Alright Alright Aaaalllllright! This whole 2013 business is real. There’s no denying it. We’re seven days in… and there’s just no stopping this year from happening. That, in fact, is a total blessing.
January is such a strange month. I can’t be the only one that thinks so.
Half of my friends are majorly enthusiastic about their New Year’s resolutions. I am in total support of this… I’m just bummed that we can’t have drinks because they’re on a juice cleanse. Half of my friends are freaking out about Valentine’s Day, and I firmly believe that it’s a) TOO SOON, and b) we’re totally too old to freak out about that holiday. The last half of my friends (because I have three-halves of friends) are so majorly task driven that they’re emailing the world into oblivion.
In other words… help! Where is the room for cookies in this odd summation of friends?
I’m glad you’re here. Let’s just take this goodness in together.
ps. HAPPY (dang) NEW YEAR!
Truth be told, these cookies were just an excuse to buy white chocolate. As if I need an excuse.
In these cookies, white chocolate is combined with tart dried cherries and sweet, enticing maple syrup.
Pancake syrup will not do for these cookies. We’re talking about real-deal maple syrup. The stuff that comes from trees.
Old-fashioned oats and a hearty amount of cinnamon.
These cookies are homemade, salt-of-the-earth cookies.
Maple syrup adds a really lovely round sweetness to the cookies… different from granulated sugar,
It’s a round sweetness that feels like it comes from trees… because it does.
I like to guarantee that my cookies have white chocolate and dried cherry visible on the top of the cookie after they’ve finished baking.
For this reason, I add a chunk of dark chocolate and a single dried cherry to the top of the cookie dough before baking.
I appreciate a sure thing.
These cookies might be considered mega-ultras. The oatmeal cookies are crisp around the edges and soft through the center. The brown sugar and maple syrup give these cookies an extra rich flavor. The cherries and white chocolate are just icing on the cake… so to speak. If you’re not a fan of white chocolate and cherries, pecans and dark chocolate would bake an incredible substitute.
These cookies are miraculous straight out of the oven. They’re delicious a few hours after baking… a few days after baking… and they’re even a good cookie to ship across the country.
In other cookie related business, you might consider:
Dark Chocolate, Pistachio, and Smoked Sea Salt Cookies
and
Cappuccino Cookies with Espresso and White Chocolate
You know… just a (cookie) thought.
Maple, White Chocolate and Cherry Oatmeal Cookies
makes just over 2 dozen cookies
adapted from Big Fat Cookie Book
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned uncooked oatmeal
3/4 cup dried cherries
1 cup white chocolate chunks
Place racks in the center and upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon. Set aside.
In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, combine butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat on medium-low speed until thoroughly combined and slightly fluffy, about 3 to 5 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl. Add eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute between each addition. Add vanilla extract and maple syrup and beat to combine.
Add the flour mixture and beat just until incorporated. Fold in oats, dried cherries, and white chocolate chunks. Stir until thoroughly combined.
Spoon batter onto prepared pans by the heaping tablespoonful. Leave about 2 inches of space between cookies. Bake cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, or until beautifully golden brown throughout. Remove from the oven and cool cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from the pan and allow to cool on a wire rack.
Cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to four days.
Niki Barker
Where are the most recent comments?
Jess
These look delicious and I can’t wait to make them. I’m a maple syrup purist, so these are right up my alley. It seems like a lot of sweetness, though, with brown sugar + white sugar + maple syrup — do you think I could dial back the white sugar and still have a delicious result?
Coco
hi there, do you sift flour in the cookie recipes?
LOVE your site!
joythebaker
I don’t sift the flour. Not that serious.
Caterina
Major yum!!!! I used the dark chocolate/ pecan option and they are amazing – crisp on the outside and chewy with a nice texture from the oats on the inside. Perfect with a big cup of tea. Thanks Joy :)
Judi
OMG! I made these last week for a weekend trip to Tahoe with friends. We dubbed them breakfast cookies and they were a huge hit!
Sarah
I made these and they were excellent! Your printable recipe link isn’t working, though.
joythebaker
im so happy you made these! i checked the link and it should be working.
Tiffany
My sister has made these cookies twice in the past couple of weeks and they are simply to die for. Would love to try them with the dried cranberries or even the pecan and dark chocolate version. Definitely winners!
Niki C.
