Comforting Oat Cookie (Perfect for Breakfast)

One of my favorite parts of Christmas is the assortment of random cookbooks I acquire from friends and family.  Since my loved ones know I adore all things cooking-related, I am often on the receiving end of a spur-of-the-moment purchase, great sale purchase or it-has-food-on-the-cover-so-I-knew-you'd-love-it purchase.  I am always entertained by these gifts because I always discover something I might have otherwise missed.  I received a few cookbooks that fall into this category this year.  One of which I had never heard of, but I have loved looking through is Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros.

Homemade Cranberry Butter made a delightful filling to the cookies.

Apples for Jam is one of the most visually appealing books I have ever perused. There are beautiful doodles and family snapshots, lots of personal writing in adorable fonts, and of course, tons of eye-catching photographs.  Did I forget to mention the colors?  Well the colors used in this book are incredibly important - the entire cookbook is organized around color!  With sections such as Orange, Gold, Monochrome, White and Brown, you realize how important color is to food.  Personally, I would have thought the first thing I wanted to cook from this book would have come from the Orange or Yellow or Stripes (!!!) sections, but surprisingly, the first recipe I tried is from the Monochrome section.

It is a very simple recipe for Oat Cookies.  Tessa Kiros writes, "These are plain, healthy, and good.  You could serve them for breakfast instead of oatmeal sometimes, with a mug of warm milk."  I couldn't agree with Tessa more.  The cookies are very simple, with a clean oatmeal flavor shining through in every bite.  I threw them together in a snap with pantry ingredients.  I think the only change I would make in the future would be to allow the dough to sit for a couple hours or overnight before baking - the oatmeal and whole wheat flour have a slightly raw flavor that would be reduced with a rest period. I liked these cookies best with a tart schmear of homemade Cranberry Butter (I promise to post the recipe soon!).  I also think using this recipe as a basic oat cookie to add dried fruit or chocolate chips to would be great.  My last kudos to Tessa on this recipe? It only makes 25 cookies (I think I got more like 18-20 out of the recipe)!  As a single gal, I really appreciate a small baking recipe.  I do not need 5 dozen warm cookies taunting my from their cooling racks.

If you enjoy the visual aspect and design layout of books, I highly recommend picking Apples for Jam up to browse.  It is a very unique, pretty cookbook with lovely writing.  Thanks to my parents for randomly giving me this book for Christmas!

I was inspired to play with Monochrome - 
cookie dough in black and white looks interesting!

Oat Cookies
from Apples for Jam by Tessa Kiros

1 egg
2/3 cup lightly packed light brown sugar
1 t vanilla extract
5 1/2 T butter, softened
1/2 cup AP flour
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1 t baking powder
salt
1 cup quick cooking oats (I used old-fashioned)
1 1/2 T milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whip the egg, sugar, and vanilla together until the sugar has dissolved.  Beat in the butter and then sift in the all-purpose and whole wheat flours and baking powder.  Add a pinch of salt and the oats, and mix well with a wooden spoon. Stir in the milk.  With lightly moistened hands, shape the dough into walnut-sized balls and put them, well spaced, on the baking sheet. Flatten them a bit so they look like mini-hamburger patties.  Bake for about 15 minutes until they are golden around the edges (they might still be a little soft on top).  Cool on a wire rack and then keep in your cookie jar for up to 5 days.