Recipe: Oatmeal, Walnut, and Dried Fruit Cookies

June 06, 2010

Recipe: Oatmeal, Walnut, and Dried Fruit Cookies

I tried posting this last night, but messed up the format and was too tired to fix it. I'm trying again and I will just leave the weird spacing alone!

I have posted a few times about my family's continued journey to healthier, less processed, more whole-foods eating. I've also shared that we have several friends who avoid dairy, or who are vegan and I'm always looking for new recipes to try in order to have something to share with them when they come to my home.

I recently tried a new recipe from the book The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone, that I borrowed from a friend. These cookies were so amazing you would never know they did not have eggs or butter in them. I'll be sharing a few more recipes in the next few days as well, so be on the look out.

Oatmeal, Walnut, and Dried Fruit Cookies
(Printable Recipe)
Makes 10 to 12 cookies

1 c. quick cooking rolled oats
3/4 c. unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 c. maple sugar (I used organic cane sugar)
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
1/3 c. maple syrup
1/2 c. safflower oil (I used canola oil)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. molasses
1/4 cup dried fruit
1/4 c. finely chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the syrup, oil, vanilla extract, and molasses. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Fold in the dried fruit and nuts.

Using your hands, roll tablespoon-size scoops of dough into balls. Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet, and press down slightly on the balls to flatten the tops. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a baking rack to cool completely.

For variety, replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour, barley flour, spelt flour, or a gluten-free baking mix (choose one that does not include baking soda and baking powder). You can also substitute or add chocolate chips for the dried fruit and any kind of nuts for the walnuts.