winter break

Now that I can knit and bake and watch TV without feeling one iota of guilt, that's about all I've been doing since the end of autumn quarter. I only have two weeks of freedom before its back to libraries and copious coffee drinking -- so I'm trying to make the most the time. First on the agenda was the baby sweater. Knitted in a soft, soft Rowan yarn -- this is the first fully fashioned item that I've cranked out. The moment of truth is yet to come when my niece, who is in the 98% percentile of growth, tries it on. Even though she is only four months, I made it in the 9 months size and am holding my breath a little. All in all, it came out really well and props to Deborah for helping me choose the color.

Now on to cookies. For Christmas the boyfriend, his mom and I are heading to North Cascades to get a little peace and quiet and snow. I made these Ultimate Oatmeal Cookies to sustain us through vigorous cross country ski adventures. Last time Nick and I went cross country skiing it ended up with lots of falling and sore, sore bums. This time we'll have these delicious cookies to make us feel better. Made with chunks of chocolate, tart cherries, and pecans these are the cookies that eat like a meal.


Ultimate Oatmeal Cookie
from the hard working Cook's Illustrated folks

1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1 1/4 cup rolled oats
5 oz dried tart cherries, coarsely chopped ( about 1 cup)
4 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup pecans, toasted and chopped
12 T. butter, softened but still cool
1 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla


Heat oven to 350 degrees. In medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, baking soda and baking powder. In another medium bowl, combine oats, cherries, chocolate and pecans.

In large mixing bowl, or standing mixer, cream sugar and butter for 1 minute. Add egg and vanilla, and mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and mix on low until combined. Add oats and chunks mixture and mix until combined.

On two large baking sheets lined with parchment or silicone liner, drop 16 scoops of dough, using 1/4 cup measuring cup. If there is any dough remaining, partition it out among the 16 cookies. Roll each scoop of dough into a sphere and lightly flatten until an inch thick. Stagger cookies on the sheet so that they are about 2 inches apart in all directions.

Place both cookie sheets in oven and set timer for 12 minutes. When 12 minutes are up, rotate sheets from top to bottom and front to back and cook for 5-8 minutes more. Cookies should look slighly underdone and be cracked on the surface. Allow to cool 5 minutes on the sheets and then transfer to wire rack.