Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal Cookie
my healthy version of the oatmeal cookie - see the cinnamon?

Oats used to be my least favourite grain. I avoided eating the oatmeal porridge my mum would sometimes make for breakfast. On some days, I'd relent and eat it with butter and cheese. There's nothing like salty melted butter and soft gooey cheese. With those, even mushy oats would taste great.

Now, I can't get enough of oats and I love all grains. That includes wheat and bran. I do like muesli and I prefer the non-sugared ones. Sometimes those with too much sugar can be too overpowering.

It so happened that I had plenty of leftover rolled oats from before and I decided to make some oatmeal cookies. Without chocolate, without raisins. Of course they'll taste better with those, but I had no raisins and I wanted this to be a healthy treat for starters.

I got the recipe from Epicurious and liked that they asked for cinnamon to be added in. Spiced oatmeal cookies sounds good. But I didn't follow the recipe word for word. I halved the sugar (only added the 1/3 brown sugar it called for) and used margarine instead of unsalted butter. But do note that you have to omit the salt from the recipe then. And also, margarine makes for a more softer cookie. I also used more oats (2 cups) than what they asked for, and of course, I added more cinnamon.

The result was spectacular, in a simple warm fuzzy sorta way. You'll understand when you make them and get them warm from the oven. These cookies are cake-like and soft in the centre. You could add black pepper or five-spiced powder if you like and maybe some grated nutmeg.

I would have to say, this is a very basic oatmeal cookie recipe. Which is good, I suppose, as it allows you to play around with the ingredients and adapt flavours as you see fit. You could add maple syrup or even irish cream if you like. I think this is a keeper. Will definitely use it again and customise my own special creation! I'm thinking of chocolate coated oatmeal bars with mashmallows. heh. but that's for another time when i'm having a serious craving for something sweet and decadent.

6 comments:

Nic said...

5 spice powder is great in oatmeal cookies. I usually keep all the sugar because I like the crisp, caramely edge it makes, but I love hearing that the cookie turned out well without all the sugar. I'm already imagining packing it with dried fruit for a take-away breakfast!

the baker said...

ya that's why I'm def. going to add in the 5 spice powder the next time i make these cookies. i was most tempted to use honey, but wasn't too sure how it'll turn out. hve u tried using honey instead of sugar?

yes, oatmeal cookies with milk esp... makes for a lovely breakfast.

Vera said...

wah new look!!

And as usual the things you bake.. always look so good!

yummy!

Kelli said...

Mmmm... just think how good those will be with a cup of TEA! I think your new vanilla tea will be a perfect match. =)

PS: love the new look!

the baker said...

hey guys!

glad you all like the new look... i like the colour and the simplicity of it. too bad I suck at html or else i would try to design a more kick-ass template for my dear blog.

yep kelli, i'm sure vanilla tea would be great with those. haha i still have some vanilla bean pods sitting in my fridge and boy am i so tempted to just put some of those in my tea! that'll be the ultimate i tell ya. hahaa..

michie! i think i'm also gonna get sick of oats soon. just baked oat muffins. haha... i think i'm crazy over oats.. for now. speaking of fish & co.. i just found out i'm actually going there for dinner tonight! friend's surprise bday party. i look fwd to more yummy fishies =p

A. Brookes said...

hi baker,

just started reading your blog a few days ago =)

i usually use less than 1/2 the sugar a recipie calls for .. and throw in extras like chopped walnuts and lots of oats too! heh ...

usually bake double oat choc chip cookies =) or double oat butter scotch .. i find that using both rolled and quick-cooking/instant oats tastes better [well ... at least to me]

btw, read somewhere that vanilla pods should not be kept in the fridge, but in an air tight container in a cool place ... keeping mine in my white sugar jar =)

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