Honey & oats

It's not Christmas yet but this is a great time for baking cookies.  If you're thinking any time is a great time for cookies, I totally agree with you (and like the way you think!) but with the cooler temperatures, I feel an unmistakable urge to turn on the oven and permeate the house with the warmth and smell of cookies baking away.  I want to tuck those homemade cookies into a jar and have them around and ready for my son when he comes home from school.  I want to sit down, have a warm cookie and something hot to drink.  Is anyone else craving hot chocolate or am I just a little bit crazy?

Personally, I'm craving all sorts of things right now as the temperature drops. Soups, stews, cookies, and everything in between that's a bit more hearty. I've been daydreaming about oatmeal cookies lately.  Talk about a wonderful creation! I absolutely love, even crave, oatmeal - particularly the steel cut variety - but if you're not like me and don't like oatmeal, chances are you enjoy a good oatmeal cookie, right?  My son is one of those people.  He asked me for chocolate chip cookies the other day.  Apparently, he was craving cookies too.

So I made a batch of these honey oatmeal cookies, inspired by a recipe I stumbled upon in a magazine. They caught my attention because honey is the only sweetener in them.  I really liked the sound of that because honey & oats just go together and since honey is my sweetener of choice when it comes to my oatmeal, this is right up my alley!  I also know that I love what a little maple syrup can do for oatmeal cookies so with this, I envisioned a soft, chewy cookie, flavored with the natural sweetness and goodness of honey, and that's essentially what I got!

Some key mix-ins: chopped semi-sweet chocolate, toasted walnuts, oats, and the honey

Since the original recipe is very much about the honey, it actually calls for Tupelo honey, which isn't all that easy to get your hands on.  With it being the sole sweetener for these cookies, use the best quality honey you can find, which basically just means a honey you love the taste of.  I went with a recent farmer's market find - a regular wildflower honey that I've been enjoying immensely with my regular bowls of oatmeal.

The cookies in the original recipe also included raisins and pecans but since I'm not a fan of either of those ingredients (particularly the raisins), I switched it up and added chocolate and toasted walnuts instead.  I used coarsely chopped semi-sweet chocolate here but if you're low on time, chocolate chips would work nicely, too.  Putting chocolate in the picture means that some of the flavor of the honey will be overpowered by it, but I'm totally okay with that!  My family would not be happy with me if I made oatmeal cookies without chocolate in it.

The end result: a chewy oatmeal cookie chock full of dark chocolate and toasted walnuts, with the notes of honey and a hint of cinnamon.  With just half a cup of honey in my batch of cookies, they're not overly sweet and you taste each ingredient.  I think there's just something really satisfying about an oatmeal cookie and this was no exception.


These honey oatmeal cookies are simple to put together.  When you first combine the butter, honey, and egg together in the stand mixer, the mixture may look curdled.  I just let the mixer run for a while, until the mixture is as smooth as possible before adding the dry ingredients and the mix-ins.

It's not absolutely necessary but I recommend chilling the dough for at least an hour so that it's firmer and easier to work with.  You can make the dough in advance and chill it overnight like I did. Let the dough rest at room temperature while the oven is preheating.  When you do it this way, I find it's helpful to flatten the dough balls a bit to help it spread a bit more evenly in the oven. 

I generally make my cookies on the small side; these are about heaping tablespoons worth.  The recipe below (which is half the original) made about 20 cookies in my experience.  The honey provides a lot of moisture so that the cookies stay moist for several days in an airtight container.


Recipe:

Honey Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Walnuts
Adapted from Taste of the South's Fall Baking issue (recipe attributed to Glynnis Lanier)*

*The original recipe uses Tupelo honey.  It also contained raisins and pecans instead of the chocolate chips and walnuts that I use here.  I also added the salt.

- Approximately 20 cookies - 

3/4 cup whole wheat flour (I use white whole wheat)
1/2  teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup honey*
1 large egg, at room temperature
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped or 3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup toasted walnuts, coarsely chopped

Whisk the flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon together in a bowl.  

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter, honey, and egg together on medium-speed until combined. The mixture may look curdled; let the mixer run, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed, until it is as smooth and incorporated as possible, about 2-3 minutes. On low-speed, add the oats and mix in the combine.  Stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts until just incorporated.  If possible, chill the dough for an hour or overnight before baking.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Let cookie dough sit at room temperature while oven preheats.  Drop heaping tablespoons of dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, spacing cookies about 2 inches apart.  If dough is chilled and firm, flatten the cookie mounds slightly with your fingers (to help them spread out during baking).  Bake until the cookies are set and beginning to turn golden, approximately 10-12 minutes.  Let cool on wire racks.