Special cookies

Special cookies for a special time of year. Moreso, for the eleventh day of Christmas – whatever I want – 2020. We are almost finished people. And I already have a plan for next year!

So this is recipe from my mother, that I have turned into a big skillet cookie for the holiday. I figure, if you are going smaller this year, a giant cookie topped with caramel that you all can just dive right into would be magical. Don’t worry though, the recipe below is the same for regular cookies or a giant one.

Special cookies? Is that a joke?

It actually isn’t and I don’t actually know what they are called. Quick background and then I will move on because I know most of you don’t really care. When I was a kid, and I am talking toddler age, I ate nothing. I was that a–hole kid who wouldn’t eat. Now granted, there is a lot of things I still won’t eat (because I am still an a–hole), but I have gotten better. But, I was guaranteed to eat anything put in front of me that my mom called ‘special.’ And I have a whole slew of foods in my life that I don’t really know or care what the name is, they are just special. Special cookies, special potatoes, special cheese (this is on McDonald’s cheeseburgers)…it’s a pretty long list, but that’s a start.

Ok, so before I bother with the recipe, what are these?

Basically, they are a granola cookie, they are made with this, Quaker cereal. They are super soft and not terribly sweet. You could def consider this a breakfast cookie – I consider it an every hour of my day cookie. I think the texture of them is my favorite part, they don’t really spread when you bake them, and they are kind of almost blondie-type of texture.

Bottom line, I am probably not doing them justice, but if you have enjoyed my recipes in the past, just know that all things I post, I love to eat or drink myself. Meaning, we probs have similar palettes, if you like them too. And this cookie is my drop dead, hands down, no contest, favorite cookie ever. I love them so much, that I only make them like two or three times a year, so I don’t ever get sick of them. You gotta try them and let me know what you think.

A couple tips and then we are done.

1. The original recipe calls for lard. I have made with both, several times, and I prefer the butter. I like the texture better and the taste, so I am sticking with butter in the recipe. If you are a baking-with-lard lover (typing that made me laugh), use the lard, it is not bad, just not my preferred. And when I asked my mother, she always used butter when I was a kid.
2. let the dough rest in the fridge a bit before scooping and baking. This will help with the spreading cookies often do when baking.
3. Try not to over bake, you really want a soft cookie with this one.
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   Special cookies

   Ingredients

   • 1 stick of unsalted butter or use 1/2 cup of lard, at room temperature
   • 1 cup of light brown sugar packed
   • 1 egg
   • 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
   • 3 tablespoons milk
   • 1 1/4 cup of flour
   • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
   • 1/2 teaspoon salt
   • 2 cups of granola cereal I use Quaker

   Instructions

   1. Preheat oven to 350 and have a rack in the middle. If you are doing cookies, line a baking sheet with parchment. If you are doing a skillet cookie, don't do anything to your cast iron.
   2. Beat the butter (or shortening), sugar, egg, milk and vanilla extract together with a paddle attachment in a stand mixer (or use a hand mixer). In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the flour blend to the butter blend and mix together. Stir in the granola cereal.
   3. For cookies drop by tablespoon onto the lined cookie sheet. For the skillet cookie, spread batter in the cast iron.
   4. Bake the cookies for 12 minutes. Bake the skillet cast iron cookie for 20 minutes. Cool before enjoying. If you're really nice, serve the skillet cookie drizzled with caramel and maybe even some ice cream 🙂