iced oatmeal cookies

These are not Mother's Iced Oatmeal Cookies , but they look and taste pretty darn close.....

I've been feeling a little nostalgic due to last week's news of Hostess closing their doors forever. I debated whether to make something Hostess-like this weekend, but I didn't have all of the ingredients to make anything. So sad...

I'm not gonna lie. I've indulged on Hostess products over the years like Raspberry Zingers, Ding-Dongs, Twinkies, various Fruit Pies, Chocolate Pies, Chocolate Cup Cakes and my all time favorite, the Orange Cup Cake. And since these childhood treats are soon to be gone forever I'll just try making my own and better tasting versions. 

Enter the iced oatmeal cookie.

Growing up my parents always had some sort of cookie in the cupboard. Sometimes they were homemade and sometimes store bought. I remember these iced oatmeal cookies distinctively because I loved licking off the icing leaving a soggy naked oatmeal cookie. I had the ingredients on hand to try and replicate these cookies and searched for the perfect recipe. I found many recipes on the inter-webs with similar ingredients but I liked the recipe from fancyfoodfancy. Fancyfoodfancy's recipe called for a mixture of multigrain flour but I just used plain old all-purpose flour. So here it goes.....

Iced Oatmeal Cookies
adapted from the blog fancyfoodfancy
makes 3 1/2 dozen cookies 

2 cups whole rolled oats
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
generous pinch of cloves & allspice
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter - melted and slightly cooled
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

Place oven racks in the upper and lower thirds of your oven. Preheat oven to 350°. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

Melt butter and set aside to cool slightly.

In a food processor, pulse rolled oats, 10 - 20 times. Oats should look broken up but not powdery. In a large bowl, whisk together the processed oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda, kosher salt and spices. 

In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and eggs. Add both of the sugars and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold to combine.

With a 1-ounce cookie scoop (1 1/2 inch diameter) scoop out cookies leaving 3 inches between them because they will spread during baking.

Bake for 16 - 20 minutes rotating the sheets halfway through baking.

Cookies should look golden brown all over.

Remove from oven and cool on wire racks completely.

For the Icing

2 tablespoons meringue powder

1/4 cup water plus more if needed

***One egg white can also be substituted for the meringue powder.***

2 cups powdered sugar

small squeeze of lemon

In a small bowl, whisk together meringue powder and water until frothy. Whisk in powdered sugar. The icing can be thick so add a little water at a time until it's a consistency of thick cream. Squeeze in a little lemon juice. Whisk thoroughly.

With a small offset spatula or butter knife, drizzle a little icing over the cookie. 

Lift the knife up and down, touching the peaks of the cookie with icing. The icing shouldn't look like it's spread on but drizzled. Kinda. 

Place the iced cookies back onto parchment lined baking sheets and let them dry completely. Store your cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.