My wife made oatmeal cookies but ran out of instant oatmeal, which is
what the recipe calls for, so she used what we had: Irish or steel cut
oats. The results were less than satisfactory.

Could someone please enlighten me as to what makes instant oats
different from steel cut oats, and if it's possible to do something for
substitution, e.g., soak the steel cut oats first or something along
those lines.

Thanks very much.

-S-

Steve Freides > wrote:

>My wife made oatmeal cookies but ran out of instant oatmeal, which is
>what the recipe calls for, so she used what we had: Irish or steel cut
>oats. The results were less than satisfactory.
>
>Could someone please enlighten me as to what makes instant oats
>different from steel cut oats, and if it's possible to do something for
>substitution, e.g., soak the steel cut oats first or something along
>those lines.

The instant oats are mechanically processed and I don't think you
can duplicate them. I do believe that "instant" and "quick" oats
are essentially the same as each other, but the steel-cut ones are
not nearly the same.


Steve

On 27/02/2011 8:57 PM, Steve Freides wrote:
> My wife made oatmeal cookies but ran out of instant oatmeal, which is
> what the recipe calls for, so she used what we had: Irish or steel cut
> oats. The results were less than satisfactory.
>
> Could someone please enlighten me as to what makes instant oats
> different from steel cut oats, and if it's possible to do something for
> substitution, e.g., soak the steel cut oats first or something along
> those lines.

Part of the processing of rolled oats involves steaming and drying,
which shortens cooking time as well as denaturing an enzyme and extends
the shelf life.

In my experience, recipes usually call for minute oats, not instant. I
keep some quick cooking on hand for recipes, but for porridge I prefer
large flake or steel cut because they have so much more flavour.

"Steve Freides" > wrote:

>My wife made oatmeal cookies but ran out of instant oatmeal, which is
>what the recipe calls for, so she used what we had: Irish or steel cut
>oats. The results were less than satisfactory.

I don't know how this would have worked in the cookies- but I have a
muffin recipe that uses steel cut oats & they get soaked in an equal
part of milk for an hour before cooking.

But the texture is still cut, not rolled, oats.

Jim

On 02/27/2011 05:57 PM, Steve Freides wrote:
> My wife made oatmeal cookies but ran out of instant oatmeal, which is
> what the recipe calls for, so she used what we had: Irish or steel cut
> oats. The results were less than satisfactory.
>
> Could someone please enlighten me as to what makes instant oats
> different from steel cut oats,

They're rolled flat, and then cooked and dried, as opposed to steel cut,
which are raw.

> and if it's possible to do something for
> substitution, e.g., soak the steel cut oats first or something along
> those lines.

For cookies? No, I wouldn't. However, quick oats, which are not
precooked, are a decent, if not perfect, substitute.

Serene

--
http://www.momfoodproject.com

"Steve Freides" > wrote in message
...
> My wife made oatmeal cookies but ran out of instant oatmeal, which is what
> the recipe calls for, so she used what we had: Irish or steel cut oats.
> The results were less than satisfactory.
>
> Could someone please enlighten me as to what makes instant oats different
> from steel cut oats, and if it's possible to do something for
> substitution, e.g., soak the steel cut oats first or something along those
> lines.
>
> Thanks very much.

I just put them in the Magic Bullet briefly to chop them smaller. The
texture of the finished product will be slightly different but still good.
I don't think you'd want to soak them first because that would add more
liquid.

I haven't made oatmeal cookes for years but I always used whole oats and
they were very good!

Julie Bove wrote:
> "Steve Freides" > wrote in message
> ...
>> My wife made oatmeal cookies but ran out of instant oatmeal, which
>> is what the recipe calls for, so she used what we had: Irish or
>> steel cut oats. The results were less than satisfactory.
>>
>> Could someone please enlighten me as to what makes instant oats
>> different from steel cut oats, and if it's possible to do something
>> for substitution, e.g., soak the steel cut oats first or something
>> along those lines.
>>
>> Thanks very much.
>
> I just put them in the Magic Bullet briefly to chop them smaller. The
> texture of the finished product will be slightly different but still
> good. I don't think you'd want to soak them first because that would
> add more liquid.
>
> I haven't made oatmeal cookes for years but I always used whole oats
> and they were very good!

