Oatmeal Chocolate-Chunk Cookies v. Pumpkin Spice Cookies
I want to like Mrs Bush's recipe, but I can make Mrs Heinz Kerry's without making a special trip to the store. The quick oats are no problem, and I can easily find the chocolate chunks (or just substitute chocolate chips), but where in the world am I going to get two cups of dried sour cherries?
I suppose if I were a highly paid journalist like Maureen Dowd, I could spin this into some ludicrous analogy about how the Bushes Are Out Of Touch With Ordinary America. (Like Dowd has any connection besides disdain to the unwashed rubes of flyover country.) But you could also spin this the other way: Mrs Bush's cookies represent what's great about America. They celebrate cherished American cookie traditions while updating them with new ingredients, inviting us to try something new. How long does a batch of chocolate chip cookies last when you have teenagers in the house?
The pumpkin spice cookies, though they sound tasty enough... well, they're pumpkin. I love pumpkin, and I especially love it in the fall. But once November rolls around, I've usually had enough of it.
Funny how ABCnews.com titles this crucial contest Bush v. Heinz instead of Bush v. Heinz Kerry.
Laura Bush's Oatmeal-Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Makes: about 8 dozen cookies. Bake: at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes.
1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups light-brown sugar
3 eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
3 cups quick oats (not old-fashioned)
2 cups chopped walnuts
1 1/2 packages (8 ounces each) chocolate chunks (3 cups)
2 cups coarsely chopped dried sour cherries
1. Heat oven to 350°.
2. With electric mixer, cream butter and both sugars.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time, then beat in vanilla.
4. Add flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and oats; slowly beat until blended.
5. Stir in walnuts, chocolate and cherries.
6. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto cookie sheet covered with parchment paper.
7. Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden brown.
Teresa Heinz Kerry's Pumpkin Spice Cookies
Makes: about 5 dozen cookies. Bake: at 375° for 12 to 15 minutes
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup canned pumpkin puree (from 15-ounce can; do not use pumpkin pie filling)
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup raisins
1. Heat oven to 375°.
2. With electric mixer, cream butter and sugar.
3. Beat in egg, pumpkin and vanilla.
4. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and allspice.
5. Stir into pumpkin mixture.
6. Stir in chopped walnuts and raisins.
7. Drop by tablespoonfuls onto a well-greased cookie sheet.
8. Bake at 375° for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden on edges.
There are always dried sour cherries at my local supermarket, right next to the dried apricots and prunes. I would buy them, but I have to admit I don't like them very much. Michigan cuisine is supposed to be characterized by the use of cherries, but I am not fond of them, even though I'm all for Michigan in most things. I might substitute dried cranberries in the recipe. But then, I was born and raised in Massachusetts.
there was some kind of scandal around this event, with terayza claiming that this was not a real recipe of hers but one put forth by some disaffected former staffer.
cookiegate?
I haven't seen the cherries in regular groceries around here, but then we are not in Cherryland. I did check Trader Joe's today -- they do carry them, but the store happened to be out. I will check again later.
I think the story about Terayza's recipe was that it was getting shellacked in the Family Circle poll, and she blamed it on a staffer's submitting a "nasty" recipe on her behalf.
I agree with Henry.....the Craisins (or whatever they're called) sound like a good idea. And less expensive. If I remember correctly, the dried cherries can be quite expensive.
I can't eat either one, but I always love the opportunity to eat dried cranberries. I love them.
Me too, Pansy -- like the other night when I was hungry and couldn't sleep, so I got out of bed around 5 a.m. and scarfed down a serving of peanut butter, a glass of milk, and about 4/5 of the bag of dried cranberries I'd bought to make a yummy spinach salad :\
Can't be good for my blood sugar in the long run either, but they sure satisfied my famished nursing mother's craving...
i'll take our classy first lady's chocolate-chunk yummies over that crassy bitties booger cookies any ol' day, especially considering dried sour cherries are a heckuva lot tastier than a dried up ol' prune.
Smock has such a way with words. LOL. Seriously though,politics and such aside, the chocolate chunk cookies do look like a recipe that would make me say "hey, I gotta try that" and the pumpkin cookie recipe, well just doesn't.