Havenly Healthy Oatmeal Cookies
This recipe was created through much trial and error from one of my co-workers. She and her husband have been tweaking the recipe over the year and the cookies are so yummy and healthy!
Makes about 4 doz. (and I usually double the recipe - they freeze wonderfully)
1 cup butter or margarine (2 sticks softened in microwave for 30 seconds)1/2 cp splenda brown sugar (firmly packed)1/4 cp granulated sugar (this makes them brown)1/4 cp regular Splenda2 eggs1 tsp vanilla1 tsp Artificial Butter FlavoringCombine these 3 together:1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour1 tsp baking soda1/2 tsp salt1 1/2 cups Quaker Oats old fashion, uncooked (adds texture)1 1/2 cups Quaker Oats quick cooking, uncooked (makes them smoother)1 cup white chocolate chips 1 cup dried cranberries (you could use raisins but Rick hates them, loves cranberries, go figure)1 cup nuts (chopped pecans or walnuts)
Couple of notes here: 1. For the dried cranberries, I put them in a dish and pour boiling water over them and let them sit while I mix everything up, then I drain the hot water and press gently with a paper towel to remove excess water. (makes them wonderfully chewing and not dried out).2. Also, for the holidays, I put 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of red/green white chocolate chips and they are just beautiful for the season.1. Preheat oven to 350 F2. Beat with mixer together butter and sugars until creamy.3. Add eggs and vanilla and butter flavoring, beat well.4. Add combined flour, soda, and salt, mix well using a spatula.5. Stir in oats and chips/nuts.6. Drop by slightly rounded tablespoonfuls onto greased cookie sheet.7. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. (depends on how rounded you make them ;-)8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet; remove to wire rack.
