Iced Oatmeal Cookies

I copied this recipe directly from Smitten Kitchen. I'm going to say a few things here, and you're going to have to pretend like I'm not slightly obsessed with this website. First, I've never made anything bad when using her recipes. Second, she takes beautiful pictures and writes funny stuff in her posts-- both bonuses. Third, she does this cool thing where each post has what she posted that day one year ago, two years ago, etc, which is a really fun way to find recipes you might never see/ try. If you ever need something, but you're not sure what, just go to her site, type in a keyword, and you're likely to find one of your future favorite recipes.

All that said, since my blog is a pale shadow compared hers, one of the things I'm going to try to work on is getting pictures up with my recipes... but don't hold your breath.

Iced Oatmeal Cookies

Adapted from Good to the Grain

Unlike most cookies, where spreading is a cause for concern, here, it is encouraged as it leads to a thinner, lacier cookie. (More or less, you want to do the opposite of everything suggested here.) Because the condition of my baking sheets isreprehensible, I lined mine with parchment paper instead of buttering them, but unfortunately, this impeded the spreading a little. I’m sure you all have unblemished and lovely baking sheets, and therefore are encouraged to butter them, as the recipe suggests.

Aside from playing around with the flours, my other changes were to streamline the oat measurement to include the oats you can use to make oat flour. I added weights as well, but don’t use them for the alternatively suggested flours, as they may weight more or less.

Yield: 30 3-inch cookies (with a 2 tablespoon or #40 scoop), larger if your spread more

Butter for baking sheets
2 1/2 cups + 1 tablespoon (8 1/4 ounces or 231 grams) old fashioned oats
1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces or 65 grams) whole wheat flour
1 cup (4 3/8 ounces or 125 grams) all-purpose flour*
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoons (20 grams) baking powder
1 teaspoon (5 grams) baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt**
1 cup (8 3/8 ounces or 238 grams) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (3 1/2 ounces or 100 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon (2 grams) cinnamon
1 teaspoon (2 grams) freshly grated nutmeg (I used less, because I was nutmeg-wary, but wouldn’t have minded more)
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 large eggs

Icing:
2 1/4 (9 1/2 ounces or 270 grams) cups powdered sugar
5 to 6 (75 to 90 ml) tablespoons whole milk
1 tablespoon (6 grams) cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt**

Preheat oven to 350°F with racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Rub two baking sheets with butter. In a food processor, grind 1/2 cup of oats to a fine powder, then add remaining oats and grind them all together until it resembles coarse meal, with only a few large flakes remaining.

Sift dry ingredients into a large bowl, pouring back any bits of grains or other ingredients that remain in the sifter. In a small bowl, whisk butter and eggs until combined. Using a spatula, fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.

Scoop balls of dough about 2 to 3 tablespoons in size (I used a #40 cookie scoop, which scooped 2 tablespoon-sized balls) onto cookie sheets about 3 inches apart. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through. When tops are evenly brown, take them out and transfer them to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. Let cookies cool completely before icing.

In a bowl, whisk icing ingredients together until smooth. It should have a honey-like consistency. Drizzle the frosting over the cookies. Let the frosting set for 30 minutes (or more; it took longer at my place but by the next day, was fully firmed up) before eating. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to a week.

* The original recipe replaced this volume with a multigrain flour mix that worked out to 1/2 cup barley flour + 1/4 cup millet flour + 1/4 cup rye flour. If you have any of these flours, swap them in and reduce the volume of all-purpose.

** Saltiness of kosher salt varies by brand. I’d recommend 2 teaspoons if you use Diamond kosher salt, and about half as much if you use Morton kosher salt or another brand.

Ok, here are my (Emily's) notes: I used parchment on my cookie sheets because I wanted fatter, softer cookies and that is what I got-- YUM! Also, I used half or less of the salt in the recipes (for cookies and icing) because I was just using plain old Morton's iodized salt.