Walnut Oatmeal Cookies with Maple Sugar Glaze

Oatmeal cookies are different. A form of comfort unlike chocolate chip or sugar. They are irregular, dependable. You can put one in your pocket to save for later. You feel more than justified in eating them for breakfast, which is exactly what I did this morning. We needed something gentle and good, hearty and sweet. I used – instead of just plain oats – a Bob’s Red Mill mix of 5 Grains Rolled Cereal plus flax seed, a pouch of cereal I have kept in the pantry for approximately a thousand years and regard every morning with loathing and disdain and wish I could will it to become a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch. It was perfect in this format. It is a great relief to me to not have to worry about this nagging breakfast foodstuff any more. I’d better go to Reny’s tomorrow to buy another bag. Oh, these are delicious cookies. With or without the glaze. But the glaze does dress them up a touch. My dad always had glazed oatmeal cookies in the pantry. Probably because they were the only snack we wouldn’t pilfer and he could have all to himself. I should send him some of these.

Walnut Oatmeal Cookies with Maple Sugar Glaze
Adapted from a recipe on Cookie Madness

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• Spinch* cardamom
• 3 cups rolled old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 2 tablespoons heavy cream
• Dash of salt

Method:

For the cookies:

Preheat oven to 350 and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. In the bowl of a stand mixer combine butter, maple syrup and brown sugar. Add each egg and beat. Then the salt, baking soda, flour, cinnamon, and cardamom. Don’t over-mix. Use a spatula to incorporate oats, cranberries and toasted walnuts. Form dough into golf ball size spheres and flatten slightly. Bake 10-15 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Glaze when cooled completely.

For the glaze:

In a small bowl whisk together confectioner’s sugar, maple syrup, heavy cream and salt. Pour into a plastic baggie and snip the end to drizzle.

* Small pinch. (I just made that up).

Tagged as: baking, cookies, nuts, oats

About the Author: Jillian Bedell

Jillian grew up in Connecticut, went to university in Boston, college in New Haven, did some post-grad soul searching in New York, exiled herself to Mexico, married her longtime sweetheart, and lived in a house on the ocean. She suspected Maine might be the perfect place to raise a family, so she came back home to New England two years ago. Now a mom to Violet Maeve and living in Rockland, where she hopes to settle for a good, long while, Jillian reads, writes, walks, and practices Nia, when not watching Malcolm photograph sandwiches.