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Oatmeal Makes For A Smart Cookie

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By MARCIA BIGGS, The Tampa Tribune

Published: December 7, 2007

It's that time of year, when thoughts turn to … Christmas cookies!

We all have our favorites, and chances are the ingredients don't skimp on the sugar and butter.

Sure, you can substitute ingredients to lower the sugar and fat content, but baking can be risky unless you know proper substitutes.

Go ahead and make your treasured holiday favorites. But why not bake a few batches of healthy cookies and bars for good measure. A quick search for healthy cookies on the Internet brought me to Fudge and Wheat Germ Brownies, Pumpkin Granola Bars, Chocolate and Peanut Butter Protein Bars, and No Bake Peanut Butter Balls. I doubt if any of these would look out of place on a Christmas cookie platter.

One way to up the health ante is to add oatmeal to your homemade baked goods. I like to toss in a handful of chopped nuts, too.

To easily increase your whole grain fiber intake, try replacing some flour with dried oats. Quaker suggests substituting quick-cooking or old-fashioned oats for up to one-third of the flour called for in recipes for muffins, biscuits, pancakes, loaf-type quick breads, coffeecakes, yeast breads, cookies and bars.

Bar cookies are great choices since they are virtually fail-proof and can be packaged and transported easily.

From the Quaker company comes the following cookie recipes that incorporate oatmeal. Tuck a few on the cookie plate between the sugar cookies and the fudge.

OATMEAL CRANBERRY WHITE CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups oatmeal, uncooked

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

One 6-ounce package dried cranberries

2/3 cup white chocolate chunks or chips

Heat oven to 375.

In medium bowl, beat butter and sugar with electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add eggs, mixing well.

In separate bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture in several additions, mixing well after each addition. Stir in dried cranberries and white chocolate chunks. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls on ungreased cookie sheet.

Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.

Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

Note: to use Quick-cooking oats, decrease flour to 1 1/3 cups. For added nutrition, add chopped nuts.

Turn oatmeal cookies into snowmen with this recipe. Each cookie is large enough to share.

SNOWMAN OATMEAL COOKIES

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter or margarine, softened

2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tablespoon vanilla

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 1/2 cups quick or old-fashioned oatmeal, uncooked

Decorator frosting in tubes

Candy sprinkles and small candies

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease two cookie sheets.

In large bowl, beat butter and sugars with electric mixer until creamy. Add egg and vanilla; beat well.

In separate bowl, combine flour and baking soda, mix well. Add to butter mixture; mix well. Stir in oats; mix well. Divide dough into four equal portions.

Using hands, pat each section of dough into quarter-inch-thick snowman on cookie sheets. Each snowman is created by lining up three round cookies, with biggest cookie on bottom and smallest (head) cookie on top.

Bake 12 to 14 minutes, or until edges are light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack and cool completely. Decorate as desired with frosting and candies. Store tightly covered.

Makes 4 large cookies.

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