Give Your Cookies a Healthy Oatmeal Base

I recently discovered that I have a miserable amount of grains. Not enough to make a snack, but enough to make you feel wasteful if it falls into the bin. Although this little puzzle was frustrating at first, I eventually came to the discovery of “when life gives you lemons.” It turns out that cookies can be cooked better if you add oatmeal crust to them.

I have found that oats are especially effective with drop shaped cookies or any cookie with sticky or wet dough. All you have to do is scoop some oatmeal onto a plate or the hollow side of the oatmeal container lid, then scoop up the raw cookie dough balls as usual and press the bottom of each into the oatmeal. Place cookies on a baking sheet, oat side down, and bake as usual. The oats stay in place while the dough relaxes, cooks, and cooks over the oatmeal.

When I tried it, I found the bottom browned deliciously and the oats browned in the excess oil that is usually slaked on parchment paper. It was a triple win: I got the taste of toasted oats, a crispy cookie bottom that stayed that way the next day, and a flawless baking sheet ready for the next round of cookies. What really sealed the deal was how easily all of my cookies popped out of the pan. Cookies with a loose dough, a lot of melting chocolate, or a general tendency to spread may stick or tear when you try to take them out of the mold. The oatmeal bottom creates a useful non-stick barrier and a thin support frame.

This little trick works with standard cookie cutters and cookie cutters. The dough for rolled cookies is less sticky, so instead of dipping the bottom in oats, sprinkle some oats in as well when you roll out the dough on a floured surface. Oddly enough – or on the nose – as it may seem, this even works for oatmeal cookies.