Can you get someone fired by giving them cookies?
I’m not sure I want to know the answer to that… Because I certainly thought I did last fall!
In October, after perfecting the recipe for my toffee coffee cookies, I packed up a few in a little bag to hand to the hilarious college-age cashier with dreadlocks at Trader Joe’s. When I failed to see him on every one of my bi-weekly shopping trips after that day, I basically blamed myself for him losing his job.
A few months later, on a rainy Saturday morning in February, I sprinted through the downpour and into the store; picked up my usual bananas, spinach, and eggs; and hopped into the shortest line. As I waited for the girl to finish packing up the previous patron’s bags, I glanced towards the employee station — and there he was! Smiles, positivity, dreadlocks, and all.
Whew — he had just changed his shift!
Fast forward to a random Wednesday in July, and I happened to pick his line again. As I handed over my eight bananas (I eat one every morning with breakfast, so they disappear faster than my dark chocolate stash!), he asked if I planned on baking banana bread.
“I’m not sure yet,” I replied. “But I’m baking cookies this afternoon!”
“Will you bring me some?”
“I already did!”
“I remember — and they were the BEST cookies ever!” He turned to the shopper ahead of me and explained, “She’s the nicest person ever! I just asked if she’d bring me cookies one time, and she showed up, like, 40 minutes later with the best cookies!”
He continued, looking back at me, “I get off work at 6, so… If I gave you my address, would you mind dropping them off? I live just around the corner!”
Laughing, I agreed. But… I kind of forgot to mention that I needed to photograph them first. Sometimes people don’t quite understand the whole “food blog” thing.
“Wait, so you bake… And take pictures… Of everything? As your job?” is the typical response I get.
Sometimes it’s just easier to say that I bake for a living!
But anyway, back to the story… These healthy raspberry oatmeal cookies were the ones that I baked and shared! Incredibly soft and chewy, with just a subtle hint of spice, these treats taste like the epitome of summer from their sweet dough and fresh juicy berries. They’re also easy to make using common ingredients. You probably have everything you need in your kitchen already!
So… Are you ready to bake (and eat!) some cookies??
KEY INGREDIENTS TO MAKE HEALTHY RASPBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES
Let’s talk about what you’ll need to make these healthy raspberry oatmeal cookies! While developing this recipe, I started with the most popular recipe on my blog: my ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookies. Hundreds of readers have baked them, and they commented that those were the softest and chewiest cookies they’ve ever made… And that their families and friends couldn’t tell they were healthy. That’s basically the biggest compliment a healthy baking blogger could ever ask for!
I tweaked a few things from my original recipe to let the raspberries shine, but I kept many of the others the same. Here’s a rundown of the key ingredients that you’ll use!
Oats. Other than the fruit, the oats are the most important ingredient! You’ll use instant oats to make these cookies, which are also called “quick cooking” and “one-minute” oats. They’re not the ones that come in those individual packets with flavors like apple cinnamon and maple brown sugar! Just like old-fashioned rolled oats, instant oats only contain one ingredient… Oats! However, they’re smaller and thinner than old-fashioned rolled oats, which means they soften faster. That gives your oatmeal cookies the best moist and chewy texture!
Tip: To make these healthy raspberry oatmeal cookies gluten-free, then use certified gluten-free instant oats. They work perfectly!
Flour. To make these raspberry oatmeal cookies healthier, I opted for whole wheat flour. It has more fiber and micronutrients compared to all-purpose flour! My taste testers couldn’t tell… With how sweet and irresistible these cookies turned out, they assumed I used regular all-purpose flour!
Tip: If you’d like to make your healthy raspberry oatmeal cookies gluten-free, then see the Notes section of the recipe. I’ve included my top recommendations there!
Cinnamon. I love the combination of oats and cinnamon! To ensure the raspberries’ bright fruit flavor shone through, I reduced the amount of cinnamon compared to my ultimate healthy oatmeal raisin cookie recipe. That smaller amount provides the perfect cozy background warmth. Yum!
Unsalted butter or coconut oil. Just a bit! Unlike traditional recipes that call for ¼ to ½ cup (or more!), you only need 2 tablespoons. That helps keep your raspberry oatmeal cookies low calorie and low fat! Both produce the same soft and chewy texture, so use whichever one you prefer or have on hand. No need for a special trip to the store!
