Hi everybody!  Excited to be sharing one of our favorite family recipes today.  For the past few years, I have struggled to come up with good snack ideas for my kids.  For a while, we did ham sandwiches — then, my kids stopped eating them.  We switched to cheese sandwiches — my kids ate them for a while and then lost interest.  We switched to almond butter sandwiches — a no go.  I fought the temptation of just buying cakes, sweet croissants or ice creams after school (other than on special occasions) since I didn’t want my kids to get into the habit of having so much sugar and it was draining my wallet to put down the cash for that every day.  My search continued…

After much trial and error, I settled on this modified version of the traditional Quaker oatmeal cookies I grew up on.  We substitute organic oats, sugar and whole wheat flour, and rather than raisins, we add chocolate chips.  We also bag the cinnamon since that to me goes better with raisins.  One less ingredient to worry about it.  My kids love them and we now bake them every week since otherwise, there is nothing good for snack!  It’s a winning proposition.

Oatmeal is such a healthy food.  I love knowing that via oatmeal desserts like this, that my kids are getting something nutritious.  And the good part is that healthy oatmeal desserts like this one when they are made with good ingredients are yummy enough not to taste too healthy.   So when your kids are craving a sweet when you want them to have a healthy afternoon snack, a recipe like this could be your answer!  Baking the cookies is also a lot of fun and something my kids look forward to.

So, with all that being said, I hope y’all will try these and please comment below and share you family’s favorite oatmeal recipes, cookie recipes, or other ideas for after school snacks!

INGREDIENTS:

• • • 1/2 Cup(s) (1 stick) plus 6 tablespoons unsalted organic butter, softened
  • • 1/2 Cup(s) firmly packed organic brown sugar (I use less than the traditional recipe)
  • • 1/2 Cup(s) organic granulated sugar
  • • 2 large eggs
  • • 1 Teaspoon(s) organic vanilla
  • • 1-1/2 Cup(s) all-purpose organic whole wheat flour
  • • 1 Teaspoon(s) organic Baking Soda
  • • 1/2 Teaspoon(s) sea salt (instead of processed salt — healthier) 
  • • 3 Cup(s) organic oats (uncooked)

PREPARATION:

Heat oven to 350°F. In large bowl, beat butter and sugars on medium speed of electric mixer until creamy. Add eggs and vanilla; beat well. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Add oats and raisins; mix well. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.  (I store in glass containers b/c I try to avoid plastic).

So, I hope you guys will try our healthy oatmeal cookies and that you like them!

Please feel free to comment with your family’s favorite dessert and thank you so much for reading.

Melissa xx