There’s nothing quite like oatmeal cookies to remind you of the old days. Whether it was Grandma’s recipes for oatmeal raisin or that modern, gourmet recipe you recently saw on TV, oatmeal cookies are heartier and make you feel a certain warmth. It doesn’t hurt that oatmeal is quite healthy and with cookies made of oatmeal, you’ve just upped the healthiness of the scrumptious treat known as a cookie. Here below I have compiled a list of the best oatmeal cookie recipes:
Oatmeal cookies, one of the most popular and classic desserts/snacks ever made, can actually be traced back to the time of the Romans. During the height of Rome’s campaign to conquer Europe, the English and the Scots used to stash oatmeal cakes inside their bags as their source of food in the middle of the war. This was a highly discriminated practice as oats were only used for feeding horses and cattle during the time. However, the need for an accessible and cheap source of food during the war popularized the eating of oatmeal cakes all over Europe.
The very first oatmeal cookie recipe appeared only in the late 1800s. The ingredients and the procedures for making the confection were very, very simple. Since then, large variations have appeared in many other cookbooks, turning this treat into one of the oldest and well-loved dessert/snack in the world.
One of the top favorite versions of the oatmeal cookie recipe is the Country Oatmeal Cookies. The ingredients include a cup of rolled oats, ¾ cup of brown sugar, ¾ cup of white sugar, one and a half cup of all-purpose flour, one and a half teaspoons of baking powder, a half teaspoon of salt and a cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
On a large bowl, put all of the ingredients together in layers following the same exact order mentioned above. Cover the bowl tightly and set aside. In another medium-sized bowl, mix in ¾ cup of butter, 2 whole eggs and one teaspoon of vanilla. Add this mixture to the previous bowl and mix by hand. To create the cookies, get a spoonful of the mixture and simply drop them into a baking pan. Position two inches apart to give them space to expand. Cook in a preheated 350 degree Celsius oven for 10-15 minutes. This recipe can make around 12-15 cookies. You can also add in some toasted walnuts for more crunch and variation.
Another well-loved oatmeal cookie recipe is the Oatmeal Raspberry Bar Cookies. This follows the traditional oatmeal recipe with an added twist: raspberries. The raspberries give the usual cookies an added hint of sweetness and sourness. For the ingredients, you’ll need half a cup of butter, half a cup of brown sugar, a cup of flour, ¼ tsp. of baking soda, ¾ cup of seedless raspberry jam, salt and a cup of rolled oats.
After you have gathered all of these together, mix all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl (except for the jam). Take 2 cups of the mixture and spread evenly over a buttered 8-inch square baking pan. Top this with the raspberry jam and again, spread as evenly as you can. After this, sprinkle the remaining mixture on top of the jam and press lightly. Bake in a 350 degree Celsius pre-heated oven for 35-40 minutes. Once done, set aside to cool in a wire rack before cutting them into the desired size.
Oatmeal cookies are very easy to make and they are even more wonderful to enjoy. So if you have never tried baking your own cookies before, these are the best recipes to start with.