#readcookeat recipe : Homemade Girl Scout Cookies (Beneath The Lake)

I may have found Christopher Ransom's Beneath The Lake (click through to read my review) to be a bit disappointing and unpalatable in terms of fiction, but it did throw up several mentions of classic American food that I thought it would be fun to cook.

 I've already shared my attempt at recreating retro diner classic Salisbury Steak and the next foodie mention was the equally traditional and iconic : Girl Scout Cookies.

p297 'I can't stay here alone. I'm too young.'

 'You hate the lake anyway,' she says, catching the ball on its third bounce.

'No, I don't !'

She dribbles idly, walking toward him. ' I left you some girl scout cookies in the freezer.'

Aahhh Girl Scout Cookies - how many times have I heard my American friends mentioning buying them from girl scouts at the door ? I've always had visions of the girl scouts making and baking the cookies themselves, maybe to get a cookery badge for their troubles, then selling their slightly hit-and-miss wares to their charitable neighbours, so I was in for a shock when I headed over to the Girl Scout website for an authentic recipe. Girl scout cookies aren't home made at all, they're mass produced !

There are apparently lots of different types available, from Smores to Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Sandwiches to Savannah Smiles. (You can see them all here.) One of the newest additions is Trios, described as"Chocolate Chips nestled in a gluten free peanut butter oatmeal cookie." That sounded easy enough to recreate at home ... so I did !

Choc Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies (Homemade Girl Scout Cookies)

ingredients :

1/2 cup chunky peanut butter

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 large egg

1&1/4 cups quick-cooking oats

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

As the whole point of this recipe was being all-American, I broke out my jar of genuine American peanut butter and grape jelly. I'm still not completely convinced by this combination in sandwiches, but it does work well in cookies.

Cream together the peanut butter and the brown sugar.

Crack in the egg.

Beat in the egg. Hmm it doesn't look very appealing at this stage !

Time to add the oats. I seem to permanently have a cupboard full of oats, of various brands and varieties, so this time I used up some 5 grain super porridge with almonds, pecan and sunflower seeds.

Mix in the oats and baking soda, then the choc chips.

Use a tablespoon to dollop golfball-sized piles on a baking sheet covered in foil and flatten them slightly. Space them out as they will spread during cooking.

 Bake at 180° for 6-8 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool. 

They will keep for at least a week in an airtight tin (if they haven't been gobbled up before then !).

Linking up with the #readcookeat linky over at Chez Maximka.

This used up some more of my glut of porridge oats so I'm adding it to the #KitchenClearout linky.