3cupsOld-fashioned rolled oats(Quaker, of course, but nothing wrong with another brand - just please do consider using rolled oats or the texture gets mushy)
1/2cupDried golden raisins
1/2cupDried cranberries(I love the 50%-less-sugar Craisins)
1/2cupDried cherries(I prefer unsweetened)
1/2cupDried 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 9x13 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).