One thing I really get sick of is googling “honey cookie recipe” and finding recipes loaded with sugar and a tablespoon or two of honey added. The point is, I want only honey for a sweetener. I could easily walk around glued to an IV of pure sugar and be happy – and addicted. Honey does not have the same addictive quality as sugar as far as I am concerned.
So, I came across a recipe at last at Amy’s Healthy Baking blog. I am totally delighted. No, they are not super sweet, but they are soft and chewy. I think my cookies came out a bit less soft than hers, but part of it is my oven – it tends to run hot – or cold – depending on its mood and time of month. She says 325F – and mine was up to 347 and 364 at times. I’ll get it down. The other issue could be I didn’t weigh my ingredients, but just did a rough measure. As a result, it could be my dry ingredients were in greater quantity than she calls for. But who cares? The results are tasty! I added walnuts, too, and more raisins, but I am something of glutton in that regard.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 cup (100 g.) instant oats (I used a mixed oat hot cereal mix that I have been eating up)
- ¾ cup (90g) white flour (you can use whole wheat, gluten free, etc.)
- 1 ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 ½ tsp. cinnamon
- 1 tsp. nutmeg, mace, allspice, cloves, or any combo thereof
- ⅛ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) coconut oil or unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup (120mL) honey (could use maple syrup or agave, too)
- 1/3 – 1/2 c. raisins, rehydrated
- 1/2 c. chopped walnuts
INSTRUCTIONS
- Whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter or coconut oil, egg, and vanilla. Stir in the honey or agave. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Fold in the raisins. Chill the cookie dough for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 325°F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone mat
- Drop the cookie dough into 15 rounded scoops onto the prepared sheet, and flatten slightly. Bake at 325°F for 7-9 minutes if your oven runs hot; 11-14 per Amy if your temperature is spot on. Cool on the pan for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Yield: 14-15 cookies
Notes
I highly recommend you go to Amy’s page – link is above – to get specific info. I need to work a bit on this recipe, but it is a keeper in my opinion. It is a real cookie! So much could be done with it, too, as a basis for other cookies, too. The lack of sweetness may need a slight increase in salt to round out the flavor. Also, I didn’t chill the dough.
I did test cookies, too. The first two were baked for 10 minutes. They held together well and were nicely browned, but not as soft as I might like. The second round were baked for 7 minutes. As per Amy’s instructions, I let them sit on the pan for 10 minutes before removing to the wire rack. They seem a bit raw in the middle, and are crumblier than I would like in a cookie. Maybe 8 minutes would be better.
Using honey seems to mean needing a lower cooking / baking temperature, and perhaps a longer cooking time, too. Mine were dryer and my oven was variable, so the results were different – but still delicious.
At last, a cookie sweetened only with honey!
Ink, Yarn & Beer 
This goes on my to-do list.
The cookies are pretty good – kind of moister as the day passes. The recipe page says to refrigerate them, so in they go to see how they fare. This recipe is a maverick from most cookies, obviously, but I think it is a real keeper. Not a lot made in a single batch, which means you aren’t going to have 50 cookies just calling your name!
Honey, on its own, will attract and absorb moisture from the air. That can create storage trouble for honey based baked goods. They can get soggy. The solution is either refrigeration (because cold air won’t hold as much moisture) or storage in an airtight container.