When asked what is the best cookie of all time, most people say chocolate chip cookies, so I feel like oatmeal raisin cookies get a bad rep for being boring and bland. This classic gets an over-due makeover into a crispy, chewy brown-buttered Crispy Oatmeal Date cookies – filled with dates (a whole level-up from raisins). Using Sarah Keiffer’s legendary pan-banging method for extra-large ripply cookies, this cookie won’t be labeled “boring” ever again!
How to Make Crispy Oatmeal Date Cookies
What makes these cookies DELICIOUS are the toasted oats and browned butter, here are the details. First toast the certified gluten-free oats until golden brown, and brown the butter in a saucepan. To brown the butter, melt the butter and cook over low heat until a dark caramel color. (You’ll know it’s ready, because it will smell of rich nutty greatness!) To make the cookie dough, first whisk all the dry ingredients together. Then in another bowl combine the sugars and browned butter. Whisk in the egg and vanilla extract before folding in all the dry ingredients and chopped dates. Chill the dough for 5-10 minutes until it can hold it’s shape when scooped. Then bake for 16-17 minutes using the pan-banging method before enjoying!
What Ingredients Do I Need for these Crispy Oatmeal Date Cookies?
Dates: Splurge and get high quality dried dates. These incorporate the best when finely chopped.
Oats: For a true gluten-free recipe, make sure your oats are certified gluten-free. For the best texture, choose large flakes of old-fashioned oats.
Gluten-free Flour: Truly the base of this recipe, use your favourite gluten-free flour. I use Bob’s Red Mill gluten-free flour.
Cinnamon, Maple Syrup & Nutmeg: To bring out the flavours of the toasted almond and browned butter.
Unsalted Butter: Brown-butter = heavenly goodness. Browned plant-based butter is JUST AS GOOD as the dairy version. TRUST ME!
Light Brown Sugar: Why light brown sugar? The darker a sugar is the more moisture content it has. In this recipe, we want the cookies to be light and crisp, i.e. light brown sugar.
Granulated Sugar: What makes this cookie AMMMMAZING are those crispy ripples. Those are made possible by the higher ratio of white sugar to brown. Yielding a crispy cookie verses a puffy moist cookie.
Egg: Just one egg for richness.
Chopped semi-sweet chocolate (optional): For an extra oomf, add a 6 oz of your favourite chocolate.
What is the Pan-Banging Method?
The Pan-Banging method is just what is sounds like. While the cookies are baking in the oven, the pan is banged or “dropped” onto the oven rack multiple times so the cookie dough ripples outwards while the center remains puffed and gooey. Here are some tips for pan-banging success!
Larger cookies = Larger ripples: I recommend using a cookies scoop no smaller than 2 ounces or they won’t spread and crinkle as much.
Less is more: If you decide to add chopped chocolate to these cookies, make sure they (and the dates) are chopped finely or the cookie won’t spread as easily.
Not too cold: If the cookie dough is rock hard frozen when baked, the center of the dough won’t puff up. Chill the cookie dough until it can be scooped without pooling once placed on the pan.
Completely cool: Let the cookies cool on the baking pan for 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to ensure the ridges set and don’t break.
How to Store these Crispy Oatmeal Date Cookies
These cookies taste the best 24 hrs ofter being baked. Strange, I KNOW! but it seems like the flavour intensify. Store these cookies in an airtight container to last 1 week.
Looking to bake ahead? The cookie dough can be made and chilled for 24 hrs in the fridge. When ready to bake, scoop and portion the cookies, but let them come to room temperature before baking (you should be able to easily press into the dough, leaving an imprint).
The cookie dough doesn’t bake as well when frozen for long periods of time, so freeze for a maximum of 3 days before baking (making sure to bring to room temp).
I hope you enjoy these crispy oatmeal date cookies as much as I do! See you next week!
Sharon
Crispy Oatmeal Date Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (100g) certified gluten-free oats toasted
- 1/2 cup + 3 tbsp (108g) gluten-free flour
- 1/2 tsp (2g) salt
- 1/2 tsp (2g) baking soda
- 1 tsp (4g) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp (2g) ground nutmeg
- 7 tbsp (98g) plant-based butter
- 1/8 cup (21g) brown sugar
- 6 tbsp (65g) granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp (30ml) maple syrup
- 1 medium egg
- 1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract
- 2 cup (450g) dates pitted and chopped into small pea-sized pieces
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate (optional) chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425°F. Spread the oats in an even layer on a rimmed baking tray and toast for 4-5 minutes or until lightly golden and with a nutty smell.
- In a small saucepan, brown the butter by melting the butter over low heat until it is a dark caramel colour. Turn-off the heat and let the butter cool until the side of the pot can be touched without burning fingertips.
- Reduce the oven temperature to 350°F. Line 2 rimmed baking pans with parchment paper.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, oats, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the browned butter, granulated and brown sugar. Using either a stand mixer or hand mixer, beat the mixture until all the sugar is dissolved. Add the egg and vanilla extract and beat until fully combined.
- Add the flour/oat mixture and combine by folding with a spatula until only a few flour streaks remain. Add the chopped dates and fold until the dates are evenly incorporated into the batter. The batter is ready to be baked if when pushed together, holds and has consistency of warm thick toffee candy. *If the batter is too wet, refrigerate the batter for 5-10 minutes before scooping.
- Using a 2-oz. ice cream scoop, portion cookies and place 6 on each sheet spaced 3 inches apart. Do not flatten; cookies will spread as they bake.
- Bake cookies for 5 minutes or until the outer edges have pooled and the center is puffed up. Lift the side of the baking pan up about 4 inches and gently let it drop down on the oven rack, so the edge of the cookies set and the center falls back down. After 2 minutes, and the cookies puff up again, repeat the lifting and dropping of the pan. Repeat every 2-3 minutes for a total bake time of 16 -17 minutes or until the edges of the cookies have spread and are golden brown, but the centers are still slightly gooey.
- Let the baking sheet cool for 5-10 minutes before removing the cookies from the pan onto a wire rack to completely cool.
Notes
- The longer the batter sits before baking, the more firm the batter will be, and the less likely it will spread a lot.
- Let the cookies cool most of the way on the baking tray before removing to the rack or they will break.
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