Saturday, February 25, 2006

Scrap Cookies

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Since we don't keep much snack food at home, I let my son eat seasonal fruit or peanut butter on a spoon if he is hungry between meals.

Still, I keep finding leftover apple slices and 1/10th of an abandoned box of raisins. I don't want to encourage him to empty his plate by habit, yet I don't want to waste food, either.

A forum friend shared her great idea: using leftover oatmeal as a base for cookies. Since experimenting with her recipe, I've started saving all those little bits in a covered fridge container:
  • the last cup of breakfast cereal
  • bananas smeared with peanut butter
  • chopped apples
  • a dollop of jelly from an ambitious breakfast plate.
I think these leftovers blend better in a cookie batter than in muffins thanks to very forgiving oatmeal binder. Below is my current version of Scrap Cookies:

1/2 cup butter
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1 c. cold cooked oatmeal
1-1/4 c. flour (using 1 cup WW pastry flour makes a crisper cookie)
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. bkg. soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla
At least 1 cup leftovers such as chopped apples, raisins, coconut, etc.
Up to 1 additional cup uncooked oats, rolled or steel cut

Cream butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. Sift flour, salt, soda, and cinnamon. Add to wet mix. Gently combine batter with cooked oatmeal and add-in's. The finished batter should have a semi-stiff consistency, or stay rounded as you drop the teaspoons on the sheet. Bake at 350* 12-15 minutes on lightly greased cookie sheet until edges are browned.

Enjoy them now--there won't be any leftovers from these.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Meredith,
that sounds good and healthy....but they kind of look like salmon croquettes!
Reminds me of the ones grandma used to make.
Ed

Meredith said...

Hmmphf! These may use leftovers, but you won't find any strange pieces of fish bones in them... : )

Catherine at Frugal Homemaker Plus said...

That sounds good. I don't have children, but my husband loves cookies and we too keep few (processed, prepackaged) snacks in the house.

Marie said...

Gotta change the name. . .

Meredith said...

Ummm...just to clarify, no floor food! I mostly mean scraps in the sense of those three apple slices left untouched on the plate or the scoop of oatmeal left in the crockpot--not anything that's actually come into contact with mouth, fork, or hands. Although if you're game, the baking would probably kill the germs.
Also, if you have ever been a guest in my home, you have not eaten these cookies. They are gobbled by immediate family only : )

Queen of Carrots said...

Hey, thanks for the recipe! I've always made cake with leftover oatmeal, but haven't been in the mood for cake with the current batch. Cookies sounds just right.

Anonymous said...

Thanks! This will be a huge help. I don't want my children to eat if they are satisfied but hate the waste. If they are yummy and made from pristine ingredients(leftovers on a serving vs. person's plate), there is no reason not to share with guests...but you might want to call them something else:) - Melissa

Kathryn Judson said...

Meredith, We always have a bit too much of this or that. And I love experimenting in the kitchen. And my husband and I both love cookies. So why in the world didn't I think of this before, I wonder??? (I guess you can't think outside the box if you don't first recognize there is a box...)

Thanks for the inspiration. I'm looking forward to trying this out.:)

P.S. I seem to be swimming against the tide here, but I like the name "Scrap Cookies".

Mama Squirrel said...

Good recipe! I've linked to your post.

Anonymous said...

So how did you afford the granite counters?

Meredith said...

Believe it or not, these counters made of granite tile (not slab) were cheaper than Formica. This is often the case with a U-shaped kitchen. (angled laminate pieces cost more). The tile was a super-sale at Home Depot, and I even took the receipt back for a further markdown a few weeks later.