Who doesnt love a good cookie? I do and in my drive to adopt sustainable practices, I decided to bake them myself. I mean I would be able to figure out what went into it and how much. When I looked up the recipes online, I was shocked to see the amount of butter and sugar in them. Thats when I decided to experiment with a few cookie recipes and develop my own.

This is how I was able to derive this Oats & Cranberry cookie recipe which uses wheat flour instead or Maida, half the sugar quantity, no white sugar and half the butter.

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Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried cranberries / cherries chopped into smaller bits (can use any soft dry fruits like raisins, blueberries, etc but do remember to adjust sugar quantity to balance out the sweetness) You can also use nuts like cashew, almonds, etc too if you like the crunch and taste of them. I use Quaker oats that are easily available in the supermarkets near me.
• 3 cups oats ( I use 1 cup of quick cooking oats and 2 cups of whole oats. You can use either or mix and use)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour (can substitute with Maida if you want them softer)
• 1 cup brown sugar (use granulated sugar)
• 100 gms unsalted butter (skip adding salt if using salted butter)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon powder (or more if you like the wintery smell in the cookie)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Method:

1. Mix the oats and cranberries and set aside.
2. Sift the rest of the dry ingredients (except sugar) in a bowl.
3. Let the butter rest in a bowl for some time till it softens up. Dont melt the butter as it will kill the texture of the cookie.
4. Add sugar to the softened butter and beat till its creamy in texture. Then add one egg at a time and beat till fully incorporated in the creamy mix.
5. Add the sifted dry ingredients and vanilla essence. Mix it all well.
6. Now add the oats cranberry mix and use your hands to bring the mixture together. It wont hold together a lot because of the dryness of the oats- dont worry about that.
7. Cover and rest in fridge overnight or for minimum 2 hours. This ensures the oats soak up other ingredients.
8. Remove from fridge and bring to room temperature.
9. Now make walnut sized balls and press between both palms. Dont exert too much pressure as the mix will fall apart.
10. Place on a baking sheet / tray and put in a preheated oven at 200 Deg C for about 13-15 minutes. Temperatures might vary with different ovens and climate. I use LG microwave in the induction setting. Some days, I need to flip over after 15 mts and bake for another 3 mts.

Cookie Tip:

Leave them to cool in the oven or on the tray for a while as they will break if picked up instantly. They solidify on cooling down. This cookie mix will make about 24-25 cookies.

Store in a dry air tight container and enjoy with a hot cup of your favorite brew. If you do try this out, please share with me how they turned out.

If you love oats, then perhaps you would love this Buttery oats recipe that Anamika shared with me in Uttarakhand.

Or if chocolate is more your thing, then this Death By Chocolate recipe is for you.