Oatmeal Zingers

Oatmeal ZingersLooking for a cookie recipe for your chocolate-hating friends (yeah, those people DO exist!)? This oatmeal cookie recipe has half the fat of regular cookies and is chock-full of yummy things like dried cranberries, pecans and oats.

#Oatmealcookies--only with a zing! Click To Tweet

Preheat oven to 350˚

1 c. butter or coconut butter
2 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 c unsweetened applesauce
4 eggs
1 Tbs. baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 c whole-wheat flour
6 c whole rolled oats
1/4 c. orange zest (grate the peel of a large orange using the smallest holes on your grater)
1/4 c. flax meal (optional–it never hurts to add more good things to a cookie!)
1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans
1 1/2 cups of dried cranberries, chopped into smaller pieces

Beat the butter or coconut butter until it is fluffy. Add the brown sugar and the applesauce and beat for another minute. Add the eggs, baking soda, salt, and vanilla extract and beat for a minute. Mix in the flour, oats, flax meal, and orange zest and beat again until the dry ingredients are incorporated. Stir in the pecans and dried cranberries.

Place by tablespoon (or, if you’d like giant cookies, use a 1/2 cup ice-cream scoop) on a lightly greased/non-stick or Silpat-covered cookie sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes.

©2014 Anita Ojeda