maple walnut oatmeal raisin cookies

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