Thanks to everyone for their replies. I posted after I first looked at
the cookies in the oven when they were supposed to be done - a goopy,
wet mess. I did let them cook quite a bit extra - I think the 12
minutes ended up being more like 18 - and they are edible, and not even
awful at that, just a slightly weird texture.

It seems we have instant, quick, and then steel cut - I will have to do
some reading on the subject and maybe the quick kind, which aren't
precooked, are what we will keep around here for this sort of thing.

We keep chocolate chips around the house - they make an excellent snack,
in our opinion - but I noticed we had four packages of them in the
pantry, which is why my wife decided to make chocolate chip oatmeal
cookies.

-S-

In article >, says...
>
> Julie Bove wrote:
> > "Steve Freides" > wrote in message
> > ...
> >> My wife made oatmeal cookies but ran out of instant oatmeal, which
> >> is what the recipe calls for, so she used what we had: Irish or
> >> steel cut oats. The results were less than satisfactory.
> >>
> >> Could someone please enlighten me as to what makes instant oats
> >> different from steel cut oats, and if it's possible to do something
> >> for substitution, e.g., soak the steel cut oats first or something
> >> along those lines.
> >>
> >> Thanks very much.
> >
> > I just put them in the Magic Bullet briefly to chop them smaller. The
> > texture of the finished product will be slightly different but still
> > good. I don't think you'd want to soak them first because that would
> > add more liquid.
> >
> > I haven't made oatmeal cookes for years but I always used whole oats
> > and they were very good!
>
> Thanks to everyone for their replies. I posted after I first looked at
> the cookies in the oven when they were supposed to be done - a goopy,
> wet mess. I did let them cook quite a bit extra - I think the 12
> minutes ended up being more like 18 - and they are edible, and not even
> awful at that, just a slightly weird texture.
>
> It seems we have instant, quick, and then steel cut - I will have to do
> some reading on the subject and maybe the quick kind, which aren't
> precooked, are what we will keep around here for this sort of thing.

"Instant", "quick", and "regular" oats are rolled oats--just what it
sounds like, the oat grains are pressed flat between rollers. "Steel
cut oats" are different--the grain is chopped up with blades. If you
compare the two side by side you'll see it--the rolled oats are little
flat disks while the steel cut oats are little tiny more or less
spheres.

The difference between "Instant", "quick", and "regular" is in how
thinly they are rolled and what other processing (bran removal,
toasting, steaming, etc) have been applied.

Steel cut, no matter how you cook them, end up with a different texture
from rolled oats.

For cookies you generally want some kind of rolled oats.

> We keep chocolate chips around the house - they make an excellent snack,
> in our opinion - but I noticed we had four packages of them in the
> pantry, which is why my wife decided to make chocolate chip oatmeal
> cookies.
>
> -S-

On Mon, 28 Feb 2011 08:20:54 -0500, "Steve Freides" >
wrote:

>
> Thanks to everyone for their replies. I posted after I first looked at
> the cookies in the oven when they were supposed to be done - a goopy,
> wet mess. I did let them cook quite a bit extra - I think the 12
> minutes ended up being more like 18 - and they are edible, and not even
> awful at that, just a slightly weird texture.
>
> It seems we have instant, quick, and then steel cut - I will have to do
> some reading on the subject and maybe the quick kind, which aren't
> precooked, are what we will keep around here for this sort of thing.

Steve - I've never heard of using instant oatmeal for cookies, but
I've interchanged quick and regular with no problem before and keep
the regular type on hand to use in cookies and crisp toppings.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.

On Mon, 28 Feb 2011 11:11:13 -0500, "J. Clarke"
> wrote:

> Steel cut, no matter how you cook them, end up with a different texture
> from rolled oats.
>
> For cookies you generally want some kind of rolled oats.

I think it would be interesting to use steel cut in cookies, but they
would probably need to be precooked in some way first... I know Wayne
toasts oats, so I'd try that way first.

--

Today's mighty oak is just yesterday's nut that held its ground.