I just finished what may be one of my best inventions yet. I wanted something like an oatmeal cookie, but I just got a #10 can of dried apples, and I looooove apple crisp. So I decided to try some oatmeal apple cookies. But I’ve also been using way too much butter in my daily life, so I didn’t want to use another whole stick in something that I will probably eat all by myself later this afternoon. But, you know what happens when you use oil in cookies, instead of butter? Moosh. Well, the dough doesn’t hold together super well, and spreads in the pan if you use the same amount of oil for the butter. As far as I’m concerned, butter is magic, when making cookies.
But a couple of weeks ago, when I inquired of the Universe whether to make cookies or cake, NungNung told me I should just make cakies. He meant something like black and white cookies, which is what I ended up making. But, for the record, the recipe in Carole Walters’ cookie book is not that great. Maybe I just don’t like black and white cookies.
Anyway, I halved the fat, using sunflower oil instead of butter, and I ended up with something between a cookie and the crust of a crisp. I tell ya.
Apple Crispies
1/2 C light brown sugar, packed
1/4 C sugar
1/4 cup oil
1 large egg
1 t vanilla
1 1/4 C rolled oats
1/2 C all purpose flour
1/2 C oat bran
1-2 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt
3/4 C dried apples (the ones I used were very dry, very crunchy)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Prepare a baking sheet with parchment.
Cream together the sugars and oil. Add the egg and cream some more. Add vanilla, stir. Right on top of that, gently dump the dry ingredients, except the apples. Swirl the dry stuff around a little to distribute the baking powder, soda, salt, and cinnamon. Stir the whole thing up, just until there aren’t giant clumps of flour/oats. Stir in the apples. If you want, you can add a little water to make the dough stick together a little better, but know that they will spread a little more, and won’t be quite as airy.
Drop mounds a little less that 1/4 cup (I used a small ice cream scoop) onto the baking sheets, and with wet hands, smoosh them down to about 1/2 inch thick. Leave a couple inches between each mound.
Bake for about 15 minutes, checking after 10. They’ll be a little puffy when you take them out of the oven, but they’ll fall as they cool and crisp. These cookies are very crumbly, but in a good way! Man, I wish I had some vanilla ice cream right now!
H. I. P. 