ICED OATMEAL COOKIES

These old-fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookies are soft, chewy, and coated in a sweet vanilla icing. This recipe is flourless, gluten free, and packed with cozy spices.

Cookies

• Butter – adds flavor and tenderness. In this cookie recipe, butter is kept chilled which results in a very thick cookie. Using unsalted butter allows you to control how much salt goes into the recipe. If salted butter is the only butter available, simply reduce the salt by 1/4 teaspoon per 1/2 cup of butter called for.
• Brown Sugar – contains molasses which yields a rich flavor and moist, chewy cookie. Dark brown sugar is approximately 20% molasses and light brown sugar is 10%. Dark brown sugar is called for in the recipe, but either can be used. Typically cookies are made with a combination of brown and granulated sugar, but using just brown sugar prevents the cookies from spreading too much and also enhances the warm, cozy flavor.
• Vanilla – adds a sweet flavor and depth. Without it, the cookies will taste bland. Pure vanilla extract is always preferred, but imitation will be fine in a pinch. Pure vanilla is made with vanilla bean, water, and alcohol whereas imitation vanilla is made without vanilla beans. Imitation is cheaper and often does not taste any different than pure vanilla extract in baked goods, so the choice is yours! I prefer pure vanilla extract, because it’s actually made with vanilla beans.
• Molasses – keeps the cookies soft while also providing a warm, rich, sweet flavor. Look for a light or dark unsulphured molasses, but do not use blackstrap — its flavor is much too strong and bitter.
• Egg – helps bind the cookie together while also adding a chewy texture. Because we’re using cold butter, you’ll need to use cold eggs. Same temperature ingredients combine better. Not all eggs are the same size; today’s recipe calls for large eggs, so be sure to check the carton!
• Old Fashioned Oats – aka rolled oats are used two ways in this recipe: whole and ground. Whole old fashioned oats provide a chewy texture and ground old fashioned oats replace the flour you’d typically find a cookie recipe that adds structure and gives the cookies shape.
• Spices: Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Cloves, and Salt – our homemade spice mixture! This combination of spices gives a warm, cozy flavor and also helps to balance out the sweetness from the brown sugar. Feel free to use a store-bought seasoning blend like “pumpkin pie spice” to replace the cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
• Baking Soda – our leavening agent. Baking soda gives these cookies a “lift” and prevents them from becoming too dense. It also promotes a nice, chewy texture.

Icing

• Powdered Sugar – the base of our glaze. Powdered sugar aka confectioners’ sugar is the best sweetener for glazes, frosting, and icings, because it’s ultra smooth. Granulated or brown sugar would give a gritty texture.
• Salt – balances out the sweetness of the powdered sugar to give this icing the perfect sweet, but not too sweet flavor.
• Milk – thins the icing ever so slightly. We’re looking for a relatively thick icing that will eventually harden on the cookies. Adding too much milk won’t allow the icing to set. Use milk, heavy cream, or half-and-half.
• Vanilla – optional, but highly recommended. It will make the icing slightly brown in color (vs white), but it does provide the icing with additional flavor.

Cookies

• ▢1/2 cup unsalted butter cold and cubed
• ▢3/4 cup dark brown sugar packed
• ▢1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• ▢1 tablespoon molasses
• ▢1 large egg cold
• ▢2 cups old fashioned oats ground in food processor until it resembles flour (certified GF if necessary)
• ▢1 1/2 cups old fashioned oats left whole (certified GF if necessary)
• ▢1 teaspoon cinnamon
• ▢1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• ▢1/4 teaspoon cloves
• ▢1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Icing

• ▢2 cups powdered sugar sifted
• ▢1/2 teaspoon salt
• ▢3 tablespoons milk
• ▢1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Instructions Cookies

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line 2 baking sheets with silicone mats.
• In your stand mixer, beat butter and brown sugar together until fluffy — this may take a few minutes because the butter is cold.

• Beat in vanilla, molasses, and egg.
• Add ground oats, whole oats, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt, and baking soda, then mix until well combined.
• Use a large cookie scoop to scoop out 16 dough balls — place 8 onto each prepared baking sheet.*
• Bake in preheated oven to 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.
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• Remove from oven, then allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to cool completely before icing.
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Icing

• Place powered sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla into a medium sized bowl then whisk until smooth.
• Dunk the tops of the completely cooled cookies into the icing.
• Place back onto the wire cooling rack to allow the icing to set.

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