Monday, February 14, 2011

TWD: White Chocolate Walnut Oatmeal Drops



This week's Tuesdays with Dorie (TWD) recipe was Chocolate Oatmeal Drops (page 75), selected by Caroline and Claire of Bake With Us. The original recipe can be found on their blog or in Dorie Greenspan's book.

You might wonder why mine aren't dark brown like they should be if I had followed the recipe as it was written. I must explain... I ran out of cocoa powder a few weeks ago and forgot to replenish, so I had to improvise a little. I replaced the cocoa powder with 1/3 cup white chocolate hot chocolate mix. Along this theme I used white chocolate instead of bittersweet and decreased the sugar in the recipe to compensate for my sugary substitutions. Then added a handful of walnuts for crunch.

They turned out great! They were a little on the sweet side and fooled everyone with their understated appearance. Nobody could guess what gave them that extra depth of flavor: melted white chocolate mixed into the batter. Yum!

I'm including my version of the recipe below, so I have a record for future reference and for anyone who wants to give them a shot.

White Chocolate Walnut Oatmeal Drops
Makes 30 | adapted from Dorie Greenspan

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup white chocolate hot cocoa mix (land-o-lakes)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces
1 tablespoon water
1 cup light brown sugar
7 oz. white chocolate, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

Getting Ready: Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats.

Sift together the flour, white hot chocolate mix, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl and sprinkle over the 1 tablespoon water, then add the brown sugar, followed by the chocolate. Stir occasionally until everything is just melted. Don’t let the ingredients get so hot that the butter separates from the sugar and chocolate, and don’t be concerned if the mixture looks grainy.

Remove from the heat and whisk in the eggs on at a time; the mixture will look shiny. Whisk in the dry ingredients, stirring only until they disappear into the dough. Stir in the walnuts and oats. Drop the dough by tablespoonfuls onto the baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each spoonful.

Bake for about 12 minutes, rotating the sheets from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until the cookies are dark around the edges and just slightly soft in the middle. Using a wide metal spatula, transfer the cookies to a rack to cool to room temperature. (If the cookies are difficult to lift from the baking sheet, wait a minute and try again.)

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the baking sheets between batches.

17 comments:

Cakelaw said...

Sometimes accidents are happy ones - and this white chocolate version sounds delicious!

Flourchild said...

Oh great idea..I think I would have liked your version better! They look so good..fat and tasty!

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Nicole said...

These look great! I love the white chocolate nut variation.

(Sorry I deleted my earlier comment; I was logged in with the wrong account.)

Jessica of My Baking Heart said...

I'm not normally a fan of white chocolate, but these look and sound amazing... especially with the added walnuts! :)

Natalie said...

I think your version sounds better than the original!

alvarosa said...

as so often, you found perfect substitutes! sounds very, very, very delicious!

Pamela said...

I think I might actually choose your cookie over mine if both were on a cookie tray. They look fantastic!

Jodie said...

What a fun substitution! They sound great!

Spike said...

white chocolate sounds great!

Unknown said...

What a great idea.... you know, the chocolate chip cookie was created by accident? Sometimes accidents are a great thing!

cakeflower said...

Awesome substitution. :)

Jessica said...

How cool that you were able to make these with white chocolate. They look delicious.

Caroline said...

Sounds like a great substitution. I LOVE white chocolate, one of my favourite recipes has melted white chocolate in it. Thanks for baking with us this week and for sharing your improvisation.

kitchen flavours said...

This looks good. You are really good at improvising! I bet these are really addictive!

Georgia | The Comfort of Cooking said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog, Tia. You have a beautiful blog of your own and I love your title, Buttercream Barbie! Too cute. These cookies look so wonderful, soft and absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing! I'm looking forward to exploring your recipes more... :) Georgia

Pam said...

I think using the white chocolate cocoa mix is a great idea. They look delicious.