Muscovado Oatmeal Date Almond Cookies

I have always been the kind of girl who dreamed of baking cookies and serving them warm to my kids with a glass of milk when they got off the bus from school. I imagine that this dream came from the fact that my mom and dad both worked really long hours to give us everything we could ever want. Believe you me, I did not want for much of anything because my parents did everything in their power to provide us with the only the best of what we all wanted as children.  

 

Will slowly start adjusting and playing with recipes to bake a little bit healthier. Today I substituted the recipe’s call for brown sugar and used muscovado instead, added lots of dates and almonds for Gellibean too… On the stovetop I have #smittenkitchen tres leches rice pudding and beef curry for later tonight for dinner. #MnMBakes #MnMCooks

A photo posted by Michelle Aventajado (@mommanmanila) on Mar 1, 2015 at 11:06pm PST

I don’t know. I think about it. I wonder if maybe my mom stayed home like my good friend Jen Flynn’s mom did, that I might have wanted more than being home to kiss my kids’ boo boos and bake them cookies. Mrs. Flynn would graciously pick me up for soccer practice, all too many times, I would end up eating dinner at her house, and like my mom, she prepared all of the meals for her family as well.

Even in my career choice…I knew that I wanted to have as much free time with my kids as I could…I would maximize that time by being a teacher. The difference is, here in Manila, I’m not teaching full time…I have the luxury of making my own hours between teaching kids yoga, and contributing to different publications and online sites, so I’m even luckier in than what my dream job was.

Let’s get back to those cookies…

Cookies are happiness to me. I especially enjoy them when they are yummy warm and chewy with little crispy edges. Serving cookies to my lils? That’s even better…I may hoot and holler when I see Gelli’s little fingers reach up on the counter to grab a warm cookie and run and hide in the dining room to eat it in front of the mirror…but truthfully? I know that everything is as it should be when I hear those giggles, see those fingers, and watch her scamper off with her bootie in hand…

I have been trying to think how I could make the cookies and baked treats that I have always made for my family just a bit healthier. I have been toying with the idea to take some classes to learn how to prepare healthier treats for the kids, and now with my new found wheat intolerance, I have been suddenly pushed in that healthier direction of looking for something new.

This is why I decided to take an oatmeal cookie recipe that I have made for years and just change it up a bit. This cookie recipe is actually very healthy already because of the oats 🙂 It’s one of my dad’s favorite cookies too, so when he’s around I try to bake a batch for him and split the batch between our two households. 

There are so many different ways you can change up this cookie. We usually like our oatmeal cookies with cranberries and almonds, but if Gelli needs them, I will substitute dates in the recipe for her. They have a natural sweetness, so cutting back on process sugared becomes even easier.

What I noticed is that the cookie becomes chewier with muscovado instead of brown and white sugar. But I also noticed that it doesn’t stay soft as long as the processed sugar counterpart. So, if you were going to make this recipe and you know you won’t be able to finish a whole batch in the first couple of days, you may want to keep half of the dough in the freezer and bake fresh when you are ready for some new chewier cookies again.

NOTE: This is a cookie I don’t feel guilty about when I give them to the kids…at all. AS IN AT ALL…(Ok maybe 3 cookies in one day is enough…but still…)

The original recipe calls for 1 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 cup of granulated sugar.

Would you believe me when I say that the kids didn’t even notice?

 

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