Most recently, I tried making a batch of oatmeal cookies, reduced the sugar by 3/4, took one bite, and gave the rest to James. Seriously, he'll eat anything. It's great having a food-black-hole when you're going through a food experimentation phase. He dipped them in rice milk and pronounced them edible. "Not bad," he said.
So that was a failed scratch for my oatmeal cookie itch. I'm trying again with this oatmeal cookie recipe from smitten kitchen, with NO CHANGES. Rarely do I fully commit to a recipe. I almost used whole wheat flour instead of regular but I resisted! So proud of myself. I did have to make some practical substitutions, swapping white sugar for brown and multi-grain oats for regular, since I just didn't have that stuff on hand. She also doesn't mention whether she used salted or unsalted butter. I happened to only have salted on hand (and by me I mean my roommate--I was plain out from cooking Thanksgiving dinner at my place), so I reduced the salt down to a pinch. They did turn out slightly salty, so definitely go with unsalted butter and only the 1/4 tsp of salt that it calls for.
I did have a slight softened-butter-snafu. The recipe called for softened butter, and of course, mine was fridge-solid. I put a stick in the microwave for thirty seconds, and half of it melted promptly. I tried mixing it together, hoping the other half would still be cold enough, but no dice. I stuck it in a (fresh) bowl and put it in the freezer, hoping it would cool off by the time I had everything else ready. Just five minutes later, I had a bowl of perfectly softened butter that was not going to pre-cook the eggs I was about to cream them in! Amazing. Mistakes in my kitchen rarely work out that way.
Anyway, I went with the modification she mentions in the description, "no nuts, 1/2 cup of raisins and 3/4 cup chocolate chips... and drop the sugar down to a heaped 1/2 cup." I skipped putting the batter in the fridge, because I actually prefer my cookies thin, mostly crunchy and golden brown on top.
Oh boy did those babies spread. I put 16 large scoops onto a baking sheet because I was too lazy to get out more parchment and another baking sheet just for 4 cookies. They turned into pull-apart-oatmeal-cookies, but no less delicious. They are sweet, for sure, but not as sweet as their original Quaker Oats recipe. With all those chocolate chips, I think next time I might try reducing the sugar to 1/3 cup (or 1/4 if I'm feeling feisty).
All that being said, I think this recipe is a great candidate to make again with less sugar.
Oatmeal Raisin Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 stick unsalted butter, softened (1/2 cup, 4 ounces, or 115g)
1/2 cup sugar, packed (125g)
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour (95g)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon table salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats (120g)
1/2 cup raisins (80g)
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.
In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture.
Stir in the oats, raisins and walnuts, if using them.
At this point you can either chill the dough for a bit in the fridge and then scoop it, or scoop the cookies onto a sheet and then chill the whole tray before baking them. You could also bake them right away, if you’re impatient, but I do find that they end up slighly less thick. Either way, heat oven to 350°F (175°C) before you scoop the cookies, so that it’s fully heated when you’re ready to put them in.
The cookies should be two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake them for 10 to 12 minutes (your baking time will vary, depending on your oven and how cold the cookies were going in), taking them out when golden at the edges but still a little undercooked-looking on top. Let them sit on the hot baking sheet for five minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool.
Original oatmeal cookie recipe from smitten kitchen
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