Grandma’s Spiced Oatmeal Cookies | Recipe

With cookies I often trust my Grandma’s recipes. And today I’m sharing these amazing spiced oatmeal cookies. They are truly delicious during the winter season. So exciting! I may be biased because this is an heirloom recipe, but these oatmeal cookies are just the best. Heartwarming, old-fashioned classic cookies for the soul.

The direct translation of my Grandma’s recipe for these golden treats is “Oat Cakes”. I believe in the UK these would be oat biscuits whereas in the US they would be called oatmeal cookies. I shall meet you all halfway & elaborate more on my Grandma’s magic to find the perfect balance for winter flavors. The oatmeal cookies have the perfect balance cinnamon, cardamom, and ground cloves. Let’s have a look at the recipe, shall we.

Grandma’s Spiced Oatmeal Cakes – an heirloom recipe

Grandma's Oatmeal Cakes

Print recipe

Makes/Serves: 18-20 cakes

Nutrition facts: 200 calories 20 grams fat

INGREDIENTS

• 200 g softened butter (lightly salted)
• 200ml granulated sugar
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp cardamom
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 eggs
• 600ml oats (do NOT use quick-cooking oats)
• 200ml wheat flour
• 2 tsp baking powder

METHOD

Pre-heat the oven 200°C/ 392°F and set up two baking trays ready with parchment paper.

In a large bowl, whip the softened butter with caster sugar until creamy. Measure all the spices together and beat them with eggs. Then, combine the two mixtures together. In another bowl combine oats, flour, baking powder. Fold in this dry ingredients mixture one handful at a time into the dough. Do not overmix.

On a lightly floured surface shape the cookie dough into a log and slice it into even cuts. Alternatively, you can hand-shape the dough all the way by rolling 2-3 tbsp of dough at a time to shape balls. Press the ball down when placing it on the baking tray but do not make it too flat. Use a cookie cutter for a cleaner finished look if you will. 

Bake the cakes in  200°C /392°F oven until golden (middle-rack approximately 8-10 minutes, do not overbake). Let the cakes cool on the tray before transferring them into the cooling rack. These Oatmeal Cakes are best enjoyed within a week, however, usually the cookie box is empty already within the first two days.

Recipe notes

Grandma only wrote down the ingredients for the recipe mentioning “(Really good)” in the end.  These kinds of cute notes are the best in handwritten recipes and old cookbooks – greetings from the generations past.

As a baker, though, Grandma listed all things in a straightforward manner showing the order of how to combine ingredients. Hence, it was easy to conclude how these cakes are prepared and the above instructions are conducted by yours truly. 

These cakes are actually from earlier autumn when I was not yet ready to go full-on gingerbread.  It also happened that I had run out of eggs and that’s a bit of a bummer when you live in the countryside where you have over 30 minutes trip to the grocery store.

If you ever find yourself in a no-eggs-situation, here’s a tip for you on how to substitute eggs in cookie doughs: plain yogurt and a pinch of vinegar to help the rising agent. Here I used 0,8 dl of oat-based yogurt and the cakes were as moist as they normally are.

Cinnamon, cardamom, and ground cloves warm up the soul which is why these have become my number one cookie choice for outdoor adventures during the cold season. I would love to hear if you tried my Grandma’s recipe so please let me know! 

Love, Saara