Whole Grain Oatmeal Cookies

One of my favorite food memories is coming home from school to freshly baked oatmeal cookies. Whenever I taste or smell an oatmeal cookie it sends me back to those days, sitting in a warm kitchen eating cookies and milk after a long day of school.

Here's a modified version of the recipe that my Mom made. I've healthified it by using oat flour in place of white flour. You can easily make oat flour by grinding rolled or quick oats in your blender or grind oat groats in a grain mill. Obviously these are still not something you want to eat a lot of - they have a lot of butter and sugar, but at least they are healthier than they were before! And tastier in my opinion...food for the soul! Enjoy!

Oatmeal Cookies
Printable Recipe

* Makes about 4 1/2 dozen

1 1/4 Cups butter, softened
3/4 Cups firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 Cups granulated sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 Cups oat flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
3 Cups oatmeal
1 Cup Chocolate chips, Reese’s pieces (this is what I used), heath bar pieces, etc optional

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Beat in egg and vanilla. Add combined flour, baking soda, salt and spices. Mix well. Stir in oats. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls on to ungreased cookie sheet. Flatten balls gently with wet fingers. Bake 7 to 9 min for a chewy cookies (My favorite!), 10 to 11 for a crisp cookie. Cool 1 min on cookie sheet. Remove to wire rack.

Recipe Source: Adapted from a recipe by my Mom

Oh by the way, I have to admit that my first batch ended up like this because I didn't add enough flour (I've adjusted the recipe to compensate). :) Also make sure you follow the part about leaving it on the cookie pan for a minute or two after you remove it from the oven - otherwise they will squish and not look pretty. But in case you forget, yes, the cookie mess still tasted delicious!

*Update: I've noticed some confusion on pinterest about why this is termed "healthy". Yes, this recipe still has butter and sugar in it, so no, you should not be eating it every meal! But it's "healthier" than other oatmeal cookie recipes because it uses whole-grain oat flour in place of white flour. Using whole-grain flour adds nutrition and fiber, which make these healthier than their counterpart recipes. Another reader pointed out that these are also gluten-free which makes them a great recipe for those with gluten intolerance.

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