Just made these, and you are so right, they would benefit from good real maple syrup. I had just run out so used the fake stuff that I had, and they are still good, but a tad too sweet. Note to self: listen to Joy!!
Heidi - Apples Under My Bed
Such pretty words, joy. Pretty and genuine, with cookies. Thank you!
Heidi xo
Kristin
Made these the other day and they were delicious! The comment about putting a piece of dark chocolate on top of each one confused me briefly (assuming it is a typo) and then inspired me to use half white and half dark chocolate and I was very happy with that decision.
I did have some issues with my last batch spreading out too much, probably should have thrown the dough in the fridge while the others cooked.
Will definitely be making these again!
Bonnie
Yum! That’s my kind of recipe, with some of my favorite ingredients. And I always enjoy reading your blog; thanks for the smiles!
Madeline
YUM!
In the oven right now – I couldn’t find dried cherries at my local supermarket, so I substituted with cranberries.
I must resist eating the cookie mixture though!
DELISH!!!!
joythebaker
cranberries are equally delicious! LOVE!
Joelle (on a pink typewriter)
These are perfect for New Years resolutions – oats, cherries.. Healthy. ;)
a farmer in the dell
I am a sucker for maple anything! these look fantastic!
Chineka (savorthebaking)
Yum Yum…I’m definitely going to have to try these. White chocolate and maple syrup in any cookie is a winner for me!!! Happy 2013 to you Joy.
Stephie @ Eat Your Heart Out
LOVE!!! I love an oatmeal cookie, I love maple, I love all sorts of dried fruit up in that business…I must make these. STAT.
Spencer
Sounds delicious! I love a good cookie so I would love to try this recipe.
Shelly
My friend and I had a date to make cookies and she brought your cappuccino cookies recipe and I have been hooked ever since. Can’t wait to try these, I love oatmeal cookies.
Ana
Joy,
that’s ok, with fractions and all… my son once told someone that he was half American, half Mexican, and half Italian. The Italian friend he said it to was REALLY confused (which is hard to do to an Italian here in Italy, being that everything here is as humanly confusing as possible!) He (my son) was only 3 at the time though, so go figure!!
Bake on, girl… I LOVE your blog!!!
Rocky Mountain Woman
I was sure I would never eat a cookie again after the Holidays, but I think these look good enough to tempt me!
Amanda
these look delicious!
Christina
Great recipe Joy…have you been watching Kevin Hart this new year? Alright Alright Aaaaallllllright
Nelissa
Happy New Year, Joy. These look wonderful! I baked your Sugar Crusted Ginger Chewies and Lemon Almond Meringues for Christmas and they were a hit. Looking forward to trying these.
Erika
Now that is my kind of cookie!!!
P.S. I received your cookbook as a gift for my birthday, and I LOVE it! So far I’ve only made the yummy peanut butter rice krispie treats, but look forward to trying many more of your recipes.
bhavani
i really enjoy reading your blog, salivating big time over some of the goodies and have tried out some recipes! so thought would pass some of that appreciation along by nominating you for the “sisterhood of the world bloggers award”.
if you are interested, more details here: http://merrytogoaround.wordpress.com/2013/01/08/sisterhood-of-the-world-bloggers-award/
Anna
Love it! Thank you for posting a cookie recipe when everyone else is writing about salads and vegetables. I love the flavor combination here.
Cadence
Hi Joy, I love reading ur blog :) Cooking is a de-stressor for me. Could u do a post on a lemon curd cake pls? There r soooo many on the net but I haven’t found THE one. I would be very obliged. Thanks :)
anna
so glad to see a cookie recipe in january! cause juice cleanses, right? i don’t even have the heart for them til like, may. whoever thought of dieting in january thought a wrong thing. joy! you are like a virtuoso of ingredients! yeah, you get that special word. because these look amaaazing, and maple, white chocolate and cherry are three of my favorite things but i’m too dumb to ever have thought of combining.
long comment award.
Stefanie @ Sarcastic Cooking
Happy New Year Joy!!!! I like your thinking! There is always room for cookies!!!
Tracy
These look DIVINE!!! Happy New Year Joy!
Nikki
I have spent the last several days identifying cookies to make and freeze for a friend who is a new Mommy… of course I see this post only after I’m home form the store collecting all my ingredients.
