Hedgehog Principle

I don't know if any of you have read the book "Good to Great", but it's a business book that discusses how being good makes some companies not strive to be great. What the author believes seperates the good from the great is that the great ones have a Hedgehog Principle, or a core business that they stick to and do well at. Okay, that's really paraphrasing it down but that's what stuck with me and I forgot everything else. The reason for this rambling is to illustrate that cookies are my Hedgehog Principle. I used to suck at making them, but since I got my new oven and baking sheets I can't get enough of baking them. So after my recent yeast defeat I decided to go back to my strong ability to redeem myself.

Cookies had fallen out of my favor because all of my co-workers seem to have gone on diets. I usually pawn off...er.. share cookies with co-workers because with just two of us at home we don't need to eat whole batches. But now I have a new victim..er.. friend to share with. So I decided to do some baking tonight. One of my recent sources for inspiration is the Baking Sheet blog - http://www.bakingsheet.blogspot.com/. There was a cookie recipe that interested me there, but seemed to need tweaking - http://bakingsheet.blogspot.com/2005/12/maple-pecan-oatmeal-cookies.html. So here is my tweaked version. They came out really good. They weren't overly sweet or spiced and I liked them. We'll see how they go over tomorrow. :)

Here are the changes I made: added 1/4 tsp. cloves because to me oatmeal cookies HAVE to have cloves in them, 1 tsp. maple extract (the more mapley the better), 1/2 tsp. vanilla, I used half maple syrup and half brown rice syrup for the 1/3 c. maple syrup because I ran out of maple (brown rice syrup has a neat caramely flavor), and used pecan meal because I don't like nuts in cookies.

Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies
1 c. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. cinnamon
¼ tsp. ground cloves
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
½ c. butter, softened
1/3 c. brown sugar
1/3 c. maple syrup
1 egg or egg replacer
1 tsp. maple extract
½ tsp. vanilla
1 c. rolled oats
½ c. pecan meal

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside. Cream butter and brown sugar together in a large bowl. Beat in maple syrup, egg replacer, maple extract and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture and oats, adding pecan meal at the last minute. Stir only until just combined. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto parchment lined baking sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for 9-12 minutes, until set and golden brown around the edges.