Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Dried Cherries

The chagim are over, it’s back to school, back to work and officially Autumn. It’s also the perfect time to enjoy some classic cookies now that holiday cooking and baking can be put aside.

A good cookie recipe is hard to come by, but when I found this recipe for Oatmeal cookies I truly fell in love. You can keep them plain, add classic raisins, or like in my version below, add a twist with some chocolate chips and dried cherries! I have also used golden raisins and dried cranberries, but you can really do a little cookie improv based on your own tastes.

Another great part of this recipe – they can be made pareve or dairy! I almost always prefer to bake with butter, but I have made this recipe countless times with pareve margarine and the cookies come out great!


SONY DSC

Pro tip: to bring out the sweetness of cookies don’t forget the salt! Combine 1/2 Tbsp thick sea salt with 1/2 Tbsp sanding sugar and sprinkle just a pinch on each cookie. The sanding sugar with make the cookies look beautiful and the salt will really add a depth of flavor and bring out the cookie’s sweetness.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cup flour

3/4 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter or margarine, softened

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup dried cherries

thick sea salt (optional)

sanding sugar (optional)

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Combine oats, flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Beat butter or margarine with sugars with a mixer until light and fluffy. Add egg and vanilla.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients until just combine. Fold in the chocolate chips and cherries (or other add-ins). Don’t overmix. In a small bowl combine sanding sugar and sea salt.

Using a cookie scoop, drop cookies on a baking sheet 2 inches apart. Lightly flatten cookies with moistened fingers. Sprinkle a pinch of  sea salt and sugar on top of each cookie.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until golden. Let cool for 2-3 minutes on baking sheet and then transfer to cooling racks.

Keep on Noshing

Shabbat Recipe Roundup: Chinese “Takeout”

Christmas is here, and Chinese restaurants are preparing for the Jews to take over. This week I’ve put together some ...

What the Heck is a ‘Pop-Up Shabbat’!?

Last week I told you about the first pop-up Shabbat, “Shabubbe” which I had the privilege to provide challah and ...

Recipes that Bring Back Memories

I have countless recipes that I learned from the women of my family. Though today I mostly use websites and ...