Chocolate Oatmeal Walnut Cookies, an Accidental Success

This weekend was super busy with the wedding of our friends Matt and Katie and a packed house of wedding guests we hosted in our home. Not only that but I turned 28 on Saturday. Yep another year older. It was for all those reasons my cooking schedule was thrown out the window and these were all I accomplished on Friday. They may look small and simple but they are an accidental success I’m proud of.

I wanted to make an easy/somewhat healthy cookie that people could snack on if they got hungry. I chose this recipe as I’d made it before and it’d been a real success. What I failed to take into account was that the first time I made it I had used melted dark chocolate instead of cocoa powder. I followed the recipe exactly but instead of a moist batter I got this:

Chocolate granola! It was super dry and wouldn’t stick or bind. I panicked. I absolutely hate failed cooking attempts because I hate wasting ingredients. I thought fast and decided to recycle the chocolate granola into an oatmeal cookie. Not a mental olympiad, but some definite quick thinking on my feet. I won’t confuse you with all the the backpedaling I had to do, but simply give you the really awesome recipe I concocted.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup applesauce
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup walnuts (you can also use raisins or other dried fruit)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).

2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, applesauce, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla until smooth. Combine the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cocoa, cloves, and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Stir in the oats and walnuts. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.

3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes until light and golden. Do not overbake as they end up dry and crunchy. Let them cool for 2 minutes before removing from cookie sheets to cool completely. Store in airtight container and enjoy!

I’m not much of a milk person but I can’t tell you enough how amazing these are dunked in a glass of milk (soy or from the cow). They are so warm and filled with spice that they are even make perfect breakfast bars, …as I learned this morning as I was running out the door. I’m like a weird food evangelist. Eat my yummy food, it’s so good you won’t know how good it can be for you!