Yesterday was a rainy day and so I took the opportunity to bake some cookies and granola to have on hand for the coming weekend/week ahead. I have been using a lot of citrus in my recipes these days and made a Lime Coconut Granola and some Orange Cranberry Oat Cookies, both of which I have made before in the old house as new recipes that I had planned on sharing once we got moved in and got our internet hooked up. Craig has been out of cookies to take to work for the past few days, so I knew I had to bake.

This was the wonderful result:

 

 

I had Serafina as my helper. She climbed right up on the counter when she saw me preheat the oven and get my mixing bowls and measuring cups out.

 

 

It was a sweet afternoon as Serafina and I cooked and baked and Autumn worked on her fractions. We had Taco Casserole for dinner and the cookies to look forward to afterward.

 

Ingredients

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 2 cups spelt flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 heaping cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
• 2/3 cup sunflower oil
• zest of 1 medium navel orange (1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon orange zest)
• juice of 1 medium navel orange (1/4 cup orange juice)
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Add the dried cranberries.
3. Add the maple syrup, sunflower oil, orange zest and juice, and vanilla extract and mix until combined.
4. Shape the cookie dough into 2-inch round balls and press down slightly onto the baking sheet.
5. Repeat step 4 until all of the cookie dough has been used up.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until very lightly golden. 8 minutes was perfect in my oven.
7. Allow to cool completely before removing from the pan.

* I have really been enjoying organic stone ground spelt flour in my cookie recipes. I find that it makes for a softer texture. You can also use whole wheat flour in place of spelt if you want. I do that too, if I feel like a different texture, or if I am out of spelt flour.

 

 

 

I hope that you enjoy this recipe! If you give it a try, please leave a comment below to let me know how you liked it! 🙂

I included a picture of what it is actually like around the food photography above. I am just a real mom in her kitchen making recipes and taking pictures of them on my kitchen table. Autumn and Kesa tried really hard to prevent Serafina from stealing the orange slices as I quickly snapped some shots. I am glad I got a few good ones to share. She REALLY wanted those orange slices and it was our last orange!

Lovin’ Life! 🙂