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.