Amid all of the holiday baking, I often overlook oatmeal cookies. With a few upgrades, they deserve a place on a party tray, where their heartiness balances delicate gingerbread and their savory elements contrast ultrasweet sugar cookies. They also travel well, including by mail, and make welcome edible gifts.
Once you become comfortable with the oatmeal cookie upgrades in this recipe, try them elsewhere. Choose regular rolled oats, not instant or thick-cut ones, so that they soften in the oven but retain their signature chewiness. Blend a little whole-wheat into white flour to balance the oat flake texture. Use both baking soda and baking powder so that the cookies rise slightly and hold a mounded shape. The flavorful combination of honey and brown sugar ensures the cookies are neither too chewy nor too crispy.
Beyond these upgrades, these cookies stand out for their smoky overtones. The first comes from browning the butter, a baking trick that works with almost any recipe that calls for melted rather than creamed butter. Smoked sea salt enhances the browned butter’s nutty taste and nicely contrasts naturally sweetened dried cranberries.
These cookies also bake nicely as bars if you increase the temperature and the time. Spread the dough in a greased jellyroll pan, and then bake at 375°F for 18 to 20 minutes. Cool the cookies in the pan before you cut them into about 36 bars.
Smoky Oatmeal-Cranberry Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, sliced
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon smoked sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2-1/2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon Homemade Vanilla Extract
1 cup (about 5 ounces) dried cranberries
In a medium skillet over medium heat, melt the butter, stirring often, until it begins to froth and clarify. Continue cooking and stirring for five to eight minutes, until brown specks begin to form and the butter releases a nutty aroma. Immediately remove the butter from the heat and let it cool.
In a medium bowl, combine the all-purpose and whole-wheat flours, baking soda and powder, smoked salt and cinnamon. Stir in the oats; set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together the melted butter, honey and sugar. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
Stir the flour mixture into the butter mixture just until smooth. Fold in the cranberries. Cover the dough and freeze for 10 minutes or refrigerate for at least one hour.
Shape a couple of tablespoons of dough at a time into balls, placing them about 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet, until the sheet is full. Sprinkle additional smoked salt on each cookie.
Bake at 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes, until the bottoms start to darken. Remove to wire racks to cool. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.
Julie Laing is a Bigfork-based cookbook author and food blogger at TwiceAsTasty.com.