Crispy Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

One of my favorite reasons to bake is when I’m baking something for someone else. There’s nothing like the feeling of sharing with others a delicious treat that you’ve made with your own two hands. I like to think about the person who will be receiving it, and how it will hopefully bring them joy. Which is what I was hoping these cookies would bring when I made them for my friend Caitlin. She had mentioned to me that she was a white chocolate nut, and so I hemmed and hawed over various white chocolate recipes, finally deciding on these cookies. I was hoping that there would be enough white chocolate flavor in them, because I did not want to disappoint.

Let me tell you a little bit about Caitlin real quick, because she was my very first best friend. We were neighbors growing up, which was a pretty big deal because our houses were out in the country with no one else nearby. Caitlin and I were born two months apart, and I like to think about how we became best friends from the time we were infants. I guess we didn't have much choice in the matter considering our location.

Caitlin and I
Considering our outfits, I'm assuming sometime during the late 80's or early 90's

But I was so lucky to have someone to share such an amazing childhood with. Whether it was exploring in the creek together, creating our own special languages, playing hide-and-go seek in the tall grass of the field next to our house, or goofing around at a slumber party, Caitlin and I were always having a good time. It may sound silly, but I look back on those years as being a truly magical time; and I feel blessed that I got to spend it with a really good buddy.

Churros

My friend Miguel is an interesting guy. He has an enormous amount of knowledge about sharks and dinosaurs, is an amazing artist, and collects bugs, reptiles, and other creepy crawlies for fun. And sometimes Miguel likes to buy things on impulse, such as a giant industrial sized churro gun. Also known as a churrera, the gun is basically a giant extruder, meant to handle large batches of churros at one time. Just the sort of thing that every home kitchen needs, right?
I agreed to help him with his first batch of churros, even though neither one of us had ever made them before. Luckily the batter was a cinch to whip up, and in no time we were pumping out the delicious fried treats. Here we are making churros like pros:
And man were those first churros tasty. Crispy on the outside, soft on the inside, and sprinkled with the perfect amount of cinnamon sugar. I think we could hardly believe we had created something so good. We made that first batch of churros about a year ago, and unfortunately I don’t think the churro gun has been in use ever since. In all honesty it was a bit cumbersome, and not exactly practical for the smaller batches of churros that we were churning out. Luckily churros are just as easily prepared with a piping bag and piping tip.

Butter + Cream + Joy the Baker

Before consuming Easter chocolate by the fistful and rocking and rolling through another LA earthquake, we spent a gorgeous day in the kitchen with our moms, BFF Jill, and the one and only Joy the Baker. Odds are that you already know Joy and her beautiful blog. If you don’t, mosey on over to her site and take a look.

Joy is gracious. And calm. And talented. And pretty. She was nice about it when I overdid it on the corn syrup in her vanilla glaze, and when our chocolate glaze set too early. In our downtime, Joy shared tips on food photography and this crazy awesome little world of blogging that we’ve just recently joined. She was a great teacher in every sense of the word, and to put it bluntly, her recipes kick ass. You should make them too.

If you want to see her in action, check out the On the Lamb cooking demo this Saturday at noon at Surfas in Culver City.

Lotsa pictures after the jump!