounded Teaspoon fulls. Bake on a parchment lined cookie sheet for about 9-10 minutes. The origional recipe says 12-14 so adjust the time if needed. Mine seemed to be done at 10 minutes. I let mine sit on a wire rack for only a minute before placing them on a plate. Enjoy! These are well worth the labor.