Katie @ Blonde Ambition
So many of my cookies had white chocolate this holiday season (like, we’re talking half). SO good! These sound perfect…plus they’ve got oats and fruit in them so they’re pretty healthy as far as cookies go, right? :)
Kaitlin Welch
These look truly incredible. Just put them on my to-do list!
Annie @ Annie's Noms
Happy New Year! These look so delicious, I need to make them ASAP! A friend of ours went on holiday to the States and bought us some proper maple syrup back and I’ve been looking for something to make with it – just found it! :)
ItalianGirlCooks
Those are some real pretty cookies!
Sarah
These cookies look goprgeous. Chewy and full o’ chunks. Thanks for the recipe, Joy.
Michelle
I got your cookbook for Christmas and one of my goals this year to become a better baker. So does that mean eat more cookies is my resolution? That can’t be a bad thing.
Just added these cookies to the list of things to bake!.
Stafford
YEAH SO I’m making these. Stat. With the good stuff, maple syrup straight from the trees off our property! NBD.
Jade
Oh my goodness. These look to die for. Thanks for the recipe – I am glad you haven’t left out the chocolate/cookie/baking in the New Year madness. It has been received with thanks and eager eyes to try at reattempt these little treats!
Grubarazzi (@Grubarazzi)
IMO, there is always room for cookies. You can call this a detox cookie and your friends will eat it alllll day :)
Lauren
Oooh these look similar to the trail mix cookies I just made from your book (made four hit recipes so far). Except I added dried blueberries and pecans instead of the regular trail mix fixins, and just a touch of almond extract. Awesome recipe that could only be enhanced by maple syrup. I got your book as part of the Eat Boutique gift box… I’m wondering if that maple syrup would be good? Would you mind sharing what maple syrup you used?
Thanks for what you do, Joy. Happy New Year!
tj
…Ooo, I saw the words, “breakfast cookie” somewhere up there and I love that term! Seriously, cookies for breakfast?! Lordy take me now! *giggle* ;o)
…Def’ doing this cookie & thank you for the recipe Joy!
…And your friends sound adorable! And btw, never to early to be thinking Valentine’s Day…just sayin’. ;o)
…Blessings to you. :o)
Ashley @ Wishes and Dishes
Ahhh the perfect New Year cookie!!! Absolutely love it…
Ashley @ Yeah. We Bake.
Ooooh mama! These cookies look so scrumptious. You amaze and inspire me, Joy!
xo,
Ashley
Bethany Banakos
These look amazing and my little New England heart approves of the use of maple syrup as a sweetener.
by the way, I made the dark chocolate, pistachio and smoked sea salt cookies this holiday and had a very hard time sharing them with anyone!
Thank you!
Chris
These look awesome, and I have a huge tin of maple syrup to use up!
Question: I have left over cranberries from making your cranberry orange pecan loaf (the tastiest!). Can I use those cranberries in place of dried cherries, or will they be too tart?
Stoich91
3/2 of friends! OMGOSH that is my life; I’ll be counting something, and I’ll lose track of the math. I
“*half* the time I do this, half the time I do that, and the other half, you know, I’m doing something else.”
*blank stares ensue*
I feel like Reb Tevey from Fiddler on the Roof, “On one hand, but on the other hand…but on the *other* hand…but then on the other hand” and I’m like dude, how many hands do you have? lol :D
Anywhos, cookies and chocolate and Oatmeal to pretend we are doing this right…best way to start the new year! :D And yes, fourteen thumbs (who’s counting) up for real maple syrup…the kind that comes from trees…the only kind I eat. I am a spoiled, eat-only-from-trees kind of person, I guess. ;D
Geez Louise!
and then there are those of us who are sitting in extra large sweat clothes drinking way too much coffee, trying to figure out what to do first
Amy
The next time we hang out, there will be cocktails dammit!!!! These look effing amazing and now I just want to have a dang cookie. xoxo
Annie @ Annie's City Kitchen
Yum yum yyuummmmmm! I don’t use nearly enough maple syrup in my baking.
mary @ B&Gjournals
these look delicious and definitely plan on trying them out–but every time i make cookies they never seem to rise correctly, instead they spread out flat making large pancake like panaceas instead. any tips on what i could be doing wrong? thanks so much!
Seanna Lea
Do you think it would be going over the top to switch up and use browned butter in these?
