Not your ordinary oatmeal cookie. The addition of moist grated apple and sweet chopped dates adds interest to the American standard.

What you don’t realize (or maybe you do) is that a fair chunk of my recipes never make it to posting. Some, like this week’s Moroccan Chicken Wings, don’t make the cut. They aren’t worth salvaging, even with significant tweaking. I write a recipe, I shop, I cook, I photograph, and then nothing. The story ends.

When these cookies first came out of the oven, I thought they were going to be one of those lost-soul recipes. They tasted great, but strayed too far from what I had first envisioned. I imagined something reminiscent of a quintessential Quaker Oatmeal cookies – but flavored like Apples and Cinnamon Instant Oatmeal. These cookies were something quite different – chewy, not crisp, somewhat flat, and a bit difficult to remove from the cookie sheet and, well, not very photogenic. I popped one, and then another, and then a third in my mouth as I tried to determine what went wrong (I snuck in a few more before bedtime).

I took the rest of the batch into the office and, by lunchtime, realized they may not look pretty, they may not be the quintessential cookie of my childhood, but, as coworkers sought me out for their rave reviews, these cookies were damn good. It dawned on me, I can’t judge the final product based on my expectations – sometimes it’s okay to stray.

Oatmeal Apple Date Cookies

• Servings: 3 ½ Dozen
• Print

Not your standard oatmeal cookie. The addition of moist apple and sweet dates adds interest to an American staple.

Ingredients

• 2 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1 cup chopped dates
• 1 apple, peeled and grated
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ¾ teaspoon baking powder
• ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• ½ cup powdered sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F. Line two sheet pans with parchment (using Silpat will result in flatter cookies). In a medium bowl, combine oats, dates, and apple. Dates tend to stick together so combine well and set aside. In another bowl, sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon. Set aside.
2. In a large bowl, beat together unsalted butter and both sugars for about 4 minutes. Beat in egg and vanilla.
3. Add flour mixture to creamed butter and sugar and stir until combined. Stir in oat mixture.
4. Drop by rounded tablespoons (approx. 30 grams each) onto baking sheets. Slightly pat each cookie down into a round disk approximately ⅓” thick. Bake for about 17 minutes until edges are slightly browned. Cool 5 minutes and carefully remove from sheet pan to cooling rack. Cool completely.
5. Add enough water to powdered sugar to make a glaze. Drizzle over cookies. Let set and store in an airtight container.