Disaster Cookies

I took the easiest cookie in my repertoire and mangled it into these Disaster Cookies which ultimately put my office into polarizing sugar shock. Yeah, I F’ed up an oatmeal cookie.

The Amazing Vanishing Quaker Oatmeal Cookie recipe found under the top of the oatmeal box, is the blank canvas of the baked good world. You can successfully throw almost anything into these cookies to great and delicious effect. The only downside to this old standard is that I am able to make them while drunk and subsequently eat all the evidence before morning.

I strayed from my standby. I cheated with these cookies that Deb from Smitten Kitchen promised would be awesome. And honestly, they may be that great- they are sweet and salty and combine chocolate and oatmeal. That sounds fantastic. So I admit that I may owe these disaster cookies to human error, but the comments posted on these cookies match my own outcome, which tells me their margin of error is very small.

Crispy Salted Oatmeal Cookies

Additional notes to make your cookies less Disastrous– The issue with these cookies is that they spread! To avoid this:

• DO NOT: Over whip your butter, Use super fine sugar (use regular) or Butter your cookie pans (use parchment).
•  DO: Form the batter into balls and chill in the fridge for an hour. Use only cooled pans and leave plenty of room between cookies. Make sure the oven is up to temperature and remains so throughout the baking process.

Once these puddles of disappointment were out of the oven there was nothing to do but scrape them onto a plate and bring them to the office. People are bored at work and will eat almost anything to take their mind off of spreadsheets. At least that is what I was banking on.

Can you believe that people liked them?! Some people became so rabid for these cookies they were hiding them in napkins and stashing them in their desks. They wanted the recipe, they wanted to know when they could expect to get them again and later on in the day when the sugar had taken its toll, they wanted to know who had taken the rest of the cookies?!!! Where were they?!! MORE SUGAR NOOOW!!

Evidence that butter+sugar can never go wrong.