old fashioned iced oatmeal cookies

my latest baking obsession, iced oatmeal cookies. no, i cannot explain it. of course, i have always liked oatmeal cookies, especially oatmeal cookies with dried currants in them. and yes, i have always preferred them to be homemade and warm from the oven. even so, i really like the ones that come in a bag with the hard white frosting. crispy cookie and crunchy white frosting. go figure.

unfortunately, when your doctor has told you that your cholesterol level is higher than what is considered normal, you cannot indulge in cookies loaded with butter. therefore, i made an attempt to slim this favorite snack down and make it a little better on the numbers.

my starting point for the cookies was this recipe from mel’s kitchen cafe. to change the recipe, i substituted whole wheat flour for the all purpose flour and virgin coconut oil for the butter. each was a 1 for 1 swap meaning that an identical amount of the substitute was used for the original ingredient.

coconut oil and whole wheat flour make a drier batch of dough. i gently pressed each of the cookies down to form a thick disk before i put the pan in the oven. the results were a cookie that was dense and not as crispy as butter would have made them.

the glaze was simply powdered sugar with a little milk in it. each cookie was dipped in the glaze and placed on a rack to drip and set. they did not set quickly and that moisture softened the cookies a bit. not necessarily a bad thing but it did not give them the crispy/crunchy texture i was hoping for.

pretty but not perfect. tasty but not the taste i wanted.

i soldiered on. for the second batch, i pulled out my own recipe and baked off a batch. this time, i also substituted coconut oil and whole wheat flour but i tinkered with some of the amounts. then to frost them, i went with my instincts and whipped up a small batch of royal icing and thinned it out with water to make a drippy glaze. these look a whole lot more like what i was hoping for and they also taste a lot more like what i was hoping for.

for comparison, batch #1 on the left, batch #2 on the right. will i make these again? you betcha!

old fashioned iced oatmeal cookies

makes about 24 small cookies

1 1/2 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

4 ounces coconut oil

1 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 tablespoon molasses

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 egg

1 tablespoon water

1/3 cup dried currants

preheat the oven to 350. in a bowl, combine the oats, whole wheat flour, salt and baking soda and whisk it to combine, set aside. in a mixing bowl, combine the coconut oil, brown sugar, molasses and salt and mix at medium-low speed until fluffy. add the egg and water and mix until combined. pour the combined dry ingredients in and mix on low speed until it starts to come together. add the currants and mix until combined. scoop out the cookies using a small (#40 or #50 if you can find one) portion scoop and place them on paper lined sheet pans. bake until lightly golden and a little puffy, about 10-12 minutes. cool completely before glazing.

royal icing glaze

1 egg white

2 cups powdered sugar

combine the ingredients and whip on medium-high speed until it forms stiff peaks. add water, a teaspoon at a time to make a slightly runny(but not watery!) glaze. dip the tops of the cookies in the glaze taking care not to dunk them in completely, they should have spots of cookie showing, refer to the photo. place each dipped cookie on a rack to set and harden. store airtight.

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