These Toasted Oatmeal Cookies with Toasted Hazelnuts are super chewy and soft, and the rich toasted flavor of the oats and hazelnuts will blow away your taste buds. With just a few simple and wholesome ingredients you can whip these up in literally no time, and I will share with you the secret step to achieving the ultimate flavor in your oatmeal cookies – toasting!
I wasn’t really planning on baking cookies and have not made any in a long time and as you can see in my archives, there are not a whole lot of cookie recipes at all. Well, that is because I am personally not the biggest cookie monster, I am way more obsessed with cake. Don’t get me wrong, I love a good cookie. Especially when it’s buttery, chewy, gooey, soft…. like these. But when we went on a family grocery store trip to Sprouts the other day and my husband showed up with a 2 pound bag of oats from the bulk section, he was like “Can we make oatmeal cookies and put them on your blog?” Hell yea! And I am not kidding, the 12 cookies were gone within 24 hours between the 3 of us. No joke.
Toasting
I used to bake a lot of cookies, especially oatmeal cookies, when I was in High School and College. But something I discovered way later in life was what a big difference it makes to toast the ingredients. This is such a crucial step that I need to highlight it. Toasting the oats, and the nuts, brings out so much more flavor and take your cookies to a whole new level. You might feel like skipping this extra step because, well, it takes more time and effort, but don’t. You will sacrifice flavor and texture.
What many people don’t know is that oats actually contain oil. Not much, but just enough to make them crunchier and their flavor more intense and nutty. As for the nuts, the toasting makes an even bigger difference since they have a significant higher oil content. Toasting releases large amounts of oils and therefore deepens their flavor, and increases the crunchiness of the nuts. Plus, they turn a deep golden-brown color and look much more appetizing.
- ⅔ cups brown sugar
- 1 stick unsalted Challenge Butter, room temperature
- 1 egg
- ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ cup hazelnuts
- 1.5 cups old-fashioned oats
- Place the whole hazelnuts and oats on a baking sheet and toast in the oven at 325F for about 5-10 minutes. Keep an eye on them to make sure they don't turn too brown. Set aside to cool down.
- Toast the oats in the oven
- Beat the sugar and the butter until combined, then add the egg and beat for about 2-3 minutes until light and fluffy.
- Add the flour and baking powder and mix with the electric mixer just until combined.
- Add oats and hazelnuts and mix well with your hands, until well combined.
- Place in refrigerator for about 10-15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350F.
- Roll the dough in golf ball sized balls and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart of each other.
- Very slightly press them down with a spoon but do NOT flatten them completely.
- Bake for about 12 minutes until the edges start to turn golden.
How do you toast the oatmeal – time and temperature?
Hi Janie, thank you for your comment! You actually toast the oats with the nuts together, that was a typo in the recipe, my bad! I’m so sorry. I actually just edited the recipe and appreciate you letting me know! 🙂
Ok, so I was going to make oatmeal cookies this morning and had a recipe picked already, and then this popped up in my Instagram feed last night. So I switched gears and made these instead and OMG. So good!! Thank you so much for the recipe!
Great! I’m so glad you liked them Julie!
These look just wonderful. I love oatmeal cookies, particularly sans raisins, so these are perfect for me!
Absolutely agree! Not a fan of raisins in cookies at all 😉