I freely admit that I spend more time in the kitchen than is probably reasonable. But all that time in the kitchen inevitably leads to certain efficiencies. I know my style of scratch cooking is time-intensive, but I see no need to slavishly follow recipes if it leads to unnecessary steps and more time.
Such was the case with this cookie recipe.
I developed it several months ago while searching for a cookie recipe that used more oats than flour. I am absolutely buried in oats thanks to the government commodities program and our generous neighbors. I think I have at least twenty pounds of oats on hand at all times.
In addition to an oat-heavy recipe, I wanted one that would be acceptable for school snacks. I have Many Opinions on school snacks, all of which I will spare you. All I'll say is that I've completely sworn off any pre-packaged snacks for my kids at school.
But they still need to eat. And they need relatively healthy snacks that will last at least a week without refrigeration.
Those snacks also need to be portable, not too messy to eat, and not annoying and time-consuming for me to make.
I've found cookies to be the best option for portability and longevity. So I needed a snack cookie that used lots of oats, was relatively healthy, lasted a long time in a classroom, could be transported easily, wouldn't fall apart, and wouldn't take too much of my time.
That's a lot to ask.
But I figured it out. These cookies have a bit of protein from peanut butter and walnuts, are sweetened minimally (but still acceptably--no need to be penitential about it) only with honey, and are mostly oats. They're as close to a "healthy" cookie as I could get while still being recognizably a cookie, and therefore fun to eat.
I actually started with this recipe I found online, but I've eliminated most of the steps and dirty dishes. It's just one big bowl, one measuring cup, one spoon, and one pan. It takes me exactly 15 minutes to mix the dough and get the cookies in the oven. With only 12 minutes of baking time (the entire batch fits on one pan, so it really is only 12 minutes), that's less than 30 minutes for a week's worth of school snacks for three kids (plus some extras for the kid at home).
I also changed some of the ingredient amounts, so it's not really that recipe anymore. It's mine. And now it can be yours.
Snack Cookies (makes about 30 small cookies)
Ingredients
1 cup flour (can be all-purpose, white whole wheat, or a combination--the more white flour, the more it will have a dessert cookie texture)
2 cups oats (old-fashioned or quick, but NOT instant)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 heaping teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt (use a bit more if using unsalted butter)
1/2 cup nut pieces (I use walnuts)
3/4 cup raisins or chocolate chips (or a combination)
8 tablespoons butter (I use salted because that's all I buy)
1/3-1/2 cup honey (more honey means more like a dessert cookie)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
Method
1) Combine oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, nuts (I break the pieces up smaller in my hands as I'm adding them, because I can't be bothered to dirty a knife and cutting board to chop them), and raisins/chocolate chips in a big bowl and mix all together.
2) Melt butter, honey, and peanut butter all together in a small bowl in microwave (or a pot on the stove) and add to the dry ingredients.
3) Slightly beat the egg in that same bowl the butter, etc. was in (always reduce dishes!) and add it to the big bowl, along with the vanilla.
4) Mix all together thoroughly with a sturdy spoon. It will be quite dense and sticky. You can put it in the freezer for 15 minutes or so if you want to get it a little less goopy. I usually don't bother, though.
5) For each cookie, scoop out about a tablespoon with a spoon and drop it onto an ungreased, unlined pan. These don't spread, so you can put them very close together, which is why you can bake the whole batch on only one pan. If you've chilled the dough, you can roll it into balls and smoosh them slightly flat on top to make neater cookies with a more uniform shape.
6) Bake at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes in the top half of your oven (if they're in the bottom half, they'll brown too much on the bottom before they're done). These will not brown much on top, so check the bottom of one to see if they're done. When the bottoms are a medium brown, take them out. They will be a bit crumbly right out the oven, so either leave them on the pan to cool for a few minutes, or just be careful when transferring to a cooling rack.
Although I give specific ingredients and amounts, I must admit to playing fast and loose with measurements when I make them. I do measure the oats and flour, but the rest of it I usually just eyeball. You can also use different nuts, or different chopped dried fruit or M&Ms . . . it's extremely forgiving.
When I'm feeling indulgent, I'll use 1/2 cup raisins and 1/4 chocolate chips, rather than all raisins.
Unlike most cookies, these are actually better after they have been stored for a day or so, rather than freshly baked. They soften up a little bit and are less crumbly after being in a jar for awhile.
Incredibly, they will last at least three whole weeks in a jar in a classroom snack box with very little deterioration in texture or flavor. I only know that because I have one kid who has a tendency to forget about snacks from previous weeks that didn't get eaten. So when I've found, say, a few cookies in a jar in his snack box that contain chocolate chips, and I know I last made the cookies with chocolate chips almost a month ago . . .
Well, they just last a really long time. I would never have kept them that long on purpose, but I did try those particular aged cookies myself, and they were fine. You can also freeze them with no problems.
My boys will eat two a day for the four days of school, and eight of these cookies fit just right in a wide-mouth pint jar.
So there you go. Zero-waste, relatively healthy cookies that don't take hours to make. My small but important contribution to parents everywhere.
Bonus school snack tip: The best savory snack I've found so far is popcorn. Just don't overdo the butter, or it'll get soggy in the jar.
Do you think melting the butter et al in a glass bowl, then measure in the dry ingredients into that would make a difference? It would save one more bowl (I'm another one who loves to minimize dishes).
ReplyDeleteI also wondered if using ground up oats instead of flour would work - I have a daughter who's gluten in tolerant who loves to bake. I'll have to try it.
I think I have a very different snack food philosophy from you - I find if I buy prepackaged items for the lunch box, my kids mostly leave them alone otherwise. If I make homemade things, the locusts descend and there's nothing left. However, my kids usually develop good eating habits despite my shortcomings. It seems like the teen years, their desire for new flavors and willingness to try explodes. I look at my grown kids and see what they cook and eat and am amazed. Perhaps they developed these skills because I'm a boring cook?
mbmom11--No, I don't think it would make a difference. My only big ceramic mixing bowl is really heavy and a pain to wash, so I usually just use a bowl from yogurt or something that's been rinsed out already and is in the dishwasher for the butter, etc. Let me know if the ground oats work. I've never tried that.
ReplyDeleteI also have a quite a bit of oats in the pantry and I've been racking my brain for some ways to use them up. I'm going to give these a try. Thanks for the recipe.
ReplyDeleteThere are several oats fudge recipes I have seen that incorporate oats, coconut, nuts ..pretty well anything you want in a "cookie".
ReplyDeleteYour cookies sound a lot like a cookie my husband likes called "crybaby cookies".
I have a question for you and I may have already asked you ....can you use lentils like beans in your cooking?
G.P.: Not really. A couple members of the family don't do well with too many beans. I cook them separately sometimes, but I don't use a ton of beans.
ReplyDeleteI like the looks of this recipe! I think that gluten-free flour would work fine; I also suspect that one could eliminate the flour by adding an egg and a bit more peanut butter and a few more oats. Somewhere lost in the bowels of my computer is a flourless oatmeal cookie recipe that has lots of peanut butter and 4 eggs. If I find it, I will share.
ReplyDeletemil hee hee in the 'BOWELS' of your computer ..great use of words.
ReplyDeleteAnd you can use your food processor to make oat flour out of your oatmeal.