Tip: If you use coconut oil, then your healthy raspberry oatmeal cookies will be dairy-free!
Sweetener. Instead of refined granulated sugar, I turned to honey to sweeten these oatmeal cookies (and make them clean eating friendly!). Because of its liquid state, it helps them spread while baking, and it yields a really soft and chewy texture too!
Tip: If you’re not a fan of honey, then check the Notes section of the recipes, as well as my Oatmeal Cookie FAQ Page. I’ve provided alternatives there!
Raspberries. They’re the most important part! I prefer fresh raspberries, and I dice them into bits approximately the same size as chocolate chips. This ensures they’re evenly distributed and every bite contains a burst of sweet fruity flavor!
HOW TO MAKE THE BEST HEALTHY RASPBERRY OATMEAL COOKIES
Let’s cover how to make these raspberry oatmeal cookies! This recipe is easy and straightforward, but I still have some tips to ensure you bake the best possible cookies.
Measure correctly. To make sure your raspberry oatmeal cookies turn out extremely soft and chewy, make sure you measure the flour and oats correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. Do NOT stick the measuring cup into the container and scoop them out! You’ll end up with 1 ½ times as much of both ingredients, which will dry out your cookies and turn them cakey or crumbly. But if you measure the flour and oats properly, you’ll end up with the softest and chewiest oatmeal cookies imaginable!
Chill. Initially, the dough will be very sticky, almost like thick muffin batter, so chilling is mandatory! Chilling allows the oats to absorb some of the liquids and stiffens the dough. If you forget to chill, you’ll end up with one big cookie blob… So learn from my mistake and pop your bowl in the fridge!
Drop + shape. When dividing up the cookie dough to place on the baking sheet, try to drop them into rounded scoops, about as tall as they are wide. The raspberries contain a fair amount of water, which they release while baking, so the cookies spread a lot. Shaping the dough into taller mounds helps minimize the spread (so they don’t form that dreaded cookie blob!).
Bake. Because you’re using honey, which caramelizes at a lower temperature than granulated or brown sugar, you’ll bake these cookies lower and slower than many typical recipes, at 325°F. Do not over-bake them!
When you remove the cookies from the oven, they should still look and feel underdone — and that’s a good thing! You’ll let them cool for at least 15 minutes on the warm baking sheet, which allows the centers to finishing cooking through without the outsides turning crisp and crunchy. They’ll stay soft for an entire week, if they last that long!
(And yes, I did double check. It was pure torture leaving the container on the counter for a full seven days!)
Bright and fruity, these healthy raspberry oatmeal cookies may require some serious willpower to avoid polishing off the entire batch… Those cute pink freckles, with the oaty flecks peeking through, are just too tempting — and their extra soft, chewy texture makes them even more addictive! 😉
And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! 🙂 ) I’d love to see your healthy raspberry oatmeal cookies!
Healthy Raspberry Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (100g) instant oats (measured like this and gluten-free if necessary)
- ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120mL) honey
- 6 tbsp (53g) fresh whole raspberries, diced
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the coconut oil or butter, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the honey until thoroughly incorporated. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the raspberries. Chill the dough for 30 minutes. (If chilling longer, cover with plastic wrap, ensuring it touches the entire surface of the cookie dough.)
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper.
- Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops on the baking sheet. (If chilled longer than 1 hour, flatten slightly.) Bake at 325°F for 13-15 minutes. Cool on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack.
Notes
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Peach Pie Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Apple Pie Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Pineapple Coconut Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Apricot Oatmeal Cookies
♡ Banana Oatmeal Cookies
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy oatmeal cookie recipes!
Hey, so I just made these and am eating them right now. They are super yummy, but the only issue I have is that mine turned out with the consistency of a biscuit. Now I don’t have a problem with biscuits, but I’m trying to figure out where I went wrong. These are the things that I did differently (I just can’t see how they would change that much).
I used unbleached all purpose flour instead of whole wheat, I used Mexican vanilla extract, my eggs were straight out of the fridge, and I doubled the recipe.
Ok so apparently I have a problem following directions. 🙂
What are your thoughts?
