Oatmeal Recipes: SPIKED Holiday Oatmeal Cookies!

Disclosure: This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and Quaker.
As always, all opinions are mine alone.

I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned before about my husbands love of oatmeal. We go through those large 42 ounce canisters in about 2-3 weeks, so recently when I was at Target shopping for more I noticed the gorgeous holiday packaging on the Quaker Old Fashioned Rolled Oats. It’s a beautiful scenic landscape that is reminiscent of everything I imagine a white Christmas to be throughout my childhood memories.

You see, I grew up in Northern California, and we don’t see snow too often until we go looking for it and travelling on purpose. We didn’t get those school days where we woke up and school was cancelled because we were snowed in. I used to watch those occasions on some of my favorite tv shows and commercials and thought those kids were so lucky.

I’m a California girl, through and through, but my husband grew up in Missouri. He knows all about those cold winters, it’s probably why he has such an affinity for oatmeal. It just warms you up from the inside out.

During the holiday season I love to bake cookies. I try to get as many baked as possible and love to gift them to friends, neighbors, coworkers, teachers, or just have them around the house on a dessert platter for guests and visitors that stop by. I made oatmeal cookies for a bake sale a few years back, my first time making them, and they fell flat. Literally, they were flat and thin. They tasted good, but they were so thin that they became brittle when I took them off of the pan. When I saw this winter packaging in Target these were all the thoughts that came to my mind, and I instantly had an idea for a new holiday cookie. A spiked holiday cookie. I actually used the Quaker recipe that was on the underside of my lid, but I did change a few things to make this a truly spike, holiday oatmeal cookie.

I changed it from traditional raisins to golden raisins and dried cranberries, and I let them sit in spiced rum to plump them up. I also didn’t squeeze the moisture out before adding them to the cookie batter, and I added the remaining rum from the bowl in with the mix as well. The heat of the oven will cook the alcohol out of the cookie, but you’re left with a tastier cookie, with spiced flavors from the rum and a little more depth. In addition to the cinnamon already in the recipe I also added some nutmeg and ginger to give it a festive vibe that goes along with the rum and the cranberries.

These cookies are soft and chewy. Not at all like the dry oatmeal cookies I recall from childhood. They stay soft too, and the spices and flavors meld perfectly together. It’s a wonderful cookie to kick off the holiday season with! This is a keeper in our holiday cookie rotation.

Ingredients for Spiked Holiday Oatmeal Cookies:

• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/4 cup spiced rum
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter PLUS 6 tablespoons. Softened to room temperature.
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1.5 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 3 cups uncooked old fashioned rolled oats

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Begin by putting the cranberries and raisins in a small bowl and pouring the rum over them. Let sit in rum, stirring every ten minutes or so, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Add butter to a mixing bowl and beat on medium/low until soft and creamy. Add both sugar and continue to mix until incorporated.

Add eggs and vanilla and mix until blended.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg and ginger. Stir well.

Pour the half of the dry ingredients into the wet, while mixing on low. Pour the remaining dry ingredients in, and mix until just combined.

Carefully fold in the rolled oats a little bit at a time.

Then add the cranberries and raisins with the rum, folding in until just mixed.

Using a cookie scoop to assure each cookie is about the same size, place dough on a lined cookie sheet. Bake for 8-11 minutes, until cooked.

The edges will brown and the middle will still look a little light, it will continue to brown once removed from the oven.

Place baked cookies on cooling racks while you bake the remaining batches.

Serve warm.

Enjoy!

#MyOatsCreation | #CollectiveBias

You can find the limited edition Quaker Oats Old Fashioned Oats 42 ounce winter canisters exclusively at Target  in the cereal and hot cereal aisle. Be sure to download this coupon to receive $1.50 off your purchase for a 42 ounce package of Quaker old fashioned oats or quick oats, or $1.oo off the 18 ounce packages.

Do you have a favorite holiday recipe that incorporates oats?