"oatmeal" news and stories

Just in time for weather hitting record low temperatures (at least in New York City), Jamba Juice announced their national rollout of their new Steel Cut Oatmeal with Fruit menu items this morning. Taking a full 40 minutes to prepare (but available to customers immediately), Jamba's oatmeal comes with a choice of three real fruit toppings: blueberry-blackberry, apple cinnamon or fresh bananas.

Adding to their already nutritious and wholesome menu, these small pints of oatmeal are sure to give Starbucks a run for their money with their rivaling whole-grain oatmeal with dried fruit. Getting a hold of a sample ourselves, I can honestly say I was impressed. The oats were plump and could instantly tell the difference between instant oatmeal made with boiling water and these oats, which are simmered over a period of time. The fruit topping was not too sweet and the brown sugar crumble simply put on smile on my face (who doesn't love crumble).

As I mentioned in my post about my issues with following microwave directions, I was recently sent a bunch of Amy's products to sample. The first ones I'm going to review are the hot breakfast cereals - because breakfast comes first!

I am a cold cereal person. I eat it every single morning and also the occasional afternoon and evening. I like hot cereals, but I find cold milk (or soy milk in my case) is a refreshing way to start the day. I did, however, approach the Amy's hot cereals with an open mind.

After the jump, my overall review and my review of each cereal.

The Vicarious Foodie recently discovered Wild Cherry M&Ms in her local store, and did what any good pastry chef would do when faced with a new product with much potential: she went to work!

VF found a Cooks Illustrated recipe for Chocolate-Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cherries, and smartly subbed the M&Ms for the cherry and chocolate pieces, but kept in the pecans.

She mentions that in most recipes, her cookies tend to spread out in the oven, but these look gorgeous, like they barely stretched an inch. (Maybe the oatmeal had something to do with it?)

Either way, I commend VF for being innovative. Plus, the chocolate pieces are a great contrast to the brownish cookie.

Here's VF's re-done recipe here.

I pulled out my cookie tome yesterday - Carole Walter's Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets - and went for the aptly-named Carole's Really Great Chocolate Chip Cookies. (I know, the name sounds like a cop-out - until you realize that these are in addition to the "Soft and Chewy Choc. Chip Cookies," the "Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies," the "Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter..." - Well, you get the point. After awhile, you run out of names.

No matter: I felt good about these babies. Of course, it was not until I walked the ten blocks home that I realized I'd forgotten the light corn syrup that the recipe called for. So, out came the laptop, in a frantic search for the proper ratio of sugar-to-liquid to make DIY corn syrup. (It's one cup granulated sugar to 1/4 cup water, cooked til thickened).

The cookies are made with 1/2 cup of 1-minute oatmeal to prevent them from spreading out too much while in the oven. It definitely seemed to help, although my first batch was a bit underdone (I cooked them for 12 minutes), and my second batch - at 14 minutes - was slightly crunchy. Although, I have to say, dipped in my coffee this morning, the latter batch was absolutely perfect. Perhaps I should have turned the cookie sheet halfway through, like Carole suggests, or gone with real corn syrup instead of my cheap-o substitute. No matter - despite my flops, they were still amazing. (Oh- and forgive the grainy laptop camera shot).

Check out the recipe after the jump.

You know a cookbook is a keeper when you pick it up as you would a novel, and page through carefully, taking in the words and photographs and recipes as if they were classic literature. You savor each page, admiring the layout, drooling over the photos, and scheming about what recipe you'll try next.

That is what Carole Walter's Great Cookies: Secrets to Sensational Sweets is to me. I'll read it when I'm not even planning on baking, for fun or inspiration. Walter, an accomplished pastry chef, divides her book into twelve categories, including drop cookies, "big boys," rugelach, biscotti, meringues and more, each with its own glossy, full-color photograph and often accompanied by a sweet story about her children or grandchildren.

The drop cookies chapter alone is enough to stop you in your tracks. Rustic Maple Pecan cookies mingle with Crystallized Ginger and Macadamia Wafers and rub shoulders with Zach's Chocolate Coconut Devils.

Overwhelmed, I went with a safe bet: the chocolate chip oatmeal cookies.