Apricot Almond Oatmeal Cookies

Oatmeal raisin cookies are a classic for a good reason. The combination of oats and dried fruit is tasty, but it can be even better when you se an unexpected fruit combo such as dried apricots.

For this recipe you can use whatever type of dried apricot is your favorite, and any nut you like. I thought almonds worked best with the taste of apricots.

Ingredients:

Almonds and apricots chopped
& ready on the cutting board.

½  cups rolled oats

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup  softened butter

½ cup packed light-brown sugar

¼ cup granulated sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ teaspoon nutmeg

3/4 cup roughly chopped dried apricots

3/4 cup chopped almonds

 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Toast the oats in the oven for 10 minutes. After the oats have cooled, in a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking powder, and salt. In another bowl, cream together the butter and sugars and then afterwards beat in the egg and vanilla. Once this is all well mixed, slowly mix in the oat mixture. Afterwards fold in the apricots and almonds (may do this by hand).

Roll the dough into 2 dozen balls on greased baking sheets. Using your fingers, flatten balls to about a 3/4-inch thickness.

Bake cookies for about 15 minutes, or until the edges begin to golden.

Give the cookies 5 minutes to cook on baking sheet, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Oatmeal Toffee Cookies

I seriously owe my friend Claire some cookies, so I thought I would make cookies I have already made her before that she loved. The mix of oatmeal, toffee, and coconut makes a moist, crispy, and tasty cookie. The pecans I added also add a nice crunch.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

½ cup softened butter

1 cup packed light brown sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

¾ cups all-purpose flour

The batter for these cookies is especially good.

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

¼ teaspoon fine salt

1 ½ cups quick-cooking oats

½ cup sweetened coconut

1 cup (a little less) toffee bits

½ cup chopped pecans

Directions:

Heat the oven to 375°F and lightly grease cookie sheet

Beat butter, brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. One well blended, add flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. 


Stir in the coconut, oats, toffee bits and pecans. Drop dough by rounded teaspoons about 2 inches apart onto your prepared sheet. 


Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned.

These weren’t able to leave my house without a few missing/eaten…oops.

This recipe makes about 24 cookies.

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Bars

It’s Saturday and being a little tired from last night, Olivia and I thought we should chill out and bake…chocolate chip oatmeal bars of course!

This isn't an 8x8 but it is equivalent in size.

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks of softened butter

1 egg

1 cup brown sugar

¼ cup milk

1 ½ teaspoons of vanilla

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup flour

1/3 cup sweetened coconut flakes

2 cups oats

¾ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

½ cup chopped walnuts

Don't mind the X on her hand.

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Mix together butter, vanilla, eggs, brown sugar, and milk. Sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt and then slowly add it to the other mixed ingredients. Once those ingredients are mixed, stir in the sweetened coconut flakes and oats and then add the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. Pour the batter into a greased 8 x 8-inch baking pan and bake for 23-25 minutes in the oven. Remove from the oven, let cool, and cut into squares.

These turned out thick and crisp on top with just the right amount of chocolate and nuts.

The Best Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

So I was trying to find ways to procrastinate from studying for my math midterm so I thought; what better way to not spend my time not studying than to bake cookies for my friend who just got into college? While I often like to try out interesting recipes for my friends, this friend insisted her she liked classing cookies the best so I settled on making her some old-fashioned oatmeal chocolate chip-cookies. I made up my own recipe, using a tad of shredded coconut and sour cream for moistness. I found the nuts really helped the cookie stay together and not spread, and 9 to 10 minutes was the perfect amount of time to bake them, and if I do say so myself they turned out de-lic-ious. Chewy on the inside and crispy on the outside. 

 Hungry? If you start mixing now you'll be able to eat these in less than a half hour.

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar

1 cup softened butter

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon sour cream

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/4 cup sweetened shredded coconut

2 1/2 cups oats

2 cups Semi-Sweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375° F. Mix together flour, baking soda and salt in small bowl. Beat brown sugar, butter and granulated sugar in large mixer bowl until creamy. Beat in eggs, milk, sour cream, and vanilla extract.

Gradually beat in flour mixture and add the shredded coconut. Stir in oats, chocolate chips and nuts; mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoon onto baking sheets.

Bake for 9 to 10 minutes for chewy cookies or 12 to 13 minutes for crispy cookies. Cool on baking sheets for 1 minute; remove to wire racks to cool completely.

Straight out of the oven.

Note: This recipe makes A LOT of batter, so you can half the recipe or do what I did which is just put the left over batter in a container to freeze to whip out some other time when I need to make cookies but don’t have enough time.