Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies from Foodtasia

Maple Pecan Oatmeal Cookies - made dough August 26, 2023, modified from Foodtasia 

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats

1 1/3 cups (212 grams) all-purpose flour 

1/2 cup (37 grams) shredded, sweetened coconut

1 cup (240 grams) light brown sugar, packed

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup butter

5 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 tablespoons boiling water

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup pecans, chopped and lightly toasted

1 large egg if mixture is too dry

1. Combine oats, flour, coconut, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.
2. In a small saucepan, melt and brown the butter. Transfer to a small bowl and whisk in maple syrup.
3. In a small bowl, whisk baking soda into boiling water and add the butter mixture. Stir in vanilla. Pour into oat-flour mixture and mix to combine. Fold in pecans. If mixture is too dry and doesn't come together, beat in 1 egg.
4. Portion dough into golf-ball size dough balls. Flatten into thick discs. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough discs.
6. Bake 12-16 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from heat and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes. Transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

Okay, back to the cookies I've been baking for care packages for Soldiers Angels. If you've read my blog for any length of time, you know I'm against nuts in cookies. They steam and soften during baking and interfere with the texture of a cookie. With the rare exception of macadamia nuts in a macadamia white chocolate and/or coconut cookie, I just don't like nuts in my cookies.

But, since the world doesn't revolve around me (damn), I followed this recipe faithfully to include the pecans. And....I have to say they worked. I think it's partly because this cookie has so many other ingredients to add to the texture, like the oats and the coconut, that the nuts didn't interfere with the texture so much as add to it.

These were little bites of goodness that almost seemed healthy if you ignore the butter, flour, and sugar. One important note: the original recipe did not include eggs. But when I mixed the recipe as is from Foodtasia's blog, the mixture was too dry. Having had bad failures with too dry cookies, especially when oats were involved, I added a large egg to bind the mixture together. Otherwise it was too crumbly and I knew they wouldn't bake properly.

It's a good thing I did as you can see the results here. The cookies didn't spread much (not enough moisture) so shape them in the shape and thickness you want them to be when forming the dough balls/discs. If you want thinner cookies with more spread and your dough seems too dry, add another egg or enough egg white to get the dough consistency you want.