After the cookie marathon in December, I begged off from making anything sweet for a while. Like many, we just needed a sugar break and I admit I didn't even want to make my birthday cake. I'd had my fill of sweets and didn't miss it. Usually I'll make one sweet dessert a week that we enjoy on the weekend, but that's it for us, so Michael was quite surprised when he came home from work and found these on the counter.
One of my life hacks for this year is to incorporate more whole grains into our desserts and I've been going through my cookbooks again looking for ideas on how to do that best. Due to the way whole wheat flour absorbs liquid, it's not always a 1:1 swap for unbleached all-purpose flour, so I decided to start with some tested recipes and then go back to some of our favorites and hack them.
This oatmeal cookies recipe from King Arthur Flour is easy to make and doesn't use any white flour at all. Because oatmeal cookies tend to be more hearty and substantial anyway, I think these are a good way to introduce whole grains in desserts if you aren't used to it. The butter and sugar still keep these firmly in the occasional treats category, but they are more healthy than a white flour version. Other dried fruits will work well, too, and I look forward to trying them with dried cherries and apricots.
Whole Wheat Oatmeal Cranberry Cookies
Equipment
- stand mixer with paddle attachment (or hand mixer and bowl)
- baking sheets, lined with parchment or lightly greased
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ⅓ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 ¼ cups whole wheat flour
- 2 cups dried cranberries
- 1 cup diced pecans or walnuts (optional)
Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350° F/175° C.
- In the bowl of the stand mixer, cream together the butter, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla. Beat in the egg and mix in well.
- Add the oats, whole wheat flour, cranberries, and nuts (if using), and mix on low until thoroughly combined. (If you don't have a stand mixer, I recommend doing this part by hand as most hand mixers don't have enough power to combine this heavy dough.)
- Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto a prepared baking sheet.
- Bake the cookies in the preheated 350°F oven for 7 minutes. Rotate the baking sheets and bake for an additional 7 to 8 minutes, until cookies are beginning to brown around the edges, but are still soft in the center. Remove from the oven, and allow to sit for a couple minutes on the pan. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.
Variations
- Use diced apples, chopped dates, raisins, chopped apricots, dried cherries.
Rosa says
These cookies look gorgeous! Flavorful and highly enjoyable!
Cheers,
Rosa
Cris says
Healthy and beautiful! A friend of mine brought me some dried cranberries from Canada after she found out one day on skype chat that the best cookies I had were made with cranberries, I thought it was so sweet, and now you have a recipe here...
RecipeGirl says
Works for me... I'm doing the same. Whole grains all the way. These look great 🙂
Gudrun says
we love this cookbook at our house. My husband has found a particularly good recipe for scones with chocolate chips and oats. Wonderful!
I will have to try this recipe - I too, am feeling sugar fatigue after all that holiday baking....
Donna says
These sound wonderful, and you dont have to feel so guilty about eating more than one, with the whole wheat and all:)
Val says
Those look so tempting! Guess I'll be making cookies tonight..
Debbie says
I used dried cherries instead of cranberries and added cinnamon chips. They were yummy!
Stef says
These look quite yummy! Do you think a good variation would be using steel cut oats? If so, should they be soaked first?
Mada says
I was looking for some whole wheat cookies and I found this marvellous recipe:) They're yummy plus making them was really quick and easy! I also really appreciate you give units of measurement in grams and Celsius degree - this makes cooking easier for people who use decimal system! Thanks!
TU2 says
Just took the last batch out of the oven sampled at least three between each batch. The Hawaiian definition for these scruptious cookies is ... Ono'loa!
Mahalo for sharing your recipe.
Shari Boragine says
I am looking for recipies for biscuit cookies. The best example I can give is the new breakfast biscuits by Nabisco called BelVita. I love these things, but they are a little high in calories. I have no idea what else they may be called and when I search biscuit cookies I get biscuits like dinner rolls.
Any advise you can give I would greatly appreciate.
Thank You,
Shari
Izzee V says
These were amazing! Of course I didn't have ginger or enough butter....so, I added a tbsp of honey and 1/4 tsp of allspice. Why? ... IDK. ? Half the batter w/ nuts and cranberries & the other half w/ nuts and walnuts ! O. M. G!!!!!!!!! I will make these cookies from here to eternity!! They are delicious !!!!!
Izzee says
Raisins. lol. Not nuts and nuts.
Andrea says
Thanks Izzee, so glad you liked them!