These moist oatmeal-apple cookies are the perfect dessert to pack for lunch or enjoy as a snack. They taste sweet and comforting, plus have nutritional benefits from the oats and baked apple.
When it comes to packing lunches, I like to feel like I am including foods that fortify and energize my family, to help them get through the day. With 3 cups of whole grain rolled oats in this recipe, we can all benefit from the fiber, protein, and extra vitamins and minerals the oats add. The chopped baked apple adds flavor and even more nutrients. I like this recipe because it makes me feel like I am walking that fine line between healthy and indulgent. In fact, I am going to take a big container of these cookies to my kids’ cross country meet today as a post-race treat. They are nutritious enough to pass as healthy, yet delicious enough that kids actually really want to eat them!
It seems that fine lines are a bit of a theme for me this week. In my most recent yoga class, the instructor talked about finding that space between control and letting go. We have to have some measure of control in our lives, in order to keep the train on the tracks (for the most part!). But we also need to not grip too tightly. We need to surrender to larger forces, too, and be open to outcomes we cannot imagine. It is a tricky balance. Things come up continually to help teach us to find balance–car problems, scheduling dilemmas, decisions about budgets and resources, to name a few!
In light of all the challenges and teaching moments, I’m not sure how well I did with the whole balance thing this week, except for with these cookies! With these cookies, I feel like I found it. The recipe is adapted from the inner lid of my Quaker old fashioned rolled oats container, though I used chopped apples instead of raisins.
Maybe it is because of the autumnal equinox this week that I am thinking about lines and balance. We are poised in the middle, between summer and winter, between sunlight and darkness. It is a beautiful time. I hope you all have a very lovely weekend! Happy beginning of autumn! “You will never be alone, you hear so deep / a sound when autumn comes.” –from the poem “Assurance” by William Stafford
I am sharing this recipe over at Angie’s Fiesta Friday, co-hosted this week by two great bloggers, Mollie @ The Frugal Hausfrau and Johanne @ French Gardener Dishes.
Oatmeal-Apple Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 and 1/2 cups of unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 teaspoon of cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup of granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup of packed brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon of vanilla
- 3 cups of raw oats
- 1 cup of apple, peeled and finely chopped
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. In a large mixing bowl, vigorously stir together the butter, sugar, and brown sugar (you may use an electric mixer if you wish–I like to use a wooden spoon and get an arm workout). Add the eggs and vanilla and stir/beat again, thoroughly combining.
Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir/beat well. Then add the oats and chopped apple. Mix well until everything is combined. Drop the dough by rounded tablespoonful onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in your 350-degree oven for 8 to 10 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. Allow the cookies to cool for a minute on the cookie sheets, then remove them to a wire rack to cool completely. Store tightly covered to preserve freshness. Enjoy!
With my kids’ spring sports schedules starting, I am once again looking for snacks that taste good, can be eaten quickly, and that also have nutrients to give my active kids good energy. I am very happy with this recipe, which I adapted from one in my Dr. Cookie Cookbook by Marvin Wayne and Stephen Yarnall. There’s just enough sweetness from the brown sugar to make the cookies taste like a treat, but enough substance to make them more than just sweet. If you are looking for an easy, protein-rich cookie, this is a great recipe to try.
It is the very last day of March today, and I must say I am really looking forward to April! Although it’s still chilly here, it’s such a great time to be outside, with the fresh wind, green grass, and trees and bushes budding. The spring peepers have been peeping really loudly at night, and I love to sleep with the window cracked open so I can listen to those frogs all night long. There is a feeling of new life and excitement in the air–I can sense it just from watching the birds in the sky.
Since it is maple sugar season here, I thought I would share a recipe with maple syrup in it. One of my favorite cookie recipes of all time is one of the first ones I ever posted on this blog–the recipe for 
There is something so satisfying about using natural sweeteners like molasses (especially blackstrap molasses, which I like to use) and maple syrup. Maybe it’s because I know they contain important minerals found in the good earth (potassium, zinc, manganese, and iron, to name a few), so it feels like these coookies are quite healthy. Or at least nourishing. Perfect for a snack or to stick in the kids’ lunches. They have definitely been disappearing quickly around this house.
It’s March now, and outside my windows the snow is lightly falling. We had another snowstorm a couple of days ago, resulting in another snow day for the kids. Much of our half of the world is thinking about spring, yet we in Michigan are still blanketed in snow. For now, I will take the soft snow. It will be gone soon enough, and my upper body feels stronger from all of the shoveling!
I hope you all have a great weekend!
I’m going to take a plate of these cookies over to Angie’s 
