Oatmeal Date Cookies - National Cookie Week - The Gay Gourmet!™

So, I figured that day three of National Cookie Week should be dedicated to one of the Real Housewives of Orange County! No not those real housewives but one that goes by the alias of Mad Hungry Woman! Anita Lau is fabulous and I discovered her one random day via the Twitter as she is much more than a housewife and more fabulous than any of those other OC housewives!

As I read her blog I'm inspired to just be as fabulous as she is! So when she offered to be part of National Cookie Week by shooting over one of her favorite cookie recipes I was ecstatic! You can read more about her here - Mad Hungry Woman!

On to the Cookie!!

Oatmeal Date Cookies - aka Ms. Quake-ah Dates!

(I'm telling you it's so much fun to try to think of drag names for your food! I laugh for a good 15 mins straight (or gay) when I come up with these)





Her needs..

* 1 1/4 cups packed pitted dates (about 10 ounces)
* 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
* 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
* 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
* 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 3/4 teaspoon salt (if using salted butter only add 1/4 tsp salt)
* 1 large egg
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 1/2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
* 1 individual serving size applesauce (optional -but I ended up using about 2 TBS)


The seduction method...

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Coarsely chop dates. In a 3-quart saucepan melt butter over low heat and remove pan from heat. Add brown sugar, stirring until smooth, and sift flour, baking soda, and salt over butter mixture. In a cup lightly beat egg and stir into flour mixture with vanilla, oats, and dates until combined well. Add applesauce to the mixture if dough looks a little dry.

Onto 2 large ungreased baking sheets spoon slightly rounded tablespoons dough about 2 inches apart. Spoon dough pats onto sheets. Bake cookies in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden brown, about 18 minutes total. Transfer cookies to racks to cool. Cookies keep in an airtight container about 1 week.

I didn't bake on 2 sheets as I am using a tiny convection oven. So I used one sheet and baked for about 10 to 12 mins a sheet. Or just bake till beautifully golden! Remember cookies still cook from the internal heat even when they are pulled from the oven! They came out so perfectly delectable, they hardly made it to their photo shoot with John Dolan Photography a few days later!






What a great HUMP DAY Treat!! Thank you to Anita Lau for the contribution! Maybe this'll get me on her foodie friends list! A gay boy can only hope! I love that the support for this week has been so bountiful and I hope everyone's National Cookie Week has been deliciously filled with cookie goodness!




Till tomorrow! A special Cinco de Mayo Treat!

Deliciously Living,

Michael Muñoz

The Gay Gourmet!™

Photo Credit: ©2011 John Dolan Photography
NCW Illustration Credit: ©2011 Gerard Conte
©2011 Michael Muñoz