Following directions is something I have never been real good at. I admit that. Sometimes I am stubborn and I think I know better. Other times, I just fail to completely follow the directions.
In fact, just a few days before making these cookies, I was telling my dad that one of my most memorable moments from elementary school was a coloring sheet in first grade. The sheet had a list of directions of what to color… Color all of the apples red, color the grass green, draw a smiley face on all of the children… You get the idea. Then, the last instruction said not to color at all. It was a mean trick. And, I fell for it. What first grader do you know that reads all the way through the directions before starting to color?
My dad thought it was kind of comical that my bad coloring experience was one of the few things I still remember from elementary school. For the record, I also remember when the same first grade teacher kept me in from recess because I couldn’t write the letter “a” (yes, the lowercase version) correctly. I probably still do it wrong. I don’t really have pretty handwriting.
Anyway, crazy elementary lessons aside, I have never really learned the “read all of the way through the directions before starting” lesson. I was trying out a new recipe from the Taste of Home Baking cookbook (they were nice enough to send me a copy to bake my way through) and I neglected to notice the fact that the dough was supposed to be shaped into logs, refrigerated for 2 hours, and then sliced to shape the cookies. That wouldn’t normally be a big problem, but I had agreed to bring the cookies with me to an event approximately 2 hours after I had started baking. Oops!
I guess the good thing about never really learning my lesson is that I’ve learned to think quickly on my feet and recover from my baking mistakes. I was able to use a cookie scoop to drop the cookies onto the cookie sheet, and they turned out nice and chewy. Both my hubby and I enjoyed them. But, most importantly, before I left the event that I took the cookies to, I noticed that my plate was empty and all of the cookies had already been eaten. Crisis averted!
Toffee Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
(Makes about 4 dozen, adapted from the Toffee Cranberry Crisps from Taste of Home Baking)
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 package (approximately 1 1/3 cups) Heath toffee bits
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicon liners and set aside.
Beat together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla, beating for an additional minute until well incorporated.
Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the creamed mixture, beating until just incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and toffee bits and stir in by hand.
Use a small cookie scoop (about 2 tablespoons) to scoop out cookies onto the prepared baking sheets. Be sure to space the cookies out a bit since they will spread as they bake.
Bake for about 12 minutes, until the cookies are golden on top, but still a bit soft. Cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes to let the cookies firm up, then cool completely on a wire rack.
My Kitchen Addiction Product Review Policy and Disclosure– I received this product (Taste of Home Baking cookbook) at no cost from the publisher (or a representative PR firm) for the purpose of testing and reviewing the book, but I have not been otherwise compensated. I only review products that I have personally tested and used in my kitchen/home, and all opinions expressed are my own.
Please Note – The links to the Taste of Home Baking cookbook provided in this post are Amazon affiliate links.
But if you had followed directions, these wouldn’t’ have turned out so tasty! Love them!
Who has time to wait two hours for dough to sit in the fridge when there are toffee chocolate chip cookies begging to be consumed?
Some of the best inventions came from *mistakes* or were discovered accidentaly. You just created another wonderful one.
Oatmeal chocolate chips are my favorite cookie, these look great!
This recipe looks so delicious! If you are a fan of cookies, try out my mint crinkle cookies, I think you’ll really like them! You can find the recipe here: http://bit.ly/mintcrinklecookie
Thanks!
I think those cookies look just great they way you made them.
They sound incredible, Jen. :)
I have this book too Jen and I need to peel off that plastic and get cooking; these have all of my favorite flavors!
I suffer from the same affliction. Is it impatience? I’ve made some mistakes too…but I think that one of the marks of a good cook is that ability to rescue a situation and you obviously did that and did it well!
Haha, great story – I too have problems reading recipes all the way through. Good cover though, the cookies look like they turned out great, and nobody the wiser. ;-)
I’ve been known to do that once or twice myself! lol
Absolutely loved your anecdote; I’m the same way! These look great. Can’t wait to try them out. Thanks for sharing. :) -Jess
There’s nothing I love more than toffee chips in cookies. They lend such a wonderful flavor and texture.
Who am I kidding? They barely make it from the bag to the bowl.
What a great “mistake” – these look wonderful – I love chewey cookies!
I also never follow directions. I am attempting to clean this up and I did whole wheat pastry flour, coconut palm sugar and reduced brown to 1/2 cup. I also used dark choco chips. I want to reduce the sugar and butter next time, but I ended up with a huge flatter chewy yummy chocolaty cookie! thank you!! I ate 3!! oh my!