Whole Wheat and Oat Cutout Easter Cookies

Easter is here and I’m once again tempted to make decorated cookies. I’ve said this many times before, that I don’t particularly like cookies.  I do however, enjoy making decorated cookies and there are plenty of examples on this blog. Check these out. This year I’m adding these Whole Wheat and Oat Cutout Easter Cookies to my collection here.

This time though, I’m more excited about the actual cookie itself than the decorating the cookies. I think it shows in the way the cookies look. The decorating efforts are less than perfect. My cookies usually have a better finish. This time my creative mojo seems to have taken a vacation.

I tend to avoid posting less than perfect food on the blog. You could blame that on the way social media is these days or my personal hang up with good food photography. This time though, I liked these Whole Wheat and Oat Cutout Easter Cookies so much that I had to blog them. In fact, I ate quite a few of them before I even got around to decorating them.

As I mentioned before, cookies are really not my thing. I would probably eat a couple if they’re not very sweet or chocolate or lemon/ lime flavoured. I decided to make these Whole Wheat and Oat Cutout Easter Cookies because they’re mostly whole grain.

They’re quite different from decorated cookies I’ve made before. These are made with whole wheat flour, a bit of all-purpose flour and coarsely ground rolled oats. This gives the cookies a very nice texture and nuttiness. I also added allspice to the cookie dough because I like spiced cookies. I think here it does cut into the sweetness of the icing.

The whole grain in it does not make it healthier or anything. It couldn’t with the butter and sugar in the dough. It does however make for very interesting sugar cookies that are different from the usual. I have, personally discovered my favourite sugar cookie recipe.

These cookies are not very soft but they’re not crisp either. The dough does not need refrigerating before you can roll it out. To my mind, that’s a plus because you can make these cookies in shorter stages. I like slightly thicker cookies so I roll them out to 1/4” thickness but you can roll them out a little thinner. Just remember you’ll need to bake them for a little less time. The cookies do not spread in the oven though, while baking. They need only about 8 to 10 minutes to bake. So I made the dough on one day, baked them the following day and decorated them after 2 days.

I chose to use Royal Icing with egg because it dries harder. I also didn’t need to go egg free with this recipe. If you are looking for an egg free sugar cookie and icing try this or this recipe of mine.

Whole Wheat and Oat Cutout Easter Cookies

Egg shaped Easter cutout cookies made with whole wheat flour, coarsely powdered rolled oats and allspice, and decorated with royal icing.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

Course cookies

Cuisine American

Servings 4 dozen

Ingredients

  

For the Cookies :

• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp allspice
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 200 gm butter
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Royal Icing :

• 1 egg white
• 1 1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted (more if necessary)
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Instructions

 

For the Cookies :

• Grind the rolled oats into a coarse powder. It should not be too coarse but not fine either. Sift together the whole wheat, all-purpose flours and baking powder. Keep aside.
• Beat together the butter and sugar till fluffy. Beat in the egg and vanilla till smooth. Add the oats, sifted flours, allspice, and salt and mix together into a dough.
• Divide the dough into two pieces, shape into flat discs and wrap in cling wrap. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes at least, so the dough becomes easier to work with.
• Work with one piece of dough at a time. Dust your working surface with a little flour and roll the dough out to 1/4” thickness. Using a 3” egg shaped cookie cutter, cut out cookies. Place them on parchment lined baking sheets. You can place the cookies close to each other as they will not spread.
• Gather the scraps and re-roll to cut out more cookies. Refrigerate them for about 15 to 20 minutes before baking. Bake them at 180C (350F) for about 8 to 10 minutes until they’re a light brown on the edges. Repeat with the other piece of dough.
• Let the cookies cool on a rack. They will crisp up a little once they cool down. Store in an airtight container till you’re ready to decorate them.
  

For the Royal Icing:

• Beat the egg whites till frothy. Add the lime juice and the icing sugar a little at a time. Beat till smooth and thick. This consistency should be good for flooding cookies.
• If you feel it is too thick, add a tsp of water and mix well. For thicker consistency, mix in a little icing sugar as needed. Colour portions of the icing as needed for decorating. Until then, transfer the white Royal Icing to a bowl, cover with cling wrap so it doesn’t dry out. Refrigerate till required..