Iced Oatmeal Cookies

I used to love the Mother's Iced Oatmeal Cookies when I was little. So when I saw this recipe, I had to give it a try. And it is definitely a wonderful (though chewier and a bit healthier) homemade version, which I am happily serving as an after-school snack this week.

I realized that I didn't have enough butter after I had come home from already running errands and mixing together the dry ingredients. So I found out online that 3/4 cup of canola oil can be substituted for every cup of butter a recipe calls for. I don't know how much of a difference the butter would have made, but I'll probably try the recipe with butter next time (as long as I remember to properly account for my ingredients before going grocery shopping).

I also only noticed the note that you should use less kosher salt in the cookie dough if you're using the Morton brand (which is what I have) once I had put the first pans of cookies in the oven, so I just tried to make up for the extra salt by not adding the recommended salt to the icing. The batch I made was a bit salty, but not horribly so. I think I'll manage to eat them. It's always such a hardship to have delicious snacks in the house.

Oh, and make sure when you're rotating the cookie sheets that you don't accidentally tilt the sheet too far, managing the tip the contents of the sheet into the oven, and in your rush to pick the sheet back up, touch it without using an oven mitt. OUCH.

Iced Oatmeal Cookies
Courtesy of smitten kitchen



Cookies:
Parchment paper or butter for baking sheets
2 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon old fashioned oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour*
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt**
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs

Icing:
2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
5 to 6 tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt**

Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Rub two baking sheets with butter. In a food processor, grind 1/2 cup of oats to a fine powder, then add remaining oats and grind them all together until it resembles coarse meal, with only a few large flakes remaining.

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl, pouring back any bits of grains or other ingredients that remain in the sifter. In a small bowl, whisk butter and eggs until combined. Using a spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Scoop balls of dough about 2 to 3 tablespoons in size (I used a #40 cookie scoop, which scooped 2 tablespoon-sized balls) onto cookie sheets about 3 inches apart. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. When tops are evenly brown, take them out and transfer them to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. Let cookies cool completely before icing.

In a bowl, whisk icing ingredients together until smooth. It should have a honey-like consistency. Drizzle the frosting over the cookies. Let the frosting set for 30 minutes before eating. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

* The original recipe replaced this volume with a multigrain flour mix that worked out to 1/2 cup barley flour + 1/4 cup millet flour + 1/4 cup rye flour. If you have any of these flours, swap them in and reduce the volume of all-purpose.

** Saltiness of kosher salt varies by brand. I’d recommend 2 teaspoons if you use Diamond kosher salt, and about half as much if you use Morton kosher salt or another brand.