Oatmeal, Walnut and Dried Plum Cookies

For some unknown reason,

oatmeal cookies were one of the first cookies
 I used to bake all the time when I was little.

Maybe I baked them because I thought
they must be healthy since they have oatmeal.

Or maybe I baked them because no one in my house liked them
so I could devour the whole dozen myself.

Or maybe there is just a special place in my heart for them.

I've worked with lots of different oatmeal cookie recipies over the years 

and this by far is my favorite one.

Alicia Silverstone has a HUGE sweet tooth,

so I usually find that using less of the sugar she calls for works splendidly.

For this recipe, I used the maple syrup and molasses
and excluded the maple sugar completely.

I also used whole wheat pastery flour instead of white,

and almonds instead of walnuts (because I'm out!),

and I had to use some canola oil because I only had half of the amount of safflower oil.

Feel free to substitute as you like with this recipe. 

I don't think you can do this gooey, soft, delicious cookie wrong.

Speaking of getting this cookie wrong (*cough)
you'd think by now I'd be able to make oatmeal cookies perfectly.
Note: Not all the cookies fit on one cookie sheet.
If you think they do, you will end up with one giant cookie.
Thankfully, it didn't sacrifice the taste one bit.

Oatmeal, Walnut and 

Dried Plum Cookies

Servings: Makes 10 to 12 cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats
• 3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup maple sugar
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt
• 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/2 cup safflower oil
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. molasses
• 1/4 cup chopped dried plums or other dried fruit
• 1/4 cup finely chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Combine the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the syrup, oil, vanilla extract, and molasses. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir to combine. Fold in the dried plums and nuts.

Using your hands, roll tablespoon-size scoops of dough into balls. Place the balls onto the prepared baking sheet and press down slightly on the balls to flatten the tops. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a baking rack to cool completely.

For variety, replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour, barley flour, spelt flour, or a gluten-free baking mix (choose one that does not include baking soda and baking powder). You can also substitute chocolate chips for the dried fruit and any kind of nuts for the walnuts.

The Kind Diet by Alicia Silverstone. Published by Rodale Books. © 2009