I made Chocolate Cherry Scones last week and had leftover dried cherries. I decided that cookies were in order. I have been baking with chocolate a lot lately, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but I wanted to try something different.
Nuts came to mind, but thinking of my nut-allergy friends, I opted to combine old fashioned oats with the cherries. I am very happy I did.
The color of the red cherries is a nice contrast to the very light colors of the rest of the ingredients. I especially like biting into the cookies and seeing this.
My oldest son, Joshua, was in town when I baked Oatmeal Cherry Cookies. After they baked I called Joshua in to try one. I didn't hide from him the fact that these had quickly become one of my favorite cookies.
Joshua ate a cookie and said he liked it but wanted to know where the chocolate was. I started laughing, because I started these cookies having made the decision to skip chocolate this go-round; only to hear my big baby boy tell me that he wanted it in.
Preheat oven to 325°. Line 4 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Stir together flour, oats, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
Place butter, sugar and brown sugar together in a large mixing bowl and beat for 3 minutes, scraping the bowl down as needed. Add eggs, one at a time and then the vanilla. Blend in dry ingredients. Lastly, mix in dried cherries.
Scoop the dough, 2 heaping teaspoons at a time, onto lined baking sheets. Bake at 325° for 13-15 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through top to bottom and front to back.