When I was in college, a lady I worked for introduced me to steel cut oatmeal. Part of my job was to always pick up a brand called McCann’s, which was more expensive than regular oats, but more flavorful in her opinion, and with a better texture. I guess at the time I wasn’t eating oatmeal because I never bothered to try steel cut oatmeal. But for years after I was curious as to whether or not steel cut oats would work in cookies.
Or maybe not that curious since it took me 20 years to finally buy a bag! But I’m glad I did because I was able to make Steelcut Oatmeal Walnut Cookies. And just so you know, I bought Bob’s Red Mill brand rather than McCann’s, which I’m mentioning in case there are differences between brands.
I made a couple of variations on these. For the first batch I used 2 ⅔ cup of steel cut oats. The cookies were tasty, but a little gritty. All those steel cut oats were overkill. For the second round, I swapped out the oats for quinoa. It worked, but the flavor reminded me why I don’t care for quinoa. For the third round, I used a mixture of regular oats and steel cut. Success! The steel cut oats add just a little extra texture depth to the cookies without adding too much grittiness.
Recipe
Steel Cut Oatmeal Walnut Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups organic all-purpose flour (King Arthur) (190 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon cinnamon
- 8 ounces unsalted butter, softened (230 grams)
- ¾ cup natural granulated sugar (150 grams)
- ½ cup plus 1 tablespoon tightly packed LIGHT brown sugar (115 grams)
- ½ cup tightly packed DARK brown sugar (110 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- ⅔ cup Bob's Red Mill steel cut oats
- ⅔ cup dark raisins
- 1 cup toasted and coarsely chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Combine the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter until creamy. Add all sugars and mix just until blended, then add the egg and vanilla and mix until incorporated. Add the flour mixture by hand or using the lowest speed of a stand mixer. Stir in the oats, raisins and nuts.
- Using a generously heaping tablespoon, scoop up about 20 to 22 large balls of dough and arrange them on a cookie sheet or two plates side by side – no need to worry about spacing. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for a few hours or overnight. The texture improves if you chill the cookies longer.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking pans with parchment paper. Meanwhile, let the dough come to room temperature for about 20 minutes.
- Arrange the dough balls about 3 ½ inches apart on baking sheets and press tops down slightly. Bake one sheet at a time for 12 to 15 minutes or until edges are brown and centers appear set. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to wire racks to cool.
Jessica Briscoe says
Thank you so much!
Anna says
Hi Jessica,
I used traditional. These are very chewy and you may find the steel cut kind of hard. If you have steel cut oats you may want to try the recipe from BraveTart that uses steel cut, rolled and oat flour. I haven't tried them yet because I never have all three things on hand at once, but they are supposed to be great. http://www.foodgal.com/2017/12/bravetarts-triple-oatmeal-cookies/
Jessica Briscoe says
Does this recipe use traditional steel cut oats, or quick & easy steel cut oats? I have the traditional variety, and I just want to be sure they won’t be too hard in this recipe.
Taplee says
I usually just make one cup of the steel cut oats in water (as per the directions on box of oats) and then remove from heat and let cool for 15 minutes. Proceed with the cookie recipe.
Anna says
I haven't had a chance to try soaking the oats, but I'll bet someone else out there has.
Alison says
Hi Anna,
I had the same question as Karen - do you thinking soaking the steel cut oats first would help with the gritty texture? I bought McCann's steel cut oats in bulk and now several tins of it are sitting idle in my pantry. There's only so many bowls of oatmeal one can stomach for breakfast and I was hoping to use them up by making cookies. If soaking the oats isn't the way to go, do you think changing the ratio to half rolled/half steel cut would be too much? As you can tell, I'm eager to use these expensive oats up! Thanks for sharing your good ideas.
Karen says
Do you think soaking the steel cut would be an idea..or lose too much of the nutrients..although if u use very little water, then maybe woulndt have to drain any liquid off. With soaking might have to play with dry vs liquid a bit. i hope to get a chewy cookie rather then a crisp..humm
I bought a few bags of dried berries i want to use in the cookies...to add sweeteness and cut down on sugar.
Anna says
Hi Natalia, yes. That's right. Only it looks like when I put "dark" in it didn't save. It should be a combination of dark brown sugar and light brown sugar, which is why I have it listed twice.
natalie@thesweetslife says
I can't wait to try these--I noticed you listed brown sugar twice--is that accurate?
TG says
what a great recipe idea
Jennie says
Thanks for trying this recipe Anna! A friend turned me onto McCann's about 6 years ago. I haven't bought a different brand of oatmeal since!
Dee says
Sounds like you've given it a fair chance! I love steel cut oats so i'll try with those!
Anna says
Dee, I soaked it for about 30 minutes and drained it. The texture was fine (about the same as the steel cut oats), but the flavor was icky -- to quinoa-like. I just don't like the flavor of quinoa.
Dee says
Did you use the quinoa cooked or raw? Just curious! I made a vegan cookie with cooked quinoa & the uncooked dough was great, but after baking, the cookies were disgusting! I love quinoa, so not sure what went wrong there!
Kathleen says
I like quinoa, and it's so cool that you tried it in the recipe. You are such a creative and imaginative baker, Anna.
Sue says
I haven't eaten steel cut oats in years but I did like it. Have you ever made cookies with cooked oatmeal of any kind?
Chewthefat says
I hate quinoa! I feel so much better, saying that amongst friends!
The cookies look great--I know when people eat steel-cut oats, they often soak them overnight to lessen the grittiness because they are so heavy. I like the idea of a multi-textured oatmeal cookie.
Sarah Hill at Kendall says
I agree, quinoa is an acquired taste! 🙂
Anna says
Good call. The quinoa version wasn't terrible, just not my thing. I've been trying to learn to like it, though.
Cookie Sleuth says
The texture of these has to be great! I think I will stick with the steel cut/rolled oats version.