Friendly Kitchen Cookies are regular or vegan oatmeal cookies based on a recipe from a blog called The Friendly Kitchen. Alas the blog is no more, but the cookie recipe is still here on Cookie Madness. I tend to forget about this recipe for some reason. It's probably because I don't always have shredded unsweetened coconut on hand, and the unsweetened coconut is key to these cookies. It buffers the sweetness from all the sugar (which is needed for chewiness) and adds coconut flavor. That said, you can leave it out if you need to. The cookies will just be slightly sweeter.
Friendly Kitchen Vegan Oatmeal Cookies
Since the original cookies are called "Friendly Kitchen" it made sense to test the recipe with vegan ingredients. I tested with Earth Balance margarine and a flax egg and those substitutions worked really well.
The full batch version in recipe card form. The recipe below is a half batch. For oatmeal raisin cookies, add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and use raisins in place of chocolate chips.
Friendly Kitchen Cookies Regular or Vegan
4 oz unsalted butter (114 grams) or use the same amount of Earth Balance
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar (120 grams)
¼ cup brown sugar (50 grams)
1 large egg or use 1 flax egg (1 tablespoons of flax mixed with 2 T. water)
1 tablespoon milk, soy or regular milk
1 tsp. vanilla extract
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour (110 grams)
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. sea salt (if you’re using salted butter, skip this or just reduce to ¼)
1 ½ cups rolled oats (150 grams)
1 cup chocolate chips or use a handful of raisins and add 1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ cup shredded unsweetened coconut (40 grams)
Preheat the oven to 375 F.
Cream the butter and the sugars with an electric mixer until light. Beat in the egg, then the milk and the vanilla extract.
Stir the flour, baking soda and salt together and gradually stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until it’s incorporated. Stir in the oats chocolate chips and coconut (if using).
Drop dough, making 1 inch rounds, onto the cookie sheet, placing about 1 ½ inches apart so they have room to spread.
Bake on center rack for 10 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center.
Cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely
Yield will vary depending on size, but with a medium cookie scoop you should get about 22 cookies.
Recipe
Friendly Kitchen Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 oz unsalted butter, softened (230 grams)
- 1 ¼ cups granulated sugar (225 to 240 grams)
- ½ cup brown sugar (100 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoon milk soy or regular milk (30 ml)
- 2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups unbleached all purpose flour (220 grams)
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tsp. sea salt if you’re using salted butter, skip this
- 3 cups rolled oats (300 grams)
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 F.
- Cream the butter and the sugars with an electric mixer until light. Beat in the egg, then the milk and the vanilla extract.
- Stir the flour, baking soda and salt together and gradually stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until it’s incorporated. Stir in the oats chocolate chips and coconut (if using).
- Drop dough, making 1 inch rounds, (or scoop with a medium size cookie sheet) onto the cookie sheet, placing about 1 ½ inches apart so they have room to spread.
- Bake on center rack for 10 minutes, until golden brown at the edges and light golden at the center.
- Let cool on baking sheet for at least 1-2 minutes before moving to a wire rack to cool completely
Sue says
Made these today and liked them a lot!! I like that they're a little less sweet than the Frog Commissary cookies. But I have to say I liked those quite a lot too.
Anna says
I'm pretty sure a double yolk means "good luck". Glad you liked the cookies 🙂
Donna says
I made a half batch of these yesterday for a dinner party, and the one egg I was supposed to add had two yolks in it! So creepy. But the cookies were delicious even with the extra yolk. I added about a third cup of dried goji berries too, and they were a hit.
Carol A, says
Forget to mention, I also accidentally put the first tray in the oven without adding chocolate chips. I added them to the rest of the batter - but the coconut ones especially are also really, really good without the chips.
Carol A, says
I made these yesterday, with a few tweaks:
Flour: half AP, half white whole wheat
Sugar: 1 cup brown, 3/4 cup white
I split the wet and dry ingredients in half, and added coconut to one half and a chai spice mix to the other half. The spice half needed more flour, not sure how much I used - less than 1/4 cup, I think.
The coconut batch came out thicker, the spice half spread a bit but still thick and hearty. I can taste the coconut even more today (yes, I had one for breakfast :-)).
Great cookies, great texture! Hey, I guess my sugar tweak leans a little towards the Frog's Commissary recipe, so maybe mine are "Friendly Frog Cookies"?
Elyse says
Ooo, I can't wait to try these with the coconut. These cookies look thick and delicious. I love that they've got such wonderful textures going on. Man oh man, you're making me crave some cookies!