Luxury Oatmeal Cookies

A glamorous name for an old-fashioned oatmeal raisin cookies. You might be wondering why is this oatmeal raisin cookies being named as luxury oatmeal cookies. This recipe is taken from my favourite author, Rose Levy Beranbaum's latest cookbook - The Baking Bible. This book is divided into 4 types of baked goods - Cakes; Pies, tarts, and other pastries; Cookies and Candy and Breads and Yeast Pastries.

Instead of just adding oatmeal, raisins and nuts into the cookie dough, you make a granola first. This granola mixture can be baked as granola bars and eaten for breakfast or as snacks. Very healthy. You can make more to turn the balance into granola bars or simply use them as toppings over yoghurt, icecream, etc. It's super delicious when it's fresh out of the oven. The aroma of the walnuts, chocolate chips and maple syrup is simply irresistable. Choose bittersweet chocolate chips (I used Ghirardelli bittersweet chocolate chips) as you will not want the granola to be too sweet.

This baked granola is then added to the cookie dough, thus named luxury oatmeal cookies. More time consuming and tedious, but you will love the cookies.

Luxury Oatmeal Cookies

Granola
Ingredients:

222g old-fashioned rolled oats
100g walnut havles, coarsely chopped
54g light brown Musccovado sugar, or dark brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
127g pure maple syrup
40g canola or safflower oil, at room temperature
1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract

Preparation:
Preheat the oven at 225 ºF/107 ºC. Place oven rack in the middle of the oven.

Equipment:

One 17¼ by 12¼ by 1 inch half sheet pan or two 15 by 12 inch cookie sheets. No preparation needed or lined with parchment.

Method:

1. In a large bowl, toss together the oats, walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
2. Pour in the maple syrup, oil, and vanilla extract and toss to coat the oat thoroughly.
3. Spread the mixture evenly on the baking pan and bake for 20 minutes. Turn the baking pan halfway around after the first 10 minutes. Remove the pan to a wire rack to cool to room temperature. You will need 4 cups (420g) of granola for the cookie dough.

Cookie Dough

Ingredients:

420g granola
216g raisins
170g bittersweet chocolate chips, 55% to 63% cacao
227g bleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
2 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
130g light brown Muscovado sugar, or dark brown sugar (original is 145g)
22g granulated sugar (original is 25g)
227g unsalted butter

Preparation:

Preheat oven at 375 ºF/190 ºC.
Line cookie baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat.

Method:

1. In a large bowl, toss together the granola, raisins, and chocolate chips. Store any extra granola in an airtight container. Can be refrigerated for up to 3 months.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In another small bowl, lightly whisk together the eggs and vanilla.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the flat beater, on low speed, beat the brown sugar and granulated sugar until blended. Add the butter and beat on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
5. With the mixer on, add the egg mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds, or until incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the flour mixture. Beat on low speed just until flour disappears.
6. With a wooden spatula or your hands, mix the dough into the granola until evenly incorporated. The dough will be sticky.
7. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for a minimum of 30 minutes or up to 24 hours. Divide the dough into thirds, about 504g each. Wrap 2 of the pieces in plastic wrap and refrigerate them while rolling the first piece.
8. Scoop out about 12 pieces of dough, each weighing about 42g. Roll each piece of dough between the palms of your floured hands into a 1¾" ball. Set the dough balls a minimum of 2" apart on a cookie sheet and press them down to about 2" wide by ¾" high.
9. Bake the cookies for 6 minutes. For even baking, rotate the cookie sheet halfway around. Continue baking for 6-9 minutes. The cookies should be brown around the edges. just begin to brown on the tops, and still feel slightly soft when pressed lightly with fingertips.
10. Set the cookie sheet on a wire rack and let the cookies cool for 1 minute so that they will be firm enough to transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling. Use a pancake turner to lift the cookies onto another wire rack. They will firm up as they cool and are most delicious when eaten slightly warm.
11. Store in airtight container. At room temperature, cookies can last 2 weeks. 1 month refrigerated and 3 months frozen. 

** Note ** I shaped the cookies into a 1½" ball each weighing 32g. Makes about 16 cookies for each batch. Total about 48 cookies.