Test baking today: Oatmeal cookies with assorted dried fruit - need ideas

[Viva_La_Revolution]

So, I make my famous Oatmeal Choc chip cookies all the time, and a certain friend ALWAYS mentions how good they would be with raisins. I resisted for a long time but I have taken the plunge.. last night I made a test batch with golden raisins (so we could tell them from the choc chip) and they were good!
So today I'm making a full batch for said friend and I got to thinking... dried cranberries would be good too, and maybe dried blueberries.

What other fruits have you used? and is there such a thing as dried rhubarb? I think a apple/rhubarb could be awesome.

[HappyMe]

1. Try apricots.

I don't like rhubarb.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

7. hmmm

is apricot and cinnamon a good mix? I don't like apricots, but I will try just for you

[HappyMe]

11. Well, if you don't like

apricots, then how about some coconut. I throw some coconut into my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

18. coconut with ginger and cinnamon

yes

[Angry Dragon]

2. Let me know when you get to the peanut butter-chocolate chip .........

How about using some dried fruits used in fruitcake

[Viva_La_Revolution]

8. magic middles

a soft chocolate cookie baked around a peanut butter middle. like a buckeye candy. How does that sound?

[Angry Dragon]

12. I would give it a try but I was just thinking of a good peanut butter cookie

with chocolate chips ........

[Viva_La_Revolution]

13. my youngest has already perfected that one without oatmeal

he says mini chips are the key to proper peanut butter to chocolate ratio in each bite
with oatmeal or without?

[Angry Dragon]

14. Never had it with oatmeal but I would try it

[Viva_La_Revolution]

19. the extra fiber is good for you

and it gives you a good excuse to eat more than one

[hlthe2b]

3. I think you could use just about any dried fruit...

or even make an oatmeal fruitcake type cookie with dates, pecans and candied fruit that you would use in fruitcake.

Yumm... Makes me wish I weren't "low carbing"

[Viva_La_Revolution]

16. you guys have such great ideas!

fruit cookies go over big here in pnw, now Oatmeal Fruitcake Cookies!

I have a vegetarian recipe with oats, fruit, honey etc that goes over really good even with omnivores but I don't make it often cause you have to use parchment paper and it's so expensive. It'll be easy to blend the two recipes together...

[woodsprite]

4. How about dark chocolate chips and dried montmorency cherries!

They're the tart pie cherries. I can eat them by the bag full!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

6. oh yum

that one's definitely on the list

[Little Star]

17. Darn you!....

I'm on a diet and now my mouth is watering. I bet dark chocolate chips and dried cherries would be wonderful in oatmeal cookies.

I'll have to wait till I reach my desired weight before I can try one tho

[yellerpup]

5. Chopped candied ginger

is a nice surprise in oatmeal cookies. The next time I make oatmeal cookies I will make them with ginger and mini chocolate chips, and diced dried pear. Experimenting with dried fruits often results in a happy outcome and rarely a bad one. Have fun!

[Viva_La_Revolution]

10. I've recently become fond of ginger

thanks! I think a little cardamom would give it a pop too.

[yellerpup]

15. Just bought a jar of fresh cardamom yesterday!

you're right. Nice addition.

[woodsprite]

20. Yummm! The pear/ginger/chocolate sounds really good!

Subways used to sell a crystalized ginger apple cookie that was 'to die for'. They stopped selling them ages ago, but I remember how good the ginger was in those cookies.

My son loves to try new combinations and will often eat something he hasn't tried before (or has claimed he doesn't like) if he helps to make it. He won't eat oatmeal, but maybe he'd like to try to make the ginger/pear ones with me.

Since the start of this school year, we've done chicken fajitas, pumpkin spinach wontons w/ pine nuts, maple bacon cupcakes, honey cinnamon chipoltle brownies, parmesan meatballs w/ homemade marinara and carmelized onion perogies. He's in an advanced cooking club in his aftercare, and loves the whole cooking experience - all except the cleanup We've have had some 'flops' like the pumpkin white-choco chip cookies and the peppermint brownies (WAYYY too sweet). But most of the recipes have been great and they always send the kids home with the recipe and a serving to share with their family.

[yellerpup]

23. What fun to cook with your son!

It's so wonderful that young men are interested in food these days. So what, if you have a flop? Some flops are inevitable in the kitchen if you are trying anything you've not tried before. My mom only let me cook the cheapest ingredients when I started cooking. The first thing she gave to to create a family meal was a big slab of beef liver. I knew how to do it with bacon and mushrooms, but I wanted to be creative so I put it in a curry sauce. Huge, remarkable flop!

[woodsprite]

24. Yup, everybody has flops once in awhile!

I was 'holding down the fort' at home while my Mom was taking care of a relative and I decided I'd treat dad to raw fried potatoes and onions. I tried to hurry them up by adding a bit of water to the pan. I ended up trying to 'save' the steamed potato and onion mash by stirring in sour cream and chives. He at it and it didn't taste half bad, but I haven't tried to make raw fried potatoes since.

Another time I misread a recipe and put in 3 tbls of baking powder. Needless to say, the cake was very fluffy and didn't taste much like I remembered white cake tasting.

I think my biggest cooking flop of my young married life was making The Frugal Gourmet's peanut sauce for spaghetti. It did not go over well with hubby.

[yellerpup]

26. The flop meals are the most memorable, aren't they?

I made a big flop recently with a Middle-Eastern style peanut sauce and date syrup as a dressing for steamed cauliflower. I was so excited by the recipe, that I made the date syrup from scratch and it was exciting and delicious by itself. Put all the elements together and it tasted....so WRONG! Like peanut butter and jelly on cauliflower. Awful.

[pinto]

21. Sounds good. I'd skip the chocolate and go with dried candied ginger, apples and pears

and cinammon...maybe a Hershey's Kiss set on top just at the end of the bake, though.

[yellerpup]

22. Oooh, that's creative.

Extra chocolate, too.

[msanthrope]

9. I do dried cranberries and mini morsels....heavenly. nt

[livetohike]

25. Dates....but my husband who always has to have raisins, says it sacrilegious to use dates.

I liked them

[littlemissmartypants]

27. I

have a weakness for dates.

[BainsBane]

28. coconut

but I use a different recipe. I don't just add it. I found a recipe on Epicurious (I think) that is really good.

[Tab]

29. Eh, I wouldn't put in cranberry

but it'd be cool if you could get oatmeal/raisin/banana

[locks]

30. Dates/nuts

Our Sprouts store makes small date rolls covered in almond or pistachios; I cut them into small pieces and put in oatmeal cookies.

[grasswire]

31. my best, and best-loved oatmeal cookies...

...have raisins, but the raisins are simmered beforehand to soften them, and the raisin juice is added to the dough. They are just the very best evah.

[KC]

32. How

about dried cherries?

[HappyMe]

33. Don't they have candied orange peels

or something? I think chocolate and orange together would be yummy.

[dem in texas]

34. Dried Fruit for Oatmeal cookies

My husband likes chocolate chips in his, I like dried fruit so I split the batch. Over the years, I have tried many different combinations, here are some that I can remember: dried cranberries, dried pineapple, dates, dried mango, trail mix, sunflower seeds, and crumbled dried mincemeat. My favorite combination is coconut, raisins and dried cranberries with a little cinnamon added to the cookie dough. I like to add some chopped pecans too. I use a recipe that calls for more oatmeal than flour and makes a crisp cookie. I have made this recipe too many times to count.