These raspberry chocolate oatmeal cookies are quickly becoming one of my favorite cookies. There’s rich bittersweet chocolate chunks, tart raspberries, and umami flavors from miso and soy sauce in every bite. Mama Lin absolutely loved these cookies, particularly the tart raspberry pieces scattered throughout the cookie. They are kid tested and Mama Lin approved!
COOKING NOTES FOR RASPBERRY CHOCOLATE OATMEAL COOKIES
When developing the recipe for these raspberry chocolate oatmeal cookies, I drew inspiration from several cookie recipes I’ve made in the past. The cookie dough in this recipe is adapted from Amy Ho’s mini egg crackle cookie recipe. Instead of adding mini eggs and rice krispies to the cookies like Amy did, I added freeze-dried raspberries and lightly toasted rolled oats.
WHY USE FREEZE-DRIED RASPBERRIES?
A few years ago, I baked Heidi Swanson’s big raspberry rye cookies from her cookbook Super Natural Simple (affiliate link). In that recipe, Heidi uses freeze-dried raspberries, which added a tart punch to the cookie. When testing this recipe, I thought the sharp tartness of dried raspberries would contrast nicely against the sweetness of the chocolate chip cookie dough. Indeed, the freeze-dried berries worked very well in this cookie recipe.
WHERE TO FIND FREEZE-DRIED RASPBERRIES
Freeze-dried raspberries can be a little difficult to find. Fortunately, Target sells freeze-dried raspberries through their Good & Gather brand at a good price point ($4.59 for a 35-gram bag). Some grocery stores carry Natierra organic freeze-dried raspberries, which are good but much more expensive. If freeze-dried raspberries are difficult to find, feel free to substitute them with freeze-dried strawberries.
HOW TO PREVENT BURNT RASPBERRIES
In one of my test batches, I pressed pieces of dried raspberries on the outside of the cookie dough, thinking this would add a pop of color to the cookies (see photo above, left). I was wrong. Because freeze-dried raspberries lack moisture, the exposed berries burned during the baking process (see photo above, right). However, if you mix all the raspberry pieces into the dough, the moisture and fat from the dough will keep the berries from burning. Some raspberry pieces may darken, but they shouldn’t turn black.
CAN I MAKE THESE COOKIES WITH FRESH OR FROZEN RASPBERRIES?
I did not test this cookie recipe with fresh or frozen raspberries, so I can’t answer this with 100% certainty. I have seen other raspberry cookie recipes online that use frozen raspberries and it seems to work.
WHY ADD MISO & SOY SAUCE?
I started experimenting with adding miso and soy sauce to cookie dough after developing this orange & black sesame cookie recipe. Miso and soy sauce add depth and subtle umami flavors and they balance the sweetness of the cookies. You won’t be able to isolate and identify the miso and soy sauce while eating these cookies. However, they make the cookie taste more interesting instead of just a one-note, sweet cookie.
COOKIE SCOOP
This recipe yields about 11 to 12 large cookies (depending how much you pack in the cookie scoop). To shape the cookie dough, I used a large #16 ice cream/cookie scoop (affiliate link). If you don’t own a large cookie scoop, use a 1/3 cup measuring cup to shape the cookie dough. Make sure not to pack the dough into the measuring cup too tightly because the dough will be difficult to release.
CAN I MAKE THE DOUGH AHEAD?
This recipe is designed to be baked right after the cookie dough is mixed. If you are not ready to bake the cookies immediately, transfer them to a container and refrigerate for up to 2 days. If you want to freeze the cookie dough, use a large cookie scoop to measure out the portions of dough. Then, transfer the cookie dough to a lined baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, transfer the dough to a freezer bag. Because these cookies are large, I recommend letting the frozen dough sit on the counter for 30 to 45 minutes before baking. Also, add another minute or two to the cooking time.
