Yogurt Covered Pretzel Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

Now I know that I have gotten very comfortable baking certain things because I didn't think twice about adapting this recipe when I saw the open bag of yogurt covered pretzels sitting on the counter. Yogurt covered pretzels make me think of raisins so when I wanted a cookie to chop them up into oatmeal raisin came to mind immediately.

Once again I adapted the wonderful chewy oatmeal cookie recipe from my King Arthur Flour Cookie book (man I use that book a lot), although this time I made a few more changes than usual -- some by accident, some intentional. The accident was that I only used 1/2 cup of brown sugar instead of the full cup the original recipe called for. I didn't even catch that mistake until I was typing the recipe down below -- long after the cookies were out of the oven, and since I liked how my cookies turned out I wrote it the way I baked it.

The other changes were intentional though. Instead of milk I used sour cream and I would have used yogurt if I had any on hand -- just to up the flavor a bit. I also didn't add all the spices that the original called for, which I regretted once I had the dough mixed up. To remedy that I decided to roll the cookie dough into cinnamon sugar like snickerdoodles. In the end, rolling them into the sugar didn't change the flavor that much (I baked a couple plain ones for comparison), but I loved what it did to the surface of the cookie -- giving it that crackly, snickerdoodle crumb -- so I rolled them all in the sugar.

And of course others who own this book (and every cookie lover should) will probably realize that I didn't write the instructions the way the book has them -- instead I wrote this the way I made them. I guess I can call it a heavily adapted version of their cookie...

These are very good cookies and certainly something a little different to offer. The pretzels offer crunch and salt and that unique sweet flavor of yogurt-frosting. The cookies themselves are also very good, soft in the middle, firmer on the edges and with that awesome crackly crumb from rolling them in sugar. I will definitely give these cookies another try in the future, and when I do I think I will use yogurt covered pretzels as well as yogurt covered raisins, just to see what happens.


Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsps vanilla extract
1 egg
6 tbsps light corn syrup
2 tbsp sour cream or yogurt or milk
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
3 cups oatmeal
1 to 1 1/2 cups chopped up yogurt covered pretzels
1 cup raisins

1/2 cup sugar
2 tsps cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats.

Cream together the butter, shortening and sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg, vanilla, corn syrup, and sour cream and mix until combined. Add the flour, salt and baking soda and mix until the flour disappears. Fold in the oatmeal, pretzels and raisins.

In a separate small bowl make cinnamon sugar with the sugar and cinnamon.

Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon to portion balls of cookie dough and roll each ball in the cinnamon sugar before placing on the baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes until the cookies are light brown and set on the edges.