Cookie Carnival: Wild Blue Energy Chews

It's time for the Cookie Carnival again! As a refresher, it's a monthly group hosted by Tami at Tami's Kitchen Table Talk. Tami scours the recipes and comes up with two cookie recipes for the members to make throughout the month. I really like this group for a lot of reasons:

1) Tami always seems to find recipes I'd never run across on my own. 
2) There is no pressure to bake.With that, there is no due date (with the exception of the end of the month). You can bake them and post them at any time throughout the month.
3) Cookies! They may be my favorite type of dessert!

This month, I chose to make the wild blue energy chews since I had another group making a chocolate-based cookie in the same time frame. It is a Betty Crocker sponsored recipe and starts with their oatmeal cookie mix. While I usually try to avoid using mixes, it certainly does make these quick. I was done from start to finish in about 30 minutes! The resulting cookies were good. I underbaked mine just a tad because oatmeal cookies HAVE to be a little bit chewy. We've recently found that we really enjoy dried blueberries, and the combination of them with the almonds and wheat germ really do give these a "healthier" vibe. One deviation that I had from the published recipe was the yield. The website claims this should make 30 cookies. If you've ever seen one of those packages, they aren't very big. I never really measure my dough balls, but I finished with 18 cookies that are probably 1-1/2-inch in diameter. It's really not a big deal, but I have no idea how you would get 30 cookies. They would be cookie bites!

Would I make them again? Sure, but I think I'll substitute a from-scratch oatmeal cookie recipe. Thanks Tami for another great pick! Be sure to stop by her blog in the next few days to catch the cookie round-up!

(Printable Recipe)

 Wild Blue Energy Chews
From Betty Crocker

Ingredients:
1 pkg. Betty Crocker oatmeal cookie mix
1/4 toasted wheat germ
3 Tbsp. butter, softened
3 Tbsp. canola oil
3 Tbsp. water
1 egg white
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds
1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir cookie mix, wheat germ, butter, oil, water, and the egg white until soft dough forms. Stir in blueberries, almonds and chocolate chips. Roll dough into teaspoonful balls and set on the cookie sheet. Flatten the balls slightly with your hands or a spatula.

Bake 11 to 13 minutes or until edges are light brown. Cool on the pan for 5 minutes. Remove from the cookie sheet to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.