cream cheese filling | Delicious on a Dollar

Oatmeal Ginger Cream Cookies

These large sandwich cookies made their way onto my cookies-to-give list. The moist filling and the soft oatmeal cookie are both delicious separately, but when you put them together they become sublime. I chose to include them in my cookie collection this year because they are BIG, not some little dainty cookie that’s gone in two bites. (Although I love those, too!) I think guys will really like them because they’re “manly”.

These are generously sized cookies, with a cream cheese filling that has bits of crystalized ginger in it. (Did you notice what happened there? I found another way to sneak in some ginger. :P) The cookie part is a nice soft, oatmeal that’s got lots of spices in it. The oats are toasted in the oven before incorporating them into the batter, making them crispier and toasting the oats also brings out their nutty flavor. When two oatmeal cookies are sandwiched together with the ginger cream filling the flavors fuse and compliment each other so well. Mr. D. described them as YUMMO!!

The recipe expects you to get 12 cookies, but I must have made mine a little smaller, because I got 15 sandwich cookies, and they were plenty big for my taste. They are not low in calories, but I tried to reduce the fat and calories somewhat by using low-fat cream cheese. These are definitely cookies that guys will like.

Without the filling these are still very good oatmeal cookies, and I think the addition of raisins in that case would really enhance them.

OATMEAL GINGER CREAM COOKIES

Yield: Makes 12-15 sandwich cookies

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups rolled oats
These cookies are nicely spiced.
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
1 stick butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
Ginger Cream (recipe follows)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Position racks in the top and bottom levels of the oven. On a baking sheet, bake oats on the top rack, shaking the pan intermittently to prevent burning, until lightly browned, 10 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool, leaving oven on.

Begin by toasting the oats on a baking sheet.

2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and salt. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy….

Cream butter, sugars and egg.

Beat in the egg. Add the flour mixture, beating until just combined. Stir in the toasted oats.

This is a thick dough.

3. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Roll dough ( about 2 tablespoons/cookie), into balls, or use a #30 (1-ounce) ice cream scoop. For each baking sheet, drop 12 balls 2 inches apart. With dampened hands, flatten each ball to 1/2-inch thickness.

Flatten dough balls prior to baking.

Using the bottom and top racks, bake until cookies are lightly browned around the edges and set, 12 minutes, switching the baking sheets from top to bottom and rotating them from front to back halfway through baking. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes on baking sheets, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.