Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies with Blackstrap Molasses and Bourbon. Sweet cookies for complex palates.
I’ve said this a million times on this blog, but I don’t have the most attuned sweet tooth. Oftentimes sweet treats are just too one note for me, and they’re almost always too sweet. There are of course exceptions. I’ll devour anything with caramel or burnt sugar. Same with cherry or lemon desserts and anything with a savory shot of booze. In fact liquor is the best way (in my opinion) to keep just about any sweet treat from becoming too cloying. Oh, and pie. I never met a pie I couldn’t look straight in the eye.
Still there are plenty of desserts I just won’t touch. Marshmallows make my teeth hurt. Cupcakes are way too cute, Chocolate Chip Cookies usually make me yawn, and Angel Food Cake is always just too dry to bother choking down. Always. Well, almost always. Angel Food Cake can be saved by a big dollop of boozed up fruit– as long you don’t eat the cake.
Oatmeal cookies however fall into a different category altogether. Whether they are crisp-edged and barely flecked with nubby oats, or densely packed, fist-sized pillows of contrasting tastes and textures. Oatmeal cookies transcend dessert. They make great sandwiches when stuffed with mascarpone-cream or homemade chocolate gelato. They shine with simple ingredients like raisins and nuts, but have enough panache to balance bold flavors like toasted coconut, or even the most exotic spices. My mom made a buttery, toasted toffee version doused with enough cinnamon to make your tongue burn. So when I make cookies just to enjoy at home (ie not for the blog) I usually choose some variation of oatmeal cookie, and I don’t use a recipe. It’s hard to screw up an oatmeal cookie.
Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies
Actually, truth be told, it’s hard to screw up cookies– period. The key to cookie success is memorizing their essential proportion: one stick of butter to one cup of flour with one (optional) egg and about a teaspoon of leavening. Add to that some sugar. Any kind is fine. Use powdered, brown, granulated, maple, turbinado or palm sugar. You can even use fake sugar. Add as much or as little as you like, but my experience tells me 1/3 to 2/3 cup is about right. Salt is also variable, add it to taste, but don’t skip it. Once you’ve built this base you can let your creativity go wild.
I started with Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies and then turned to my pantry for further inspiration. The results are these Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies with Blackstrap Molasses and Bourbon that I’ll be guaranteed to eat. GREG
Hint: When I make Chocolate-Oatmeal Cookies (or any cookie with additional dry ingredients like oatmeal) I’ll often add a splash of milk or other liquid to adjust the consistency, for a cakier texture an extra egg works too. This is not always necessary with other types of cookies.
Look at you, performing aerial acrobatics without a net.…awesome! Chocolate chunks and molasses.…oh la la.
Your basic recipe is a good rule of thumb. I think of all sorts of recipes that way, but never cookies. Thanks for this. Oh, and I will take pie any day. And lemon.
Oatmeal cookies are the best! I love the idea of mixing it up with bourbon and molasses. My favorite thing to put in oatmeal cookies is dried apricot — so good.
These certainly sound good to me, and I applaud the booze.
Oh my these cookies look amazing! Not too sweet — thank god — the right amount of sugar for a regular-sized cookie recipe I agree is about 1/3 cup.
I really want to make these. As I was reading through the ingredients list I noticed that an amount of oats to use is not listed! How much should I use?
Pardon my omission of the oats. I used 1‑cup (or about 3 oz if you prefer weight). GREG
It’s just that you’re sweet enough. The molasses has me intrigued. I don’t like real sweet things either. I would love these.
Greg, these look perfect! I, too, don’t like overly sweet things and make everything with less sugar than usual. I also add alcohol to lots of things, but have not yet added it to my oatmeal cookies. But I’ll get right on it now!
When did you start making cookies? and the bourbon addition? YES!
You and I seem to have identical dessert likes and dislikes. I am particularly not find of cupcakes. But these cookies…have solidified my plans to bake tonight!
I have been baking cookies for too many years and now you tell me the formula? And as for not much of a sweet tooth, I would say these are very sweet, indeed! And thanks for the molasses. I just took some molasses muffins to a sick friend last night and she mentioned how she loves molasses. Sounds like I’ll be bringing her these next week!
Blackstrap molasses and bourbon — now that’s my kind of oatmeal cookie! ~Bijouxs
Gotta love cookies that can’t screw up! These look fabulous!!
It’s hard to screw up cookies without a recipe
IF YOU ARE GREG. 🙂
These look wildy delicious.
I will have to see about making some tonight!