Merry Christmas!

When coming up with a name for a recipe one has to consider many things. Does it sound enticing? Is it apropos? Ambrosia in Ancient Greece was the food of the Gods promoting longevity. In Southern cooking, Ambrosia is a fruit salad containing coconut.

What better name for these cookies than Oatmeal Ambrosia – full of dried fruits and coconut fit for the Gods!

In my quest for phenomenal oatmeal cookies, I created this recipe from my version last January. I lowered the sugar some more and added even more dried fruits, golden raisins and coconut. The result was divine. Alexander and I are making more for our Christmas table.

Enjoy!

Avec Amour, Victoria & Alexander

Oatmeal Ambrosia Cookies

Yield – 10 Dozen Small Cookies

1 Cup Butter, soft (2 sticks)

1/2 Cup + 2 Tablespoons Sugar

1/2 Cup + 3 Tablespoons Light Brown Sugar

2 Eggs, large

1 Tablespoon Vanilla Extract

2 2/3 Cups All Purpose Flour

1 Tablespoon Baking Powder

1 teaspoon Salt

3 Cups Old Fashioned Oats

1 Cup Raisins

1 Cup Golden Raisins

1 Cup Dried Cranberries

1 Cup Sweetened Flake Coconut

1. Rehydrate Raisins, Golden Raisins and Cranberries by covering with hot tap water and microwaving for 2 minutes, drain and blot dry with paper towels.

2. Pre-heat oven to 300 degrees. Beat butter in a stand mixer with the paddle attachment,

add sugar and beat,

add light brown sugar

and beat until light and fluffy,

add eggs one at a time

mixing until fully incorporated before adding each egg, mix in vanilla extract.

3. In a seperate bowl mix together flour, baking powder and salt, add to butter mixture all at the same time and mix gently on low speed for only a few seconds,

scrape down the bowl and add oats, again mix gently for only a few seconds,

in a seperate bowl stir together raisins, cranberries and coconut,

add to oats, mix until dough comes together.

Do not over mix. If you do the cookies will be tough and the oats will be broken.

4. Scoop cookies onto parchment or silpat lined half sheet pans.

I used a tablespoon size cookie scoop. Press cookies down with palm of hand or bottom of a glass.

These cookies do not spread, so don’t forget to press them down. Bake 11 – 12 minutes until golden brown on bottom of cookies.
This is a large batch. Enough for our Christmas cookie tins. Alternatively you could make the dough, bake some and refrigerate rest of dough up to a week or freeze dough up to 2 months then bake.