I don’t know about you, but I find that there’s nothing quite as satisfying as taking a large bite into a perfectly flavored and chewy oatmeal cookie. Add a feel-good movie and a hot cup of tea to the picture and you might as well have completed the formula to my ideal evening.
Now while a classic oatmeal cookie is absolutely delicious, I love playing around with traditional recipes and experimenting with mix-ins. During my trip to Hong Kong this summer I visited an ice cream shop with some brilliantly unique flavors, and one that caught my eye straight away was “Secret Garden.” The make-up of that ice cream – a pale green pistachio gelato with delightfully sweet cherries and crunchy oatmeal clusters – was as delicate as its name. It was a flavor combination that I hadn’t seen anywhere before, so from the instant I saw that beautiful and enticing tub of gelato sitting there behind the glass cover I just knew I had to make a cookie version of it.
With the addition of dark chocolate, of course.
And let me tell you, it was one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.
Not only do the pistachios, cherries, and dark chocolate chunks add beautiful pops of color to the golden cookie dough, but they each contribute a complexity of flavor that is simply divine. You get the familiarity of the traditional “oatmeal cookie” taste from the cinnamon, brown sugar, and molasses, but with the extra (and oh-so-needed) nuttiness and savoriness of pistachios, tartness of fresh cherries, and richness and bitterness of dark chocolate.
Is it decadent and over the top? Yes. Am I sorry about it? Absolutely not.
And even though cherries are summer fruits, the richness of their deep, dark red juices instantly remind me of fall, which makes me believe that this recipe would be a tasty addition to a Thanksgiving dinner or a fall gathering. Just picture it: the leaves changing color, the smell of cinnamon in the air, and you bundled up in a warm coat with a coffee in one hand and one of these cookies in the other. That’s the dream, my friend, that’s the dream.
Or…you can make it all year round! PTA bake sales, work meetings, your dog’s birthday, your toddler’s teething anniversary, for yourself because you managed to get out of bed only 3 snoozes after the alarm went off (treat yourself, am I right?), the possibilities are truly endless.
I mean, just look at the interior of this cookie! It’s practically bursting with flavor and might I say, a little…seductive?
All in all, I truly hope you enjoy this recipe! I find that the flavor combination of pistachios, cherries, dark chocolate, and oatmeal is really an underrated one and deserves so much more love, so if you make these delicious oatmeal cookies, please take a picture and tag me on social media (@adashofgumption) as I would love to see how they turned out.
Oh, and one more thing – feel free to play around with the ratios of the mix-ins according to your preferences to find your perfect balance of flavors (I love pistachios, so I have a more of them in my recipe). Baking is all about trial and error, so don’t be afraid to make adjustments!
So what are you waiting for? Let’s get baking!
Like what you see? Read my previous post here!
A spin on the classic oatmeal cookie with a deliciously decadent combination of pistachios, fresh cherries, and dark chocolate.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour*
- 1 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter softened, cool room temperature
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp molasses
- 2/3 cup pistachios shelled and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup fresh cherries pitted and diced*
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
*Depending on how juicy your cherries are, the dough can turn a little watery, in which case add a little bit of flour and some more rolled oats until the consistency is less watery.
*If you don't have fresh cherries, you can try substituting in 1/2 cup of dried cherries.
