Clean Out The Pantry Oatmeal Cookies

Some of my favorite recipes are geared toward cleaning out my fridge and cabinets.  I have a  Clean Out The Fridge Ragout recipe that combines canned pantry items and veggies and is delicious alone or over rice.  I also have a similar pasta primavera recipe that makes use of that lone zucchini, the half onion, bell pepper, and anything else in the veggie drawer that needs to be used up soon.  So coming up with a clean out the pantry cookie recipe was right up my alley.  

It's a basic oatmeal cookie recipe that leaves room for tossing in whatever leftover items you have in your pantry.  It's especially handy right after the holidays, if you're a holiday baker, like me.

I also like that the proportions of the main ingredients make it really easy to double or half as needed.  There's no need to try and figure out what 1/2 of 3/4ths is. (It's 3/8 by the way.)

Ingredients that make good additions to this cookie:

• Nuts
• Shredded Coconut
• Chocolate or White Chocolate Chips
• Butterscotch Chips
• Toffee Chips
• Raisins or Currants
• Chopped dried fruit
• Sugared dates
• Chopped cookies such as Oreos, Nilla Wafers or graham crackers
• M&Ms, Raisinettes or Reeses Pieces
• Chopped pretzels
• Chopped candy such as Snickers, Peanut Butter Cups or Rolos
• Mini marshmallows
• Dried cranberries or blueberries
• Trail mix
• Chopped dried banana chips

Don't be afraid to mix and match!

I usually start the recipe by measuring out the ingredients I'm trying to use up.  The base recipe calls for 1-1/2 cups rolled oats and 3 cups of "mixins".  If I have less than 3 cups, I'll half the recipe.  If I have more than 3 cups, I'll up the recipe by half or double.  You can also alter the rolled oats up or down by a bit if need be, though I haven't gone under 1 cup per batch.  But it's an extremely versatile recipe.

Clean Out The Pantry Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt (omit if using salted butter)

1 1/2 cups rolled oats

3 cups "mixins"

Directions

Preheat oven to 365 degrees.

In a medium bowl, cream together the butter and sugars until smooth.  Mix in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the vanilla.  

Sift together the flower, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Mix into the creamed butter and sugar mixture.

Finally, stir in the rolled oats and mixins.

At this point, the dough can be refrigerated for up to one or two days.

Using a large teaspoon, shape the dough into approximately 2 inch balls, more if you like larger cookies.  Place onto greased or non-stick cookie sheet, then press and shape.  These cookies will not spread much, so you need to form them before baking.

Bake for 12-14 minutes depending on how chewy you like them.

A singe recipe makes about 4 dozen 3-inch cookies.