apple cinnamon grape nuts cookies

Many years ago, I bought Grape Nuts for the first time. Maybe the commercial made it sound like an amazing breakfast cereal. Or maybe it was the packaging. In any case, bought some, tried some and, since we are a froot loops and lucky charm kind of family, we obviously didn't like Grape Nuts in milk. I was whining about it to my mother in law when she passed along a recipe for Aunt Amy's Cookies. No clue who Aunt Amy is, but she sure found an amazing way to use up Grape Nuts!

My local grocery store doesn't carry Grape Nuts, so when I spotted them in another store recently, I quickly grabbed a box remembering this recipe. Yesterday, my husband brought home oatmeal chocolate chip cookies from the grocery store, and they made me crave Aunt Amy's Cookies. 

They're very similar to an oatmeal cookie, but they have the salty/sweet thing going on that I love. They have a slightly crispy exterior, without being crumbly or hard, and they are deliciously chewy inside. Since they are flavored with a hint of cinnamon, I decided to add chopped dried apples to the dough. And that was a genius move! The cookies are quite sweet, even if I reduced the sugar a bit, so the slight tartness of the apples brings nice fruity notes to the cookie, and great texture too. They don't spread much while baking, so they stay nice and thick. It's one of my favorite cookie. Love it!

Aunt Amy's Cookies

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup Grape Nuts

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup unbleached all purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

2/3 cup chopped dried apples (optional)

Preheat oven to 350.

Cream 1/2 cup softened butter. Beat in 1/2 cup white sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar until fluffy. Add in one egg and 1 tsp vanilla and mix until combined. Stir in 1 cup Grape Nuts and 1 cup rolled oats.

Combine 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 cinnamon. Add to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Add in 2/3 cup chopped dried apples if desired.

Using a small ice cream scoop, portion out the cookie dough and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Slightly flatten the balls of dough with a fork.

Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, until the edges start to get golden brown. Leave on the cookie sheet to cool until set, then transfer to a cooling rack.

I used a 2 tbsp ice cream scoop for small cookies, the perfect size for a child's snack with a glass of milk. I also made a few bigger cookies for bigger appetites using a 1/4 cup ice cream scoop. These cookies are pretty filling, so one of the big ones would be plenty for an adult. This batch of cookies yielded 18 small cookies and 3 large ones. 

It's worth picking up Grape Nuts just to make these!