It’s time for the first recipe from July’s sweet summer treats series! And I’m so excited to share it!
You might have noticed that I love oat cookies – and these ones are a new favorite! I’m not exaggerating when I say they are divine. The combination of sweet white chocolate and slightly sour, ripe strawberries is simply amazing; the oats add texture and depth; and a hint of vanilla takes these summery cookies to the next level. The cookies are soft and gooey inside and more moist than your usual cookie, but once cooled down they get just a slight crisp on the outside.
They use a very similar (and wonderfully easy) base as the one you might know from my other oat cookies (like my Black and White Chocolate Chip Oat Cookies or my Chocolate and Walnut Oat Cookies). But I’ve added just a little less sugar and made sure part of it is brown sugar to balance out the sweetness of the white chocolate – it would just be too sweet otherwise, but this way I find them absolutely perfect, and the slightly caramel-y flavor of the brown sugar compliments the white chocolate and strawberries beautifully.
The first time I made them was soon after Mother’s Day. Living in another city than my parents, I’m not always home for this day. So when I was dog-and-cat-sitting for my family one or two weeks later, I found this to be the perfect opportunity to bake my mom a sweet gift while I was looking after the pets (she loves sweet things just as much as I do, if not more) – and, of course, make enough for the whole family. And since I found beautiful strawberries on the farmer’s market and red is the color of love, I quickly decided to go with the delightful combination of fresh strawberries and sweet white chocolate. And let me tell you – I’m so glad I did!
As I already told you, I simply tweaked my “classic” oat cookies recipe a bit and added white chocolate chunks and small strawberry pieces. Now, I have to say something about both of these ingredients.
About the white chocolate: I chopped it roughly, and I think that’s what works best for this recipe. The irregularly sized chocolate pieces add beautifully to the rustic feel the oats bring to these cookies. That way you’ll also have big chunks – I don’t think I have to explain to you why that’s a good thing, at least not if you’ve ever tried cookies with big chocolate chunks like these. And lastly, every bite will be a little bit different – one of them might have a big piece of chocolate, the next one some smaller ones – and I think that’s wonderful! But if, for whatever reason, you prefer more regular bites or smaller pieces of chocolate, feel free to use white chocolate drops.
About the strawberries: I know many recipes use freeze-dried strawberries, but I prefer fresh ones for three reasons. First, freeze-dried strawberries are very intense, and while that’s definitely a plus for many recipes, they would simply be too overwhelming here if used in the same amount. Second, fresh strawberries have this beautiful slightly sour taste that’s just right for this cookie – it’s not too much and it works wonders in combination with the white chocolate to prevent the cookies from becoming overly sweet or monotone in taste. Third, they make the oat cookies moist and make every single bite taste so fresh and just like summer! And also – why wouldn’t you want to use fresh strawberries when it’s strawberry season?
So without further ado – let’s get to the recipe! I just know you’ll love these strawberry white chocolate oat cookies, so you should definitely try them this summer!
Ingredients for 14-18 cookies:
- 100 g fresh strawberries
- 200 g white chocolate
- 170 g butter, softened
- 100 g raw cane sugar
- 50 g brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla sugar or extract
- 1 egg
- 140 g flour + 1 tbsp for the strawberries
- 180 g rolled oats
- 1/4 tsp salt
Recipe:
I. Prepare the strawberries and chop the chocolate
- Wash the strawberries and remove the green parts. Finely dice the strawberries – the pieces should be about the size of your small finger nail. Gently pat the diced strawberries dry to remove excess moisture and prevent the cookies from becoming soggy. Set them aside for later.
- Roughly chop the white chocolate. I personally love big chunks (at least the size of my thumb nail), but you can go a bit smaller if you prefer – I would just recommend to make the chocolate chunks bigger than the strawberry pieces.
II. Make the dough
- Preheat the oven to 160°C (320°F).
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the softened butter, sugars, and vanilla extract or sugar with a stand or hand mixer on high speed for 1-2 minutes until creamy and well combined. Reduce speed to low.
- Crack the egg into the bowl and turn the speed up to medium high. Mix until the egg is fully incorporated.
- Mix the oats, flour, and salt in a large bowl. Gradually, add the dry mixture to the already-mixed ingredients. Mix until just combined, either on a low mixer speed or with a spatula by hand – I prefer the latter for better control as overmixing will make the cookies dense or even dry.
- Fold in the white chocolate chunks.
- Before you add the strawberries, gently pat them with a paper towel again and sieve a bit of flour over the diced strawberries – that prevents them from leaking too much juice.
- Very gently, fold in the diced strawberries with a spatula or with your hands.
III. Form and bake the cookies
- Form the dough into balls that weigh about 40-50 g each and place them on two parchment-lines baking sheets, leaving a bit of space between. Be careful not to mush the strawberries while forming.
- In the preheated oven, bake the cookies for 12-15 minutes at 150°C (320°F). They will look slightly underdone when they’re ready, so make sure not to leave them in too long!
- Let the cookies cool for 5-10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring them to a tray.
- Serve them slightly warm with the white chocolate still soft or completely cooled – both is great!
Notes:
- Want to elevate the flavor? If you can find a good white chocolate with vanilla, I can only recommend it for this recipe – the flavor just goes so well with the cookies!
- Strawberry season is over? Use raspberries instead!
- These cookies keep well for 2-3 days in an air-tight container. I recommend keeping them in the fridge and taking them out 20-30 minutes before serving, but any other cool place works too.
Approximate nutritional values per cookie:
- Calories: 170-210 kcal
- Protein: 2 g
- Fat: 9-11 g
- Carbs: 18-22 g
- Sugar: 16-20 g
- Fiber: 1 g
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