Today, I’m sharing a recent discovery: oat flour. It’s essentially finely ground oats that can be partially swapped with all-purpose flour in some recipes. While I haven’t tried grinding it myself yet, I did experiment with a small bag from King Arthur Flour. The result is a denser texture, similar to whole-wheat flour, although I found I much prefer oats.
These cookies are thick with a chewy middle and slight crisp edge. For a salty-sweet crunch, I added some chopped pretzels and chopped milk chocolate to the first batch and sprinkled the tops with sea salt. The second time, I opted for honey-roasted peanuts and swapped half the butter for peanut butter. I couldn’t decide which one was better, but my friends all voted for pretzel version. Make whatever kind you which, using whatever you have in your pantry. It’s a great, healthier alternative to regular chocolate chip cookies. Enjoy and happy baking!
Oat Flour Cookies Adapted from a King Arthur Flour recipe Makes a dozen cookies
¾ cup oat flour (or finely ground oats)
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1 stick (½ cup) butter
¾ cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ cup chopped pretzels
½ cup chopped milk chocolate
Coarse sea salt for sprinkling
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
• In a small bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the butter and sugar with an electric mixer about 5 minutes, until pale and fluffy. Then beat in the egg and vanilla extract.
• Use a spatula to fold the dry ingredients into the wet until well incorporated. Then stir in the chopped pretzels and chocolate.
• Drop large tablespoons of dough onto the baking sheets and sprinkle each cookie with sea salt. Bake 12 to 15 minutes until lightly golden brown. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
This article appears in May 2014.