Testing the new C A R (Candy Apple Red)

A little over two weeks ago, I wasn't sure if I could pull the trigger.  I happened to be cleaning up for house guests from Japan when I came across a Williams-Sonoma catalog.  My heart skipped a beat when I saw the newest bad boy in the Kitchenaid lineup of mixers. . .a seven-quart behemoth.  I tried to convince myself that I could live without it, and I even went so far as to look up prices at Amazon.com and eBay to convince myself Williams-Sonoma was overpriced.

Wrong move!  Amazon was selling it for $799 + shipping, and eBay had one for $600 with an additional $145 for shipping.  That's when I knew I couldn't pass up the Williams-Sonoma deal.  For $603 (which includes $30 shipping and Hawaii tax), the mixer was delivered to my door within a week of pulling the trigger.  I'm waiting for my $40 cash back and my 2-year subscription to Food & Wine magazine to arrive. . .all perks for buying from Williams-Sonoma before the end of March!

This baby is just a quart larger than the model it replaced.  The diameter of the bowl feels the same, but the bowl seems to be a lot deeper than the six-quart.  The most salient point is the noise level.  This baby is much quieter.  I can actually hear the tv even when I have the mixer going.  Of course, the true test of a mixer is the quality of the food it produces.

In between cleaning house, I managed to distract myself by making muffins and cookies.  The corn muffin recipe can be found here.  Sandy and I worked together at Moanalua.  She was a home ec teacher there before moving closer to home (Kalaheo).

I wanted to bake cookies with the kids for Valentines Day, and I was leaning towards spritz cookies.  Somehow, I ended up owing a favor to one of the vice principals at HHS.  He told me he likes oatmeal cookies with raisins.  Having never made oatmeal cookies before, I took this as a challenge and set off to find/tweak a recipe.  The pictures you are seeing here are from my 2nd attempt.  My 1st attempt produced horrific cookies which resembled lace cookies instead of cookie-jar quality oatmeal cookies.  I quickly searched for another recipe to tweak.

click on recipe title for printable recipe
Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies

     3/4 c butter, softened
     3/4 c flour
     3/4 tsp salt
     1/2 tsp baking soda
     1/2 tsp cinnamon
     3/4 c brown sugar, packed
     3/4 c sugar
     1 egg
     1 tbsp water
     2 tsp vanilla
     3 c "quick" oatmeal
     1 c dried cranberries (5 oz)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a small bowl, stir together, flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon.  In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars.  Add egg, water, and vanilla.  Stir in flour mixture.  Stir in oatmeal.  Stir in cranberries.  Drop tablespoon globs onto greased cookie sheets.  Bake 11 minutes (I used Airbake sheets w/o rims).  Allow to rest 2 minutes on cookie sheets before transferring to wire rack to cool.  Makes about 4 dozen cookies (use #50 disher).

For best results, especially if you like your cookies on the thicker side, chill cookie sheets/dough balls while waiting to bake.

A few notes before I sign off for this week

• I know the vice principal said he likes raisins, and I'm sure substituting raisins for the cranberries would make a decent cookie.  I don't like raisins at all so I wasn't about to make a cookie with ingredients I don't like.  That would be just dumb.  If he doesn't like cranberries, HE can pull all of them out himself.  
• The 7-qt Kitchenaid mixer is available in four colors:  white, black, silver & candy apple red.  As far as I'm concerned, there was only one choice.