This is based on the recipe inside the lid of a Quaker Old-fashioned Oats canister. They monkeyed with the recipe a few years back so I changed it back to what I prefer. Take that, you classic cookie-recipe-monkeyiers! Naturally I went all-in on my tweaks because I am incapable of leaving a recipe alone until I think it’s reached Max Deliciousness. This is DMc’s very favorite cookie … unless I’ve got some of my Molasses Spice around. Then it’s a Culinary Cookie Tie, and he needs to put on his Fat Pants.
TMc’s 4-Fruit Oatmeal Cookies
The classic with some additions and TMc Tweaks
Servings: 40 Cookies
Ingredients
- 16 TBSP Unsalted butter (2 sticks)
- 3/4 cup Packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup White granulated sugar
- 2 Large eggs
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon (I love Ceylon cinnamon)
- 1/2 tsp Ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp Ground cardamom
- 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1-1/2 cups All-purpose flour
- 3 cups Old-fashioned rolled oats (Quaker, of course, but nothing wrong with another brand – just please do consider using rolled oats or the texture gets mushy)
- 1/2 cup Dried golden raisins
- 1/2 cup Dried cranberries (I love the 50%-less-sugar Craisins)
- 1/2 cup Dried cherries (I prefer unsweetened)
- 1/2 cup Dried blueberries (I prefer unsweetened)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F
- Stir flour, salt, baking soda, and dry ground spices together in a small bowl or measuring cup with a fork
- Mix up dried fruit in a bowl
- Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix well
- Add flour mixture and mix well
- Add fruit and mix until just integrated
- Add oatmeal, half at a time, mixing until just integrated each time
- Scoop out dough and place scoops flat side down on parchment paper on baking sheets
- Bake for about 12 minutes at 350 degrees until cookies are golden-brown on top and don’t have any “wet” look staring back at you
- Slide parchment sheets of cookies onto cooling racks to cool thoroughly before storing
Notes
- Mix and match any spices, extracts, fruits, nuts, or chips that work for you – just ensure that you’re getting between 2 and 2-1/2 tsp spices and at least 1-1/2 tsp flavoring extract in the dough.
- Hate raisins or anything else? Use more of what you do love! For example: TSR despises raisins – I’d probably load up on just blueberries and cherries if I were making these for her.
- A fun and easy variant on this recipe is to use a couple cups of rough-chopped Sahale Snacks blends in them – the Maple Pecan blend is superb in an oatmeal cookie.
- Of course you can use a bag of butterscotch morsels for a classic Oatmeal Scotchie!
- I recently tried the bar cookie variant of this with 1 cup of pre-toasted unsweetened coconut and 1 cup of dried blueberries. I omitted the cinnamon, and used 3/4 tsp each of dried ground nutmeg, ginger, and cardamom – it was excellent!
- I don’t recommend using more than 2 full cups’ worth of add-ins for this recipe, or your fruit will pop out too much and get kinda burnt on some edges.
- I buy my unsweetened dried cherries and blueberries on Amazon. The blueberries are expensive, but a little goes a long way, and the flavor and texture are fantastic.
- For a bar cookie, use a 9×13 pan – spray with baking spray, mash the dough into the bottom of the pan, smooth out to make level with the back of a metal spoon, and bake for 30 minutes at 350 (this is my lazy-day version).