Lauren
I was totally wondering the same thing.
joythebaker
if by over-the-top, you mean THE BEST IDEA EVER(!!!) then yes…
Kristin
Any tips on using browned butter when creaming like in this recipe? Brown it, then let it cool/solidify? Was going to try a similar substitution with lemon bars but wasn’t sure how to make it work right.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar
I want to dig into these cookies so bad right now. Yum!
Shushmi
Im with you on this. I feel Valentines Day is surely only relevant to people under the age of 19? No?
these cookies look deliciously chewy and yum – JUST the right thing for curling up on the sofa with a hot mug of tea and forgetting all about the January blues.
bakerkat
I say make both versions and have a cookie party.
Happy New Year Joy
Lindsay @ The Live-In Kitchen
I haven’t had maple syrup in a cookie but it sounds delightful! I always use the real deal on pancakes, I can’t stand the fake stuff anymore.
Lucy
Pancake syrup will never do. Signed, someone who doesn’t understand the lack of real maple syrup in households of otherwise good people
joythebaker
real.
Xella
I loved your introduction with yout three halves of friends, I loves the pictures and the recipe but you totally got me with “crisp around the edges and soft through the center”… Now I need one of theeeeese!!!
Abby @ The Frosted Vegan
Girrrrl I love that touch of chocolate and cherry in this business. This could double as a breakfast cookie, right?!
joythebaker
i would totally encourage you to make this (and every other cookie in the world) a breakfast cookie!
Jim
When my daughter, the one in new orleans, was 7, she said valentine’s day was her favorite holiday. “Cause you get hugs in your heart” the cookies sound scumptious. And I don’t know what do to with January. The gluttony sins of December have to be addressed. But there’s so much good food left. And all those cookies!!! so, enough, already!!
joythebaker
thanks for leaving a comment, jim! it’s always nice to hear from you!
Courtney @ I Am A Mess!
The flavor of trees? Why not! I love a cookie with some bark! Just kidding…real maple syrup can do no wrong.
Nelly
These looks amazing! I love the flavor combination of the sweet white chocolate and rich maple syrup.
I totally hear you on the whole weird January thing, it is such a non month, especially considering no one is back to work until 8th, then you have to spend an extraordinary amount of time listening to everyone’s Christmas stories.
is it February yet?
(Happy New Year!!)
Erin @ The Speckled Palate
I love that this calls for a ridiculous (and awesome) amount of maple syrup. Definitely putting these babies on my to-bake list.
Happy New Year to you!
joythebaker
it is a ton of maple syrup, isn’t it? awesome indeed.
JO
Just the thing to use up my nearly-empty bag of dried cherries. There goes the juice cleanse ;)
Chris
If you weren’t already my favorite person, you would be again!
NOMZ. Mos def.
Jayne
Healthy cookie. I like that.
Annes Kitchen
Oh boy, or shall I say oh joy/Joy?! These cookies mix all my very favourite flavours in the world, major yuuuuuum! I’d suggest having a nice tumbler of whisky on the rocks with it – to drink to all that your juice-friends are missing out on!
Kathryn
Pretty much the perfect cookie to start the new year with. Happy 2013 Joy!
Margherita
Loving the cherries + white chocolate combination, definitely a winner!
Averie @ Averie Cooks
I love all the flavors going on! I just made maple cookies with brown sugar and also love white chocolate in any form and no excuses necessary to buy it…I’m always well-stocked on it! Mmm, love the textures in these, too!
joythebaker
the texture is definitely over the top!
Angela @ the fairy bread chronicles
oh joy! i, too, agree totally with the “january is a weird month” thing. it’s just… awkward. like a creepy neighbour that you really don’t enjoy seeing but have to make smalltalk with.
THESE COOKIES OFFICIALLY MAKE JANUARY BETTER.
thank you for this genius!
Elizabeth
I love the light in the first picture. It’s like the cookie gods are shining down, bringing you these cookies!
Jess
I’m with you – let’s all just eat cookies and forget about all this New Year’s hullabaloo. Cherries and white chocolate are dreamy together in desserts- these look amazing!
Ravan
If you have any extras, you can just send them my way….. :-]
Naomi Liddell
Hey… question….
Do you think I could use fresh cherries in this recipe?
I have a ton of them in my fridge that are ready to go and thought I could salvage them in some maple, oaty goodness?
Thanks!
joythebaker
fresh cherries would have to much liquid for these cookies. i think dried is best.
Laura (Tutti Dolci)
Yes to cookies! Love these!