I swear in the future I shall adhere more religiously to the true spirit(s) of this blog (I just bought some absinthe!) but I'm afraid I wasn't drinking while I baked these cookies. I was baking with my 5 year-old. Technically, I think child protective services tend to frown upon getting hammered around your children. Frankly, I frown upon it. So, we baked these cookies stone-cold sober. But they are still kick-ass. You could add nuts, if your childrens happen to attend a school where nuts are not expressly forbidden. You could also do white chocolate and Craisins (this recipe is adapted from the back of the Craisins bag) OR you could skip the wheat flour and do 1 1/2 cups regular, hell I don't care.
Stay tuned, faithful drinkers/bakers, the holiday season is approaching, and there WILL be wine. And baking. And maybe sazeracs.
1/2 cup butter softened
About 1 medium mashed (very ripe) banana
2/3 cup brown sugar packed
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extra
¾ tsp orange extract
About 1 tablespoon fresh orange zest
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1 cup flour
½ cup whole wheat flour* (optional, you could just do 1 ½ cups regular flour instead)
1 tsp baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ -1 cup dried cherries (more or less to your taste)
2/3 cup dark chocolate chunks
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar together in a medium mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs and mashed banana, mixing well. Add vanilla and orange extracts, and orange zest, and banana, and mix again until blended. Sift together flour/s, baking soda, and salt in a separate mixing bowl, then add oats. Add to the butter and egg mixture a little at time, blending after each addition. Stir in Craisins and white chocolate chips. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire rack. Yield: Approx. 2 ½ dozen (I got 3 dozen).