I’m glad you’re enjoying the cookies Desirae! When it comes to the texture of cookies, the usual culprit is how you measure the flour and oats. Did you lightly spoon and level them, or did you scoop straight from the containers? I’ve found that when I do the former, I end up with over 1.5 times as much, which would really dry out the cookies and give them a drier biscuit-like texture. Do you think that might’ve been the case?
I just made these! Although they’re delicious they are definitely not chewy like your photo. They’re not dry but kind of “springy” if you will. I measured all ingredients like you stated. They basically stayed in the shape I scooped them out as. I even tried flattening some. I did double the recipe so I’m wondering if that might have been the problem?
I’m really sorry about that Samantha; that must’ve been disappointing! Normally when oatmeal cookies hold their shape instead of spreading and have the texture you described, it could be due to a few factors. Adding too many oats, using old-fashioned oats instead of instant (and not running them through a food processor first), not adding enough liquid sweetener (in this case, honey), or chilling for longer than 2 hours while leaving the cookie dough uncovered can all cause those issues. I haven’t tried doubling the recipe before, so I’m not quite certain how that would affect the cookies either. Does any of this help? I want to make sure we solve this so your next batch turns out perfectly!
My cookies came out muffin-y as well. Pretty frustrated, since I’ve made two batches now that turned out exactly the same following the directions to a t. I’m not sure what I’m doing wrong.
I’m really sorry about that Niky; that must’ve been disappointing! Normally when oatmeal cookies hold their shape instead of spreading and have the texture you described, it means that there are too many dry ingredients and not enough wet. This could be due to a few factors. Adding too many oats, adding too much flour, using old-fashioned oats instead of instant (and not running them through a food processor first), not adding enough liquid sweetener (in this case, honey), or chilling for longer than 2 hours while leaving the cookie dough uncovered can all cause those issues. Does any of this help? I want to make sure we solve this so your next batch turns out perfectly!
Yes! That’s exactly how mine are. I couldn’t think how to describe the texture until I read this post. I measured the oats and flour as directed, used a room-temp egg, did not double the batch, and made no substitutions. I’m not sure what would have caused the texture to be “springy” like this, unless my expectations were off.
I was assuming they’d be like Nestle Toll House Oatmeal Scotchies (my favorite cookies!). They’re flatter and crispier on the bottom and outside, but still soft in the middle. The difference there, I think, is that they have brown sugar in them. That helps them both be crispy and gooey in the middle. I’m not sure it’s so much a problem with the recipe here, but me not reading the description closely enough. I went back afterward and found “That won’t let them crisp up too much, and they’ll still stay soft for an entire week!” I missed those key phrases the first time through.
But I did notice that in the pictures and in the video your cookies are flat across the top, while mine are still rounded mounds. Do you have any ideas why that might be?
Thanks for the recipe, and thanks in advance for your suggestions. I look forward to trying this recipe again! 🙂
I’m sorry the cookies didn’t turn out how you expected Amanda; that must have been disappointing. These cookies are not meant to be crisp at all, just soft and chewy. If the cookies were rounded mounds and springy/cakey, that could be due to a few things. Too many dry ingredients in the cookie dough, especially oats, would lead to that issue since oats are like little sponges and soak up lots of liquid. Even when measuring them with the spoon-and-level method, be sure to use a really light hand! Also, if the cookie dough was chilled or baked for too long, that would lead to the springy/cakey texture. If you watch my video, that’ll show you what the texture of the cookie dough should be before baking. If your cookie dough is stiffer than the video, then you’ll need to flatten the cookie dough to about half its height so the cookies don’t stay as rounded mounds. The amount of juice in the raspberries will also influence whether the cookies spread in the oven. More juice = more liquid = more spreading. I hope that helps and your next batch turns out perfectly! 🙂
You’re probably right. I bet it was the amount of juice in the raspberries. I was so afraid they’d be runny that I probably didn’t put enough in. Do you measure the whole raspberries or chop them and then measure? I measured first so that I’d err on the side of fewer berries. That was probably my problem.
I measured the whole berries as well Amanda, but since some raspberries are firmer while others are juicier, that could affect the measurement. It’s okay to err on the side of too many for these cookies! 🙂 I hope that helps for your next batch!