Megan and I have been making quarantine care packages for both our parents and have started accepting requests. My sister asked for oatmeal cookies, so Megan and I referenced a few recipes and came up with a version of our own. This recipe involves a few extra steps and a little extra (hands-off) time, but in my opinion it does result in a tastier cookie.

Pre-soaking the oats and dried fruits
We soak the oats and dried fruits with water, because we do not want these ingredients to absorb too much of the moisture from the cookie itself. It also ensures that the dried fruits are slightly plump (while still being chewy). You can also use all kinds of flavouring (think rum, coffee, …) instead of water for your soak. Note that you do want to be sure to drain any excess liquid from the dried fruits to avoid adding too much liquid to the recipe.

Toasting vs. roasting
Toasting nuts will add complexity to the overall final taste of the cookie. I typically toast nuts in a 275°F oven from anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour to get an even browning throughout – slow and steady wins the race! When you roast nuts in a high temperature oven, the nuts tend to brown on the outside leaving the inside still raw-ish. A quick roast is still good if you’re short on time (and better than using raw nuts), but toasting will yield even better results.

Melted butter
Melting the butter creates a chewier cookie, I read that somewhere. lol!

Yield [17 cookies]
Ingredients
225g all purpose flour (1 cup + 3/4 cup)
2.5g ground cinnamon (1 tsp)
7.8g baking soda (1 1/4 tsp)

225g rolled oats (2 cups)
60g water (1/4 cup)

140g dried fruits (1 cup)
60g hot water (1/4 cup)

225g melted butter (1 cup)
130g brown sugar (2/3 cup)
120g white sugar (1/2 cup)
1 egg
5g vanilla extract (1 tsp)
4.7g kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp)
180g toasted nuts (1 1/4 cup)

Instructions
1. Add 1/4 cup hot water to dried fruit and let soak at least 20 minutes. You can also use cold / room temperature liquid and soak overnight. Be sure to drain any excess liquid before using.
2. In the meantime, add 1/4 water to oats, stir to combine. The water should be absorbed pretty quickly.
3. Sift dry ingredients (flour, ground cinnamon, baking soda) and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, add soaked rolled oats, soaked dried fruits, both sugars, salt, toasted nuts, eggs, vanilla extract, and melted butter. Mix with a spatula until the ingredients are evenly distributed
5. Add sifted flour and mix with spatula until the mixture is homogenous.
6. Let the mixture sit at room temperature for 10-20 minutes to allow the butter to cool down and the flour to absorb some of the liquid (this will make it easier to scoop).
7. Using a yellow scoop, scoop cookies onto a prepared pan leaving about 2″ spacing in between. These will spread during baking.
8. Bake at 350°F for 15 minutes on the middle rack, turning the tray halfway through baking.
9. Enjoy!

Variations

• I actually prefer these with whole wheat flour instead of all-purpose! We haven’t tried with any other flours but I’d guess they would be pretty great with a mix of something like spelt, rye, or oat flour too! If you want to use other flours, we suggest 50/50.
• For added texture, you can substitute 1/3 cup steel cut oats for a mix of steel cut and rolled oats.