Healthy Double Oat Cookies

My recent issue of Bake Magazine contains a recipe for Glazed Oat cookies. I love oatmeal cookies, and the infinite variations that they may contain. So of course I took the Glazed Oat Cookies and twisted it a bit to make it my own.

First, the cookies contain 2 kinds of oats – that’s healthy right? Whole grains! Regular flaked or rolled oats (not instant oats), and then a little steel-cut oats. The rolled oats are just that – oats with the husk removed, and steamed and rolled flat, and lightly toasted. I like the heartier thick oats.

Left – rolled Oats Right – steel cut oats

The steel-cut oats, sometime called Scottish oats, are the whole grain cut into pieces. These oats take longer to cook as the pieces are chewy even when cooked, and tend to always retain their shape.

I followed the Bake recipe fairly closely, but added more orange zest, some orange juice, and elected to top differently without the glaze. And while I used the brown sugar in the recipe, I substituted light brown Monk fruit instead of the white sugar. So a few less calories and a little less sugar. And not too sweet.

The cookies do not spread out when baked, and they need to be flattened slightly. This brought back childhood memories, and is why I finished them the way I did. Rather than just flattening and baking, then adding glaze later, I did what my mom did to sugar cookies. I wet the bottom of a glass, put a little raw sugar is a small dish, and dipped the bottom of the glass into the sugar then “stamped” the cookies. This not only flattens out the dough, per the recipe, but leaves a bit of sugar on top that crystallizes during baking.

use a glass dipped in sugar to stamp cookies
12 cookies to a sheet pan
Each cookie flattened, with a little bit of a sugar coating on top

Double Oat Cookies

OAtmeal cookies with 2 kinds of whole grain oats

Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Keyword oat cookies, oatmeal cookies, whole grain cookies
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 45 minutes
Servings 24 cookies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, softened
  • 1/2 cup Monk fruit, white sugar or Stevia
  • 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
  • 2 tsp dried orange zest
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste
  • 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats (not instant)
  • 1 3/4 cup self-rising flour
  • 1/4 cup steel cut oats
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 2-3 tbsp orange juice (from half an orange)
  • 3-4 tbsp cane sugar or white sugar

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line 2 sheets pans with parchment paper.

  2. In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter with the sugars and vanilla paste until fluffy, 3-4 minutes. Scrape sides as needed. Add in orange zest and mix.

  3. Add to the mixing bowl both the oats, flour, and salt. Beat on low. The dough starts to get very thick. Squeeze in the orange juice and mix a few more seconds to combine.

  4. Using a cookie scoop ( 2 tbsp), scoop dough out a dozen to a cookie sheet. Leave about 2" in between cookies. Put the 3 tbsp sugar in a flat dish or on a small plate. Take a drinking glass and wet the bottom. Set the glass into the sugar, then press each cookie until flatten 1/2" thick. Re-dip into sugar as needed.

  5. Bake one sheet at a time. for chewier cookies bake 10-12 minutes before they borwn. For crispier cookies, bake 12-16 minutes until lightly browned around the edges. Let the tray sit 2-3 minutes before removing cookies to a cooling rack.

If desired you could glaze with a sugar glaze dripped or smoothed on top. I personally, because we don’t eat much sugar, would find it too sweet.

Using parchment paper on the baking trays makes clean up a breeze, and cookies don’t stick.