You know how sometimes you go through life knowing that something exists but never bothering to try it out? You're all going about your business thinking that your life is complete, and then something happens and you try that thing and you realize how horribly horribly wrong you have been? You know? Well that happened to me with tea. Not just any tea though, Organic Maple from David's Tea.
Now, I'm a tea junkie, and ask anyone who knows me, my tea habit has been "tea-tering'' on out of control ever since the advent of David's Tea (something my Stockholm neighbourhood is sorely lacking, but I'll be okay for a little while, thanks to the large quantities of tea I smuggled back in my extra suitcase). It's just that they have the BEST tea - it tastes as good as it smells, the selection is mind boggling, and the staff know their tea. It was one such staff member who thrust a tin of Organic Maple under my nose, and I thought, alright, I'll give it a try. I'll be honest, I didn't expect much from it, but oh man was I pleasantly surprised. By half way through my second cup (which was steeping before the first was finished) I knew I needed to make a cookie to go with this amazing tea.
Lets be totally clear; when I want a cookie, I want a cookie. I don't believe in trying to make a cookie into something that it's not, but I do believe in making an amazing cookie and eating fewer of them, or eating the entire batch in one go, as *may* have happened in this case, but just not doing that all that often. And honestly, it wasn't all that hard to pawn a few of them off on other people.
For those of you who have been using the sandwich system, these cookies would be a nice accoutrement to your packed lunch.
Make no mistake, this cookie is a cookie for sure, but it's a cookie full of amazing and natural ingredients you'll be happy to feed to your loved ones - if you decide to share any. I wanted the cookie to feature the same maple flavour as the tea had, which made maple syrup the obvious choice for sweetener. I did use some muscovado sugar as well, but you could lose it if you wanted a slightly less sweet cookie. A blend of spelt and all purpose flours mixes well with large flake rolled oats, walnuts, and raisins, if that's your thing. Speaking of things, I have a bit of one about raw eggs, and I'm not normally a bowl licker, but I made an exception for these. Don't tell anyone.
Maple Walnut Oatmeal Raisin Cookies Recipe:
This recipe made 30 large cookies. If you choose to make them smaller, reduce the baking time. Rotate the pans half way through baking to ensure the cookies bake evenly. These are best enjoyed while still slightly warm, with a nice cup of maple tea.
¾ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup light brown muscovado sugar
½ cup medium maple syrup
1 egg
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup spelt flour
1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
3 cups rolled oats
1 cup walnuts, chopped
1 cup raisins
Preheat oven to 325 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift together flours, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. Cream butter, sugar, and maple syrup together until well combined. Blend in egg and vanilla. Combine with dry mix, careful not to over mix. Stir in rolled oats, walnuts, and raisins. Drop spoonfuls onto prepared baking sheets, being sure to leave room for cookies to spread. Bake for 15 min, rotating sheets half way through. Cool on wire rack.
All text and photos © The Muffin Myth 2010
Rachel Meeks
So yummy !!! I added a cup of coconut instead of the nuts and whole wheat flour because I did not have spelt,plus cinnamon and nutmeg, mine came out a bit puffier,but amazing and very moist ,mmmmmm !
themuffinmyth
Glad they turned out for you! Coconut would be really tasty.
Cammy
And? And I ate the whole batch in 24 hours (had some help mind you)...
Evil Jenn
Mmm, I can't wait to make these! Are those pics with the new or old camera? It is amazing what a tripod can do!
themuffinmyth
Old! I'm still getting amazing shots with it. I took a free camera course that came with the new one, and learned I was right about needing a fixed lens . . . so hopefully a 1.8 50mm Canon lens is in my future!
Cammy
Have a batch in the oven right now, hope they are as delish cooked as they are raw!
themuffinmyth
And?
Dennis
I love oatmeal and raison cookies!! Recipe looks easy enough even for me ... and I might even lick the bowl.
Tara
So happy you posted this! (Doing a happy cookie dance!). And I just bought spelt flour at Costco today too:)
Linz
GREAT pictures KT. I love the tea cup and saucer, and the close-up of the cookie on parchment looks so good!
themuffinmyth
Thanks Linz! It was a good excuse to bust out some of my grandmothers bone china! Amazing what a difference a $9 tripod makes in photo clarity, there were so many good ones to choose from.