The Right Way
I made Chocolate Cherry Scones last week and had leftover dried cherries. I decided that cookies were in order. I have been baking with chocolate a lot lately, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I wanted to try something different.
Nuts came to mind, but thinking of my nut-allergy friends, I opted to combine old fashioned oats with the cherries. I am very happy I did.
The color of the red cherries is a nice contrast to the very light colors of the rest of the ingredients. I especially like biting into the cookies and seeing this.
My oldest son, Joshua, was in town when I baked Oatmeal Cherry Cookies. After they baked I called Joshua in to try one. I didn’t hide from him the fact that these had quickly become one of my favorite cookies.
Joshua ate a cookie and said he liked it but wanted to know where the chocolate was. I started laughing, because I started these cookies having made the decision to skip chocolate this go-round; only to hear my big baby boy tell me that he wanted it in.
If you are like Joshua and have trouble understanding why someone bakes without chocolate, by all means add some chocolate chips to the batter. Otherwise, enjoy a delicious new cookie ‘the right way.’
| Oatmeal Cherry Cookies | Print |
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1½ cups old fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 16 tablespoons (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1½ cups dried cherries
- Preheat oven to 325°. Line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Stir together flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
- Place butter, sugar and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl and beat for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down as needed. Add eggs, one at a time and then the vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Lastly, mix in dried cherries.
- Scoop the dough, 2 heaping teaspoons at a time, onto lined baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 13-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through top to bottom and front to back.
- Cool on baking sheets.
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