Fancy Cookies - Ranger Cookies

Ranger cookies.  What are ranger cookies?

Ford Ranger cookies?

Ford shut down the Ranger factory in St. Paul and discontinued the line.  Now there is no factory, no jobs... and Ford is relaunching the Ranger.  Lame.

 Lone Ranger cookies?

Lone Ranger cookies wouldn't have a racist caricature of a side-kick. 

 New York Ranger cookies?

As a Minnesotan, I should probably have an opinion about this.

 Park ranger cookies?

The most helpful cookies around.

 Power Ranger cookies?

They'll defeat... ummm... whatever they defeat.  Hunger, I guess.

 Walker Texas Ranger cookies?

This cookie is probably a jerk.

Whatever ranger cookies are, they're in the Fancy Cookies section of the cook book.  Last time in this section the Powdered Sugar Cookies looked nice, but were lacking in the flavor department.  I guess all we can do is make these cookies, figure out what a ranger cookie is, and give 'em a try.

Preparation

So many cookie recipes, so little time.

Like has happened several times in the past, the directions are a bit vague.  That seems to be pretty common though, as you can see in the Ginger Cream Cookies recipe.  "Add the ingredients in the usual manner...."  For me, that means in a silly and irreverent manner, I think.  For both of these recipes though, it probably means to cream the fat and sugar, then add eggs and additional ingredients.  My main concern was when to add the Wheaties, and whether or not to try to keep them from getting too broken up, or if it even mattered.  I guess we'll come to a decision later.

But more puzzling was the issue of the chocolate chips.  Instead of directions, we have "Chocolate chips added if a fancy cookie is desired."  But... aren't these cookies fancy already?  They're in the Fancy Cookies section.  So does adding chocolate chips make them fancy fancy?  I'm not sure I can handle that much fanciness.  It also doesn't specify the amount of chocolate chips to be added?  Do more chocolate chips make them even fancier?  What if you had more chocolate chips by volume than cookie dough?  Can peak fanciness be reached?  Maybe not, but if you get to Colorado, you can get to Fancy Peak, and that may be just as good.  

But I'm getting carried away.  Here we go.

I don't know who that guy is on the Wheaties box.  It's not the '87 Twins nor Mary Lou Retton, so I don't care.  I'm getting old.

Like the last time with Fancy Cookies, I had a helper.  Now that big brother James is in kindergarten, it is Thomas's turn to help out.

So cute.  So mischievous.

First we cream the fat and sugar... oh nevermind.  Here are some pictures of Thomas helping.

"Goes round!"

"My do it the spoon."

"Have a taste please."

Well, somebody likes Wheaties, at least.

As for the Wheaties, I decided to try to keep them in as large of pieces as possible while also keeping them distributed well.  Not an easy task... not made any easier by my not adding the chocolate chips until after mixing in the Wheaties.  Oh well.  I added a cup and a half of chocolate chips (surely that must be fancy enough), and Thomas had a little sample before I mixed them in carefully.

You have to be sure the chocolate chips taste good, you know.

I made two pans at a time, rotating and switching pans after 6 minutes.  After 12 minutes though, they didn't look quite brown enough, so I put them in for another two minutes.  I figured two pans should take a little more time.

Tasting and Reaction

I'll be honest in saying that I wasn't particularly thrilled in adding coconut to the cookies.  Between not caring for the texture of dried coconut in things, and having had a bad experience with Malibu once upon a time (but we don't need to talk about that).  I tend to avoid coconut and coconut-flavored things.  Aside from potential texture, I also wasn't sure what the Wheaties would do for the cookies.

More pookies, peeese.

Thomas clearly liked the cookies, and asked for more.  Me?  Well, there was a very subtle hint of coconut, but not so much that I felt like a freshman in college again.  The Wheaties, as I suspected, only added texture.  The rest of the cookie just kind of seemed like a chocolate cookie, and that's not too bad, I suppose.  I would say too that after they cooled down that they were a bit hard, so maybe the extra two minutes in the oven was a bit much.

Sarah went back for more multiple times, so she seems to have liked them.  And considering five the last half a dozen cookies seem to have disappeared without my notice backs that up, I think.  I suspect that her liking the cookies might have more to do with the chocolate chips due to fact that the last cookie that was left had some chocolate chips picked away from the sides.

Exhibit:  A.  Sarah, you're busted.

I also took a dozen cookies to a gathering of friends, and I am glad to say that they are still friends, though none of them wrote down their thoughts like I asked.  Punks.  Baker helpfully finished off the last three cookies, so I think they get his endorsement too.

Ultimately, how do these stack up to the other cookies I've made so far?  Let's try to rank them best to not best:

Orange Cookies - due to nearly universal positive reviews
Ranger Cookies - nobody said they didn't like them, and they were eaten quickly, though they were unimpressive overall.
Powdered Sugar Cookies - They looked nice with the cherries, but were pretty blah otherwise.
Fancy Chocolate Refrigerator Cookies - They look nice, but were pretty flavorless and needed Nutella to salvage them.

Next time:  Words of wisdom from the Ladies