A healthy lifestyle is all about balance. While we believe it's essential to fill your diet with whole foods like fruits and vegetables, we also love enjoying a sweet dessert now and then. So if you want to combine your love of healthy food with your love for sweets, we're here to help. Oatmeal cookies are the perfect way to use nutritious ingredients like oats and protein powder to create mouthwatering desserts. Continue scrolling for six tasty oatmeal cookie recipes that you can begin baking today.

What Is Oatmeal?

Before diving into the sweet world of oatmeal cookies, let's first talk about oatmeal. Oatmeal is made from ground, steel cut or rolled oat groats. First, the seeds of the oat plant are removed and dehulled. Then they are then cut into small pieces (steel cut oats) flattened (rolled oats) or ground (Scottish oats). These oats are then combined with a liquid like water or milk and heated and eaten as a porridge. Oatmeal has been around for thousands of years and continues to be a popular breakfast dish today.

The Benefits of Oats

Oats are a highly nutritious food, and working them into your diet has many benefits. From improved digestion to a boost in energy, here are just a few of the many reasons we love baking with oats.

Oats Are Loaded with Nutrients

Oats are a highly nutritious food. They're loaded with complex carbohydrates, fiber, protein and fats essential to a healthy diet and lifestyle. Oats also contain significant amounts of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, making them one of the most nutrient-dense foods available.

Oats Are Good for Digestive Health

Oats are a source of dietary fibera vital nutrient for good gut health. Fiber works to add bulk to stool and promotes regularity. It is also used as food for good gut bacteria and facilitates a healthy digestive system.

Oats Are Filling

Oats are an excellent breakfast food and are filling in nature. They're full of beta-glucan, a nutrient that, when consumed, can increase your feelings of fullness by delaying the time it takes your stomach to empty of food. These feelings of satiety can help prevent you from over-snacking or reaching for a candy bar in-between meals.

Oats Are Great for Athletes

Oats are a source of complex carbs and protein, which the body uses for energy. Therefore, enjoying oats before high activity levels can help boost metabolism and performance during exercises.

Using Oats in Dessert Recipes

Oats can be used in several recipes. Traditionally, oats were used to create a porridge-like dish called oatmeal. Now, oats are also used to make granola and added to baked goods. Adding oats to your dessert recipes is an excellent way to boost the texture and enhance the overall nutrition of your meal.

Easy Oatmeal Cookie Recipes

Eager to learn how you can turn oats into a delicious dessert? Check out these easy oatmeal cookie recipes for inspiration.

Old Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookie

Take your favorite dessert to the next level by drizzling a bit of icing on the top of it. This Old Fashioned Iced Oatmeal Cookie Recipe features tasty oatmeal cookies dipped in a sweet glaze. They're easy to make, versatile and the perfect after-school treat. To make these cookies, we use our favorite oatmeal cookie recipe made with Quick Cooking Rolled Oats and Unbleached White All Purpose Flour. We then dip the cookies into a delicious glaze or use them un-iced to create ice cream sandwiches.

Maple Glazed Oatmeal Cookie Sticks

A fun spin on traditional oatmeal cookies, these Maple Glazed Oatmeal Cookie Sticks are an enjoyable snack for children and adults. Their unique shape makes them easy to handle and pack into a lunch box, and their sweet flavor is nearly irresistible. Old Fashioned Rolled Oats are used in this recipe alongside our Unbleached White All Purpose Flour to create a chewy cookie texture that everyone loves. These cookies are the perfect way to sneak whole grain foods like oats into your family's diet without anyone ever noticing.

Oatmeal Cookies

A classic oatmeal cookie recipe is one that everyone should have in their recipe book. People of all ages love oatmeal cookies, and when made to perfection, they can be the star of the dessert table. Make a plate of these classic Oatmeal Cookies if you're searching for a cookie recipe that the entire family will enjoy biting into. Made with our Old Fashioned Rolled Oats and sweetened with brown sugar, they're a sweet and filling dessert that will satisfy your sweet cravings. To make these cookies even better, pulse or chop the oats beforehand and create a cookie that starts fresh-tasting for longer.

Spiced Oatmeal Cookie Booster

This unique take on a cookie recipe takes all of the ingredients you'd typically find in cookies and blends them into a nutritious, delicious on-the-go shake. From spices like cinnamon and nutmeg to ingredients like Old Fashioned Rolled Oats and Almond Protein Powder, this Spiced Oatmeal Cookie Booster leaves nothing out when recreating the great taste of oatmeal cookies. Prepped in just five minutes, it's the ideal healthy breakfast when you are running short on time.

Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies

Are you baking a batch of cookies for friends and family members who are gluten free? These Gluten Free Oatmeal Cookies are sure to leave them impressed. They're made with our Gluten Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour, which takes the guesswork out of gluten free baking and allows you to focus on creating a perfectly baked cookie. In addition, the use of Gluten Free Old Fashioned Rolled Oats ensures that this recipe remains gluten free and is safe for people with celiac disease to enjoy.

Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins

A freshly baked cookie is the perfect way to surprise dinner guests. For a classic cookie that everyone is bound to love, make these Oatmeal Cookies with Raisins. They're soft, chewy and high in fiber, as well as an excellent sweet treat to serve up alongside ice cream. In this recipe, flours like Organic Coconut Flour, Brown Rice Flour and Tapioca Flour and combined with Gluten Free Old Fashioned Rolled Oats to create the perfect cookie texture while keeping this recipe gluten free. These cookies are irresistible and sweetened with palm sugar, agave nectar and raisins.

Cookie Making Tips

Before making one of the above cookie recipes for yourself, take a moment to review these cookie-making tips. From chilled cookie dough to baking in batches, these tips will help ensure that your next cookie recipe turns out delicious.

Use Chilled Cookie Dough

If you're working with a recipe that calls for chilled cookie dough, don't skip over this step. Using a refrigerator to chill cookie dough firms the cookie dough and reduces the risk of its over-spreading. The result is a thicker, more solid cookie with an enhanced flavor.

Prevent Over-Spreading

Are you watching your cookies turn into puddles every time you bake them? Excess cookie dough spreading can be prevented by chilling cookie dough, using a silicone baking mat, and correct measurements. On the other hand, if you notice that your cookies aren't spreading enough, check that you've used the right amount of flour, adjust with the liquid needed, and flatten them out before cooking.

Check for the Correct Temperature

When baking cookies, using ingredients at the right temperature is the key to a well-baked cookie. Oven temperature, butter and egg temperature play a vital role in your cookie's taste and texture, and it's essential to use all ingredients as intended in the recipe.

Use the Center Rack

If you have enough time, we recommend cooking cookies on the center rack of the oven in small batches. Cooking one batch at a time will produce a perfectly baked and chewy cookie that everyone will love. If you need to make more than one batch, make sure you rotate the baking sheets from the top rack to the bottom half halfway through the baking process. Now that you know just how easy it is to make tasty oatmeal cookies, it's time to try it out for yourself. Choose from one of the great-tasting recipes above, or use our Old Fashioned Rolled Oats to create an oatmeal cookie recipe of your own. We're confident they'll be a dessert table hit no matter how you choose to enjoy these oatmeal cookies. From the Bob's Red Mill Family to yours, have a sweet and flavorful day. Do you enjoy baking oatmeal cookies? We'd love to hear more about the ingredients you use to make this dessert classic. Share your favorite oatmeal cookie add-ins with us in the comments below. We can't wait to hear from you!