Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Truly Delightful Contest ...

The good folks at Quaker have recently launched a line of premium granola bars called True Delights®. In honor of the launch, Quaker and Foodbuzz have teamed up to sponsor the 2009 True Delights Be Delighted Recipe Contest. Contestants must submit a recipe that contains at least one of the 9 ingredients found in Quaker® True Delights bars. With such luscious ingredients as: cashews, chocolate, raspberry, almonds, bananas, coconut, macadamia nuts, cherries or cranberries - entrants are limited only by their imaginations. The contest is open to all, limit one entry per person/per email address.

It should come as no surprise that this weekend found me donning my apron, dusting off the mixer and getting down to some serious baking. I love a challenge and more than that I love the list of suggested ingredients. To be perfectly honest, I can live without granola bars - premium or not - but throw those same ingredients into some dough and I'm all over it. Sure, I might have dreamed up a more inventive concoction ... could have submitted a sous-vied breast of twice plucked guinea hen, glazed with a cashew infused raspberry-almond demi-glace ... but who the hell wants that when you can have a cookie?

And if those cookies are made molten with dark rich chocolate and bursting with luscious dried berries then color me delighted indeed.


Loaded Oatmeal Cookies:
  • 2 sticks of butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup of all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup of whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp. baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp. salt
  • 1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
  • 3/4 cup mixed, unsweetened, dried cranberries and cherries
  • 3 cups of Quaker Old Fashioned Oats, uncooked
  • 1/3 cup coarsely chopped macadamia nuts
  • one 11.5 ounce bag of Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips
Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine the white flour, whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and whisk well to combine. Reserve.

Place the softened butter in the bowl of your electric mixer and to it add the granulated sugar, cream together on medium-high until light and fluffy. Add both brown sugars and continue to mix until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla and mix well until thoroughly incorporated. Add the reserved flour mixture, one third at a time, beating well after each addition to in corporate. Add the dried cranberries and cherries, the macadamia nuts and the oats and mix well to combine. Add the chocolate chocolate chip and mix carefully to combine well but gently so as not to break up the chips.

Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto an un-greased cookie sheet and bake in the middle of a preheated 350 degree oven for approximately 12 minutes or until golden brown. Remove cookies to a wire rack to cool. As written, this recipe will yield 48 to 55 cookies. Serve and enjoy!

You'll note the mix of dried cherries and cranberries - my market sells them packaged this way, but feel free to mix your own or use either fruit alone.


I've been making these cookies for quite some time now and had only to add a bit of macadamia to enhance them for the contest. This is the recipe I've submitted and I think its a winner. Make no mistake, this is not your average oatmeal cookie - that description is far too tame. These beauties are heavy hitters; loaded with flavor and just silly with texture. A cookie this good should be illegal. A cookie this good should win me a trip to Chicago ... and if they don't that's ok too ... maybe *you'll* be the lucky winner instead?

Why not hit that link and enter the contest yourself? The link up top will take you to the rules and the rest is self-explanatory. If contests aren't your thang but granola is ... click here to score a free sample of the new True Delights®.

So what's your favorite cookie? Curious Diva wants to know.

Bon appetit!

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yum, Diva... these cookies look great! I need a big glass of cold milk just looking at them! I hope you win, you deserve it!

Anonymous said...

Oatmeal raisin cookies have always been a favorite. Switching it up with cranberries and chocolate is a total bright idea. Definitely the chocolate!

JAMJARSUPERSTAR said...

I love oaties but unfortunately never really have the time to do really proper old fashioned cooking any more which is a shame!

But it's intersting that you've got Quaker's over there - I thought it was only a UK thing. They make nice porridge lol!
Ciao

Scarlet xx

The Diva on a Diet said...

Tracy - thanks, and you're right - they're just begging for some frosty milk!

Duo - always chocolate. Always. ;)

Scarlet - I love the oats as porridge too. I think Quaker is an American company ... isn't it??? LOL

Sass said...

Shoot.

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but you left out the last step in the recipe.

The last step is...box a bunch of these bad boys up and mail them to your favorite crazy woman in the midwest...

Which had better be me. ;)

HektikLyfe said...

I love quaker granola bars. My current favorite is the Oatmeal Raisin variety. Weird because I can't stand raisins. Unless they are in raisinette's.

Oh and you've been tagged on my latest Meme!

Anonymous said...

I LOLed (is this proper blogspeak?) my way through your very clever blog today my dear. Thanks for the chuckle. Meantime I also signed up for the freebies and if it snows tomorrow as it's threatening, maybe I'll make the cookies for my book club meeting on Thursday. The things I learn from this blog!!! ;>

Anonymous said...

Yummm, your cookie recipe looks amazing. Good luck!

This caught my eye..."Quaker Old Fashioned Oats." Suck up! LOL

Elizabeth said...

Definitely oatmeal cookies! And yours look divine!

The Diva on a Diet said...

Sass - not only my favorite crazy woman in the mid-west ... maybe my only one! Who knows, maybe one day I'll surprise you. :)

Hektik - I'm not a raisin fan either, that's why I used the cherries/cranberries. Thanks for the tag, will put it up tomorrow!

Pixelgal - I'm glad someone gets my sense of humor ... must be genetic. LOL (and yes, that was properly used, well done!)

Jeanie - no surprise you caught that ... good one, huh? They don't call me a shameless whore for nothin'! ;) LOL

Juliet - not sure they'd pass your ingredient test ... but they are divine. Thanks!

Matty P said...

Oatmeal cookies look tasty :) Try www.mixmygranola.com -- custom-made granola anyway you like it. Hey "Diva," would you like to try a sample and blog your thoughts? Email me at matt@mixmygranola.com

Cheers,
Matt

Anonymous said...

I love oatmeal raisin cookies but I had found a very similar recipe for chocolate cherry chunk cookies on the King Arthur web site and they were a hit at Christmas! Love all that texture!

Yummy!

Deb

The Diva on a Diet said...

MattyP - hello and welcome! Sure, I'd love to try a sample and will be in touch. Thanks for stopping by and drop in any time! :)

Deb - you can never go wrong with chocolate and cherries. Yummy indeed! I'm not a big fan of raisin, so I do prefer the dried cherries or cranberries in my oatmeal cookies. Love the cinnamon too. :)

Martha said...

I consider myself an oatmeal aficionado and this combination of flavors is definitely being added to my list of must tries!

So many cookie recipes so little time....