I once again decided to participate in the 2015 Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap by making some awesome Oatmeal Pecan Cookies. Each blogger who participated made a donation and the money is donated to Cookies for Kid’s Cancer. Participation involves mailing out three batches of cookies and receiving three batches in return. It’s a win-win for everyone involved!
I decided to go with a really simple cookie based on the Pioneer Woman’s Brown Sugar Cookie recipe. The Pioneer Woman thinks the brown sugar is the star of the show but I think it’s the oatmeal and nuts! The addition of pecans in the Oatmeal Pecan cookies makes them really nutty and extra yummy! Jake loved these cookies and mostly I loved that they didn’t have (evil) raisins in them.
Whenever I bake, I like to prep EVERYTHING first. I have zero desire to measure things while I’m in the middle of doing stuff so I measure it all out first and put everything into bowls. That way it’s all prepped and ready to go and then all I have to do is mix.
I have this really handy Omni Mount for the iPad mini which keeps my recipe handy and at eye-level while I’m baking.
Here’s my dough after everything’s been mixed together. This is two recipe’s worth of dough all in one gigantic bowl! I wanted to do it all at once, hence the giant bowl and no KitchenAid mixer this time.
I freaking love using ice cream scoops for making cookies. It makes life SO MUCH EASIER. I don’t even use that ice cream scoop for ice cream anymore – ONLY COOKIES.
Dixie Crystals was a sweet sponsor and sent everyone these awesome silicone baking mats. Baking mats are a girl’s best friend – makes for easy clean up, among other things. It’s undocumented here but Oxo also sent all of the bakers this sweet 7 piece liquid measurement set which I love. I actually used it to measure out my double batch of vanilla for the baking in this post but forgot to snap a photo!
I wanted the cookies to be on the crispier side so I baked these a bit longer.
Baking them longer gave them an extra crunchy edge while the middle was still slightly soft. For a softer cookie just bake them less!
At the end I added some semi-sweet chocolate chips to the cookies for a little bit of richness, but I don’t think they really NEED the chocolate. They stand up really well on their own with the nutty oatmeal and pecan.
Here’s the recipe for the Oatmeal Pecan Cookies:
- 1 cup salted butter, softened
- 2 cups packed brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 whole eggs
- 1-1/2 cups all-purpose four
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 3 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter and brown sugar. Beat it up! You want it to look nice and fluffy - beat for about 5 minutes (really).
- Add eggs, one at time. Beat 'em in until fully incorporated.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Add to the creamy sugary butter mixture in 2 to 3 batches. Mix until just combined after each addition. Add in oats until just combined. Then add in your chopped pecan.
- Using an ice cream scoop (or spoons), drop by the scoopful onto a baking sheet with a baking mat, parchment paper or lightly greased baking sheet. Spread scoops about 2 inches apart. Bake cookies for 14 minutes until crisp. For a softer cookie, bake about 12 minutes. Yum!
My first package of cookies was from Melissa of Persnickety Plates. Melissa made not one but TWO different kinds of cookies for the swap! The first cookie was a Crisp Chocolate Crinkle Cookie (in the bag). They looked a lot like gingerbread cookies to me – but chocolate flavored instead with a nice crispness.
The second cookie Melissa sent were these Sprinkled Fudge Chocolate Bites. Don’t they looked so festive with the sprinkles and red and green colored sugar? They were a nice little chocolatey bite that we really enjoyed.
My second batch of cookies came from Justina at Fail Sweetly. Justina made Ginger Sorghum cookies! These suckers really packed a punch from the ginger and they were a really nice soft cookie. The flavor of the sorghum was similar to molasses – a deeper, richer flavor note in the cookie. These tasted great with a cup of tea and I really enjoyed the soft texture of the cookie.
And last but not least I got a batch of M+M Party Cookies from Jamie at The Gaited Baker. These cookies had a nice crisp texture (my favorite texture!) with just enough festive red and green M+M’s for a little extra texture and sweetness.
The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap is always a really fun event to participate in and it’s for a great cause that I was really happy to be apart of.
yummmm cookies! great turnout it seems for both giving and receiving! I wish I had time to do the cookie swap. hopefully next year! your cookies sound so tasty though.
Hi Lynn! Yes I received some great cookies this year! Somehow I managed to squeeze it in but it was tough this year. I wish we had a local cookie swap to do, too. I loves me some cookies 🙂
ooh we could always set up a cookie swap with the FB group… I think a lot of us do bake and stuff 🙂
That does sound like fun! Can we do an after the holidays cookie swap?? Haha
Glad you liked them & happy to meet you =) Merry Christmas!
Hi Melissa – Thanks again – they were so good! Merry Christmas to you!
Glad you liked the cookies! I received a dozen of them from someone last year during this swap and they were so goooood. You could add bittersweet chocolate chips on top once it comes out of the oven and it’s even more amazing.
Hi Justina – That sounds like an awesome idea!! Thanks for the extra tip and thanks for the yummy cookies!
I have been day dreaming about your cookie recipe for weeks now. I’m always nervous about making cookies from scratch but this recipe really looks manageable. Can you instruct when to add the chocolate chips (I def want to make a test batch with chocolate chips!). Did you add them to the top of the cookies while they were 1/2 way done baking?
Hi Faye! If you’re going to add chocolate chips then mix them into the batter at the end before you scoop them onto the cookie sheets. Even distribution of chocolate chips that way! 🙂