Healthy Oatmeal Cookies - Whole Grain Gourmet

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We love whole grains! We have found that we prefer their flavor. They are also far healthier than the refined foods which characterize the typical modern diet.

Switching to whole grains helps maintain a low glycemic diet. That means you will have more sustainable energy levels throughout the day, and probably fewer problems with weight control.

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Recipes

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies

Written by LCheliak

Wednesday, 09 April 2008 09:56

honey oatmeal cookie

These little 'cookies' are almost too healthy to be called a cookie. My Dad has been on a life long search for a cookie that wasn't too sweet so after playing around with the ingredients I have finally achieved what he wanted. In fact, he thinks they are so good and nutritious he thinks we should call them a Nutritional Supplement!

There is no sugar in this recipe however if you prefer sugar to honey--then simply alter the recipe....cut the baking soda to 1/4 tsp. and add an extra tablespoon of water. Your baking temperature should go to 350 if you are using sugar.

When replacing sugar with honey you have to increase the baking soda to increase the acid and you reduce liquid by 1 Tablespoon. Also, with honey baking--lower the baking temp.

Editor's note:

I made these today for my preschooler with the following modifications:

used white whole wheat flour (it's what I had)
increased the oats by 1/4 cup
scooped tablespoons full, and did not press with fork (fuller rounder cookie)

They are not as sweet as most oatmeal cookies I've had, which is a good thing. We could not stop eating them; especially my preschooler. They are excellent "nutritional supplements!" Thanks again for sharing them, LCheliak!

Healthy Oatmeal Cookies (with Honey)

Ingredients:

Dry ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour (a pinch more depending on the moisture of the mix)
1 1/2 cups of Large Flake Rolled Oats (smaller flake is ok too)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp Cinnamon (I actually use about 3 Tbsp--got to love cinnamon)
1/2 tsp Nutmeg (optional)

Wet ingredients

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup oil (corn, grapeseed or olive) * you can also use some applesauce to replace some of the oil if you wish*
1 Tablespoon Molasses
1 egg (beat with 1 Tbsp Water)
1 tsp Vanilla

Yummy ingredients

1/2 cup raisins (1 cup for my Dad's batch)
1/2 cup walnuts (more for my Dad's)!!

Preparation:

In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients together.
In a medium bowl, mix all the wet ingredients together. Hint: when measuring out the honey, spray the measuring cup with oil or baking spray--your honey won't stick).
Mix the wet stuff with the dry stuff. Add the raisins and walnuts and mix. If the mixture seems too wet, add a bit of flour. If it isn't binding together very well, you may wish to add an egg white.
COOL the mix for 20 minutes in the fridge.
Preheat the oven to 335 degrees (lower temperature due to the honey in the recipe which will burn more easily).
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto your baking sheet (I recommend lining the baking sheet with parchment paper). Press down with a fork to ensure even cooking.
Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes or until golden on the bottom of the cookie. The cookies freeze very well and make a great snack! Enjoy.

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Comments (131)

They were great although I thought they were a bit dry-ish? Can I add some water to make them a lil more moist? thanks :)

I make these cookies all the time. Love them.

Just found your site
looking for a whole
wheat healthier
version of chocolate
chip cookies (less fat
and sugar). I like
your recipes. I reduce
the fat/butter and
sugar. I used yogurt
and apple sauce. Maybe
you could provide
alternatives.

I made these tonight with pecans and raisins. I substituted apple sauce for half the oil and agave nectar for half the honey. They are the perfect consistency, and definitely not too sweet. They'll be great for breakfast

These are a stable in our home now :)
I would not recommend baking with honey though,
As when honey heats up, it's enzymes denature
and because honey absorbs easily into the body,
it becomes a sticky mess for the system to deal with,
and is even considered to be toxic in ayurvedic terms.
However, honey can just be added onto the top of them after they have cooled and it's just as good!!

I never thought my kids would eat these, but they loved them! I put in dark chocolate chips (60% cocoa) instead of raisins. I'm sooo happy to have a healthy cookie recipe.

I used a ton of cinnamon & used vanilla greek yogurt instead of molasses because I didn't have any.
I also used M&M's instead of raisins & nuts.
These would be delicious with most anything.
Next time I think I will try a fruit batch & a chocolate batch. If you like cinnamon add alot & also I didn't have nutmeg & used ginger instead.
DELICIOUS!!!!!!!!

