Welcome back to Cookie Monday! Enjoy this week’s installment:
Granola is a fairly common staple in our house; we eat it frequently with breakfast with cereal or oatmeal or on top of Greek Yogurt with fruit. I love making homemade versions because you can adapt the ingredients and flavor profiles to suit your preferences—I tend to prefer fewer mix-ins to allow the oats to really shine through. We’re never really at a loss with what to use our granola for, and one batch never seems to last more than a few days, but last week, with a pan of granola cooling on the countertop, I realized that a crisp, well-flavored granola would add a nice texture to oatmeal cookies while keeping the focus squarely on the oats instead of drifting towards chocolate, nuts and dried fruit.
I started constructing a recipe for granola cookies, beginning of course with a pan of brown butter that has two purposes. For one, it provides the base for the cookies along with some dark brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla, but perhaps more importantly a small portion of it is used to toast a pan of rolled oats, so that the oats enter the cookie dough already golden brown and steeped in flavor. Once the dough is mixed, a few handfuls of granola are folded in before small portions of cookie dough are quickly baked to form delicate cookies bursting with pure oat flavor. Serve them with a cup of tea and enjoy a few as a nice afternoon treat.
Granola Cookies
Makes 3 dozen cookies
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup rolled oats
¾ cup dark brown sugar
¼ teaspoon table salt
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
¾ cup granola (I used Cherry-Almond Granola without the cherries)
- Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350F.
- In a small skillet over medium-high heat, melt the butter, then once melted, continue to cook until the milk solids caramelize and turn deep golden brown. Pour all but one tablespoon of the butter into a large bowl and set aside. Return the skillet with the remaining 1 tablespoon to medium-low heat, then add the rolled oats and toast, stirring constantly, until golden brown and nutty, 3-4 minutes. Transfer the oats to a bowl and set aside.
- Add the brown sugar and salt to the browned butter and whisk to combine. Add the egg, milk, and vanilla, and whisk thoroughly until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and toasted oats, and fold until almost combined. Add the granola and fold in until all the ingredients are well combined. Roll 1 tablespoon-sized portions of the dough into balls, then place 1 ½ inches apart on the prepared baking sheets, then press slightly down to flatten. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the edges are set. Let cool on baking sheets for 3-5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool completely.
Click here for a printable version of this recipe!
Kinsey Cooks 