These cherry chocolate oatmeal cookies have not one, but two secret ingredients! Pure maple syrup to cut down on the amount of refined sugar necessary and shredded coconut to add moisture and chewiness!
I kind of consider these my pantry dump cookies. A little bit of everything in the pantry mixed together creates one heck of a cookie. It seems like the ingredient list is long and I understand that my baker’s pantry.
The Creaming Method:
This cookie recipes calls for you to “cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy” but what does that actually mean?
The creaming method is a baking method where the butter and the sugar are beaten together for awhile. Why do we do this? The sharp edges of the sugar crystals create little pockets of air within the butter.
Those pockets of air then fill up with air and help our cookies rise when they are baked.
Let’s Talk Ingredients and Ingredient Substitutions:
- Pure Maple Syrup-adds sweetness without more refined sugar. Lots of cookie recipes call for 2 cups of refined sugar but we are able to cut it down to just one cup plus 1/3 cup pure maple syrup. Don’t have pure maple syrup? Add in an extra 1/2 cup brown sugar. We want to keep the moisture in the cookie that the molasses from the brown sugar brings.
- Sweetened Shredded Coconut-adds a little sweetness, a little extra chew and a little something extra that you can’t quite put your finger on. Do these cookies taste like coconut? No. Most of the time people don’t even realize it’s there. Don’t have shredded coconut? Leave it out. Don’t have sweetened shredded coconut? Unsweetened will work just fine.
- Dried Cherries-I personally love the tang of dried cherries, especially mixed with dark chocolate but dried cherries aren’t everyone’s cup of tea. Plus they are more expensive than their cousin the dried cranberry. Don’t have dried cherries? Swap with dried cranberries or raisins an equal amount.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips-Semi sweet to balance all the sweetness of the cookie plus the tang of the dried cherries. I personally wouldn’t swap this out for milk chocolate, but if you don’t have semi-sweet chips, give it a try and let me know how it goes. I think if anything, white chocolate chips would be the way to go
- Whole wheat flour-the added wheat bran gives just a little depth to our cookie. Don’t have whole wheat flour? Just add in an equal amount of all-purpose flour-still will taste great.
- Old Fashioned Oats-Old fashioned oats haven’t been cut down like quick oats so they are a little bigger and don’t absorb as much liquid. Don’t have old fashioned oats? Quick oats are fine, but use only 2 cups because they will absorb more liquid in the recipe. Don’t use steel cut oats.
How To Store Cherry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies:
These cookies will be good about 5 days at room temperature in an airtight container. If they last that long… If you don’t want to make the whole batch, you can freeze the cookie dough for future cookie desires.
Cherry Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 cup dried cherries
- 1-12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. If using a stand mixer, fit with paddle attachment.
- Cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add in the maple syrup and egg. Beat to combine.
- Turn mixer speed to low. Add in baking soda, whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, and coconut.
- Beat until just combined. Stir in oats, cherries and chocolate chips.
- Scoop tablespoons of dough onto a greased cookie sheet, leaving at least 2 inches of space between each cookie. Bake for 15-17 minutes.
- Allow to cool.
Like cookies with oatmeal and other stuff? Try these Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies or these Whole Wheat Caramel Apple Cookies.
Did you make this recipe? Tag me @bakincareofbusiness on Instagram so I can see what you made!
To make things a little easier in the kitchen, I’ve created a handy printable conversion chart (cause honestly, who can remember how many teaspoons are in a tablespoon?). Sign up below and I’ll send it to you!
Happy Baking!
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