Thank you for the recipe! It was my daughter's job to bring snack to preschool this week-we made these cookies and they were a hit!

I just made these and substituted spelt flour for whole wheat flour. Also used maple syrup instead of molasses. They turned out great! Unfortunately I didn't have any raisins on hand, but I imagine they would be even better with raisins and walnuts!

adding a mushed-up frozen rotten banana to this makes them even tastier! oh and i also used 2 tablespoons of cinnamon instead of 1.

Notes for new bakers:

1st, thanks LCheliak.

I like to cook, but only a few things, and I never bake...till now.

These are quick and easy, which is the 1st 2 criteria for anything I make.

Anyway, on to the ingredients.

I used "old fashioned" oats. I think this is basically the same thing as "rolled" oats. Basically, all you need to know is that you don't want "quick" oats, although it's probably not the end of the world if you use those.

Also, a note on the egg. If you have small eggs, use 2. If they're a decent size, one is ok.

Skipped:

Baking powder/soda After a little trial and error, I skipped the baking powder/soda. All I could figure online was that it is supposed to help baked items "rise" by inserting air from the chemical reaction during baking. Cookies don't really need to rise. If you do add this stuff, make sure to follow the instructions about mixing the dry ingredients separately. Doing it that way makes it much easier to evenly distribute the small amount of powder/soda. Otherwise, you can get a clump of the stuff and it tastes gnarly.

Molasses. I also skipped the molasses, because I didn't have any, and the cookies turned out fine.

Salt.

Added:

Dried apricots. About the same amount as raisins, and I cut them roughly into quarters. This does noticeably add to the prep time, but it's the difference between maybe 10 and 15 minutes (counting washing the cutting board etc.), and dried apricots + oats rules. This also adds to the moistness of the cookies, depending on the apricots.

Almonds. I added about 1/3 cup of roasted, salted almonds, because it was what I had. I guess this negates that I omitted the salt above, but I don't think it makes much difference, and I don't get the salt item anyway.

Ground flax seed. This was mentioned above, but I'd like to add 2 things. 1st, flax seed is awesome. 2nd, ideally, you want to get the seeds whole, and grind them just before you use them. You can use a coffee grinder (a little sacrilegious, I know), a blender (clean the margarita gunk out 1st though), or whatever. They don't need to be ground finely. Less is probably more on this. If you want to grind a large batch, or bought them already ground, you'll want to put them in an airtight container and refrigerate after opening/grinding. 3rd (actually this is 2, 1 doesn't really count), I'd recommend no more than a 1 to 3 flax to oat ratio. So for this recipe, no more than 1/2 cup. They're oatmeal cookies, not flax seed cookies. With all the ingredient changes, the added dryness factor of the flax seed should be no problem, but if the cookies seem dry, you can add more oil or something to compensate.

On to the preparation notes:

As previously mentioned, if you're using baking powder/soda, make sure to follow the directions on mixing the dry ingredients separately, otherwise, just go down the list until everything's in a bowl and stir. I used a fork and a spoon held together to stir. Works pretty well, and you'll need 2 implements to drop the mix on the sheet anyway. As for the sheet, it says to line with parchment paper. Not sure what that is. I grabbed a chunk of butter and rubbed the pan, and it worked pretty well.

I'm not sure what the reason for cooling the mix for 20 minutes is, but I didn't bother. I also didn't preheat the oven. I guess this is so you can more accurately gauge cooking times, as some ovens heat slower or faster? Anyway, how do you even know, when the oven is the temp? Thermometer I guess, or maybe some ovens have an indicator. Anyway, I turned the oven on at some point in the mixing process and that was fine.

Dropping the mix on the sheet, you'll want to be careful about one thing, and that is to make the cookies relatively similar in depth, so they are all done at the same time. I end up with larger, irregular shaped cookies, but I'm not exactly entering any contests.

Cook time was 20 minutes for me, but you'll want to check them at 15 until you know the 1st few times.

Ok, that's it. Thanks again for the recipe. I like a bit of protein + fiber for breakfast. My current fave is scrambling 2 eggs with some frozen broccoli, 2 of these cookies, and copious amounts of coffee. Easy, quick, tasty, and has about everything you need in the morning!

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