Variations on an Oatmeal Cookie

By Billa

Do you like oatmeal cookies? How about one that takes less than 5 minutes to prepare, is healthy, and delicious?

One day last week, I had a hankering for oatmeal cookies. After searching online, I discovered the following recipe:

Three Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies with Applesauce

Makes 8

Ingredients

3/4 cup applesauce

1 and 1/2 cups quick oats

1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper. (Foil worked too.)

In a large bowl, add applesauce and oats. Mix with a spoon until evenly combined and all oats are moistened. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Use a 1.5 tablespoon cookie scoop and scoop dough balls to form thick, round disks.

Bake about 16 minutes, or until set. Let cool for 5 minutes before eating.

Store in airtight container at room temperature for 1-2 days or freeze for longer.

As you can see, this is a very simple recipe. Besides having so few ingredients, there’s no need to get out the mixer. Just one bowl, a spoon, and a baking sheet. What’s more, if you use unsweetened applesauce (as I did), there’s almost no added sugar in the cookie, other than the chocolate chips.

So, I baked them and they turned out to be chewy, oaty, and delicious.

The next day, I decided to try again, this time substituting 1/4 cup raisins and 6 finely chopped dates for the chocolate, thereby eliminating all added sugar.

These were less sweet, but still tasty.

A day later, I experimented with a third version, using peanut butter. It was difficult to thoroughly mix the peanut butter into the batter until I thought about microwaving it for a short time, rendering it into almost a liquid. I used 8 tablespoons of peanut butter instead of the chocolate.

This version was obviously very peanutty, also less sweet than the original, but heartier. Being a big fan of peanut butter, I liked them, but I am thinking they might taste better with an occasional pop of chocolate. Right now, my freezer is full of oatmeal cookies. When I run out, I think I might make a new batch with peanut butter and chocolate. Maybe, I’ll even find acceptable sugar-free chocolate chips.