Along with my favorite date bread recipe, I discovered this Easy Oatmeal Macaroons recipe in my grandmother’s recipe box. Right away I knew it was a recipe worth sharing. Just like Old-Fashioned Chewy Molasses Cookies, they are super-simple to make, only have a few ingredients, and most of the sweetness comes from dried fruit. This is a cookie I can feel good about eating!
Although the original recipe calls for brown sugar, they were just as good made with a few tablespoons of honey. For the dried fruit, my grandmother liked them with dried apricots, and I have made them with dates, prunes, and raisins, and I’m going to try cranberries the next time I make a batch.
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The lemon zest in the recipe adds a nice zing to the cookie, but when I don’t have lemons on hand I add a little vanilla instead. This is truly a versatile cookie with lots of room for creativity!
Resources for Grandma’s Easy Oatmeal Macaroons Recipe-Gluten Free
Gluten Free Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats– Though oats don’t contain gluten, if they’re not marked gluten free, they may have been processed on equipment that processes wheat as well.
Parchment paper– this is a staple in our kitchen, I use it for lining bread pans and cookie sheets. You can use the same sheet multiple times to make it last longer. This is the best deal I’ve found and this one roll is still lasting me three years later!
Cookie Baking Tips– If your cookies spread too thin, bake unevenly, or just don’t turn out the way you hoped, read my list of 15 tried-and-true tips for baking the best cookies.
Old-Fashioned Cooking for a Busy Home
Tired of hectic meal times and complicated recipes or relying on processed foods? Instead, learn how to have
- Simple and easy time tested from scratch meals.
- Easy skillet suppers
- Nourishing and kid-approved soups and stews
- Old-fashioned baked goods from buttermilk pie, homemade cake mixes, to Mom’s chocolate chip cookies
- Don’t spend all day in the kitchen, tips for busy times without sacrificing hand made goodies
- Wholesome ingredients without processed and questionable items
Want more easy homemade recipes all in one place? This recipe and 100+ more are found in my book–-> click here Hand Made: the Modern Guide to Made-from-Scratch Living.
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More Gluten Free Recipes
- Chocolate Beet Cake
- Jam Roly-Poly
- Traditional Christmas Pudding Recipe
- Grandmother’s Date Bread
- Easy Homemade Granola Bars
- Historical Recipes: Honey Date Squares
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars
- 13 Gluten-Free Cookie Recipes
- Successful Gluten-Free Baking That Tastes Good
Vintage Recipe: Grandma’s Easy Oatmeal Macaroons
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats
- 1 egg
- 3 Tbsp. honey or 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- pinch of ground cloves
- 1/2 cup dried fruit cut in small pieces
- 1 tsp grated lemon zest or 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Melt butter in a pan, add oats, and stir until lightly browned. Pour oats onto a plate to cool.
- Beat egg, honey, and spices with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. If you don’t have an electric mixer, a whisk and a strong arm should do the trick.
- Stir in oats, dried fruit, and lemon zest.
- Using a moistened teaspoon, place small mounds on a parchment-lined or greased baking sheet. Use the spoon or your fingers to mold them into a mounded shape. At this stage, you might think they will never stick together, but they will once they are baked!
- Bake the cookies for 12 – 15 minutes, until they are light brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
I just made these for the kiddos. I am out of honey as I buy it from a relative and haven’t gotten my hands on any for a few months so I used dark brown sugar. I used raisins for my dried fruit. They are simply amazing! The lemon zest really a stunning additive. I’m excited to try it again with honey!