These buttery brown sugar cookies may be loaded with crunchy pecans and tart cranberries, but they’re all about the oats: rolled for the heartiness of a granola bar, steel-cut for a toothsome chew, and flour for a tender crumb. Pick up a bag of oat flour online or in stores, usually in the baking aisle. Whole wheat flour will do in a pinch.
Notes
Make ahead
Divide the portioned dough among several heavy-duty zip-top bags and refrigerate for up to 1 week, or freeze for up to 6 months. Let stand at room temperature until quite soft (about 70°F) and bake as directed.Mix it up!
- Apricot–White Chocolate: Tart bursts of chewy apricot, creamy bites of white chocolate, and buttery pistachios make for a sophisticated variation. Replace dried cranberries with 6 ounces (1 cup) dried apricots diced into ¼-inch pieces and swap the pecans for 5 ounces (1 cup) toasted pistachios, roughly chopped. Add 6 ounces (1 cup) white chocolate chunks or chips.
- German Chocolate: With chewy oats and crunchy pecans already in the mix, all you need is a handful of dark chocolate and coconut to turn these cookies into mini–German chocolate cakes. Simply replace the cranberries with 6 ounces (2 cups) sweetened shredded coconut, and toss flour/oat mixture with 12 ounces (2 cups) finely chopped dark chocolate, such as Valrhona’s 72% Araguani. Bake until lightly golden all over, about 15 minutes. If you like, drizzle the finished cookies with Chewy Caramel (page 306), cooled until thick but still warm. This variation yields 48 cookies.
- Trail Mix: To capture the salty-sweet flavor and crunch of trail mix in cookie form, reduce the butter to 6 ounces (1½ sticks) and add 2 ounces (a generous ¼ cup) creamy peanut butter. To complete the illusion, stir in 6 ounces (1 cup) M&M’s®.
- Gluten-Free: Replace the all-purpose flour with 2 ounces (½ cup) tapioca flour or arrowroot and 2 ounces (½ cup) coconut flour. Prepare the dough as directed, but flatten each portion into a disc prior to baking.
Raisins or Chocolate Chips: When using non acidic ingredients in place of a tart fruit likedried cranberries or cherries, decrease the baking
Ingredients
- 3 ounces all-purpose flour - such as Gold Medal (⅔ cup)
- 2½ ounces oat flour - such as Bob’s Red Mill or Arrowhead Mills (¾ cup)
- 6 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats - not quick-cooking or instant (1⅔ cups)
- 1½ ounces steel-cut or Irish oats - ¼ cup
- 5 ounces pecan pieces - toasted (1¼ cups)
- 6 ounces dried cranberries - 1 cup
- 8 ounces unsalted butter - soft but cool—about 65°F (2 sticks)
- 5 ounces light brown sugar - ⅔ packed cup
- 3½ ounces white sugar - ½ cup
- 1½ teaspoons Diamond Crystal kosher salt - half as much if iodized, plus more for sprinkling (optional)
- 1¼ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg - straight from the fridge
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and preheat to 350°F.
Combine the dry ingredients:
- Sift the flour into a medium bowl (if using cup measures, spoon into the cups and level with a knife before sifting).
- Add the oat flour, rolled oats, steel-cut oats, toasted nuts, and dried fruit. (Stored in an airtight container, this mix will keep for 2 months at room temperature.)
Make the dough:
- Combine the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment.
- Mix on low speed to moisten, then increase to medium and beat for about 30 seconds.
- With the mixer running, crack in the egg and continue beating until smooth.
- Reduce the speed to low, add the dry ingredients, and mix to form a stiff dough.
Portion and bake:
- Arrange thirty-two 1-ounce (2-tablespoon, #30 portion scoop) portions of dough on parchment-lined aluminum baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between them.
- Flatten into ½-inch discs; if you like, sprinkle each with a pinch of a salt.
- Bake until puffed and light gold around the edges but pale and steamy in the middle, about 12 minutes.
- Cool on the baking sheet until set, about 5 minutes.
- Enjoy warm, or store in an airtight container for up to 2 days at room temperature.