Whole Wheat Oatmeal Apple Raisin Cookies

My son's friend came over for a playdate and they decided they wanted to bake oatmeal raisin cookies. I was short on the raisins—not sure how that happened because we always have a huge stash—so I decided to throw in some dried apples. The kids found this to be hilarious, for some reason. But they also really loved them.

I adapted this from Smitten Kitchen's recipe for Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies; her stuff is always great and her blog is just fantastic. I made some changes: whole wheat and almond flour instead of white flour, less sugar, a bit more dried fruit. But I think my version is true to the spirit of hers.

Ingredients
yield: about 20 small cookies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1/2 cup Sucanat
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 T flax meal
• 1/4 tsp salt (I used some fancy vanilla bean salt I got as a gift: YUM)
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1/3 cup raisins
• 1/2 cup dried unsulfured apples, chopped small (raisin-sized)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, Sucanat, egg and vanilla. Whisk together the flours, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and ground flax in another bowl. Stir the dry mixture into the butter and Sucanat mixture. Then stir in the raisins and apples.

Smitten Kitchen chills her dough before baking, to ensure a thick cookie. I like mine a bit flatter and crispier, so I skipped this step and just went straight to scooping. Keep the cookies a couple of inches apart. Bake on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat for easy clean-up afterwards.

Bake for 10-12 minutes. Let them sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes before putting them on a rack to cool completely. 

Full disclosure: this is not my favorite kind of oatmeal cookie; I like mine super thin and crispy (and with chocolate instead of fruit. I'm naughty like that). But the kids loved these thicker, chewier, not-too-sweet cookies. And I was happy to give them a treat I could feel good about.