Nutty Club Fruitlet Cookies - Thinking Outside The Pot

I am excited to have my new blogger friend Michelle guest post for me today. I hope you guys enjoy her content and blog as much as I do. I love that she had her daughter baking with her. I love these moments of baking with my daughter as well. I am going to try and continue to bake with her for years to come. It’s a great tradition for a daughter and mother to have.

Nutty Club Fruitlet Cookies

Bio: Michelle and her husband will be celebrating their 8th anniversary this Christmas and together they have two daughters. Michelle and her family live near the sea, south of Vancouver Canada. Michelle is the author of the family and lifestyle blog, Just an Ordinary Family, where she writes about her family adventures, reviews product and highlights women entrepreneurs.

Hello there! I am so excited to be writing here today. When I was thinking about what to share with a new audience, my mind kept going towards food. I love to cook and try new recipes. I toyed with the idea of trying out one of my own recipes here, but decided instead to share with you my all-time favorite cookie recipe.

Normally I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, except for some chocolate now and then. However, when I first tried these cookies in my mother-in-laws kitchen, it was love at first bite. Candy and cookies are not normally two of my favorite things, but somehow combine them together and voila, one amazing cookie.

These cookies call for pieces of fruit candy, similar to a jujube. They are called Nutty Club Fruitlets {insert hyperlink over title http://www.scottbathgate.com/Home.html }, and the recipe for the cookie is right on the back of the package! You can find them in the baking aisle. At the grocery store I shop at they are located near the pre-made icing, sprinkles and cake candles.

frutlets

mixing

My daughter and I have been baking together for a very long time. She loves to help me add the ingredients and taste test the dough. The apron she is wearing is the apron that I wore when I baked with my mom. My mom recently passed it down to my daughter. What a precious keepsake to carry on the tradition of baking with mom.

daughter baking

What would baking be if we didn’t start with a song?

baking song

Gather your ingredients;
125 mL/ half a cup of butter or margarine, softened.
125mL/half a cup of granulated sugar
125mL/half a cup of light brown sugar
1 egg
2 mL/half teaspoon vanilla
250mL/1 cup sifted all-purpose flour
2 mL/half teaspoon baking soda
2 mL/half teaspoon baking powder
A pinch/eighth teaspoon salt
250mL/1 cup uncooked rolled oats
250mL/1 cup (one package) Nutty Club Fruitlets

By no means am I baker, in fact I am quite the opposite. Please learn from my mistakes and follow some of these simple tricks to create a delicious, flavorful and chewy cookie.
Preheat your oven ahead of time. If you have an oven thermometer, use it. Use a baking mat when baking cookies. I can’t explain why, but it makes a difference in creating a chewy cookie. Make sure your butter is very soft before beginning and mix it with the sugars until fluffy. Test a couple of cookies in your own oven first to make sure the timing is correct. Not all ovens are equal and your altitude will make a difference as well.

My all-time favorite ingredient for baking, especially making cookies is vanilla bean paste. I discovered while taking a cooking class in Portland at Sur La Table. The instructor explained that extract escapes during the baking process. The house will smell amazing, but the flavor is escaping from the cookie. With the paste, the vanilla flavor stays inside the cookie. It makes the world of a difference. The cookies have the flecks of vanilla bean throughout that make me feel like I am a pro. Ha.

eggs

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 180’ C (350’ F). Using an electric mixer with the paddle attachment, or a hand held mixer, cream together the softened butter and sugars. Add the egg and mix well, then add the vanilla. If you are using the vanilla bean paste it is teaspoon for teaspoon.

mixing ingredients

brown sugar

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add it to the wet mixture gradually, a third at a time, mixing well in between. Using a wooden spoon (or your electric mixer on the stir setting), mix in the rolled oats and the fruitlets.

adding fruitlets

Here my daughter stopped me to say, “Mama, I know it has a raw egg but I just need to taste it a little bit, okay?” Testing the cookie dough is a must in this house. (Taste test at your own risk; consuming undercooked or raw eggs could lead to illness.)

tasting

Next, gather your baking equipment; baking sheet, baking mat and a cookie baller. The cookie baller is not necessary; two spoons will work just as fine. However, this handy tool helps to ensure your cookies are all the same and bake evenly.

scooping cookies

Lightly press the cookie dough down in a criss-cross pattern using a fork. They will spread while baking, so don’t flatten them too much.

cris-cross

Bake the cookies for 12 minutes. Again, this will depend on your oven. You want the cookies to be lightly browned around the edges, and just slightly underdone in the centre. Allow them to cool for two minutes before lifting them off onto a cooling rack.

enjoy with milk