Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

When blueberries are in season (late June through middle of July) it’s all about using fresh blueberries. This includes baking your heart out. For this twist on blueberry oatmeal cookies, mix fresh or frozen blueberries with quick-cooking oats, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and vanilla extract. What makes these cookies stand apart is the dash of cinnamon. That subtle spice goes a long way to enhancing their flavor.

Easy to bake ahead of time and bring to a casual get-together, these cookies are also a nice pairing with morning coffee or an after-dinner snack that’s not too sweet, not too salty.

Ingredients for Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

• Butter: Use butter softened at room temperature to make it easier to combine ingredients.
• Brown Sugar: Brown sugar should be packed and not loose when measuring, so that you have the exact amount needed. This also removes air pockets.
• Egg: As a moistener and protein in cookie recipes, an egg also makes the cookies puffy and helps create structure.
• Vanilla Extract: This essential ingredient in baking isn’t always detected but is very important in the overall cookie recipe. It adds that fluffy texture we love.
• Quick-Cooking Oats: The reason you need quick-cooking oats, and not an oatmeal packet, is because they’re smaller in size and also in their rawest form, ensuring the cookies aren’t too chewy.
• All-Purpose Flour: This is also known as traditional flour, the most common kind of flour sold at grocery stores.
• Ground Cinnamon: Cinnamon should be ground and not a whole cinnamon stick. You can buy pre-ground cinnamon in the spice aisle.
• Salt: Table salt is what you need here, not rock salt or any kind of flavored salt. In a technical way, this finely ground table salt helps accent other flavors and assists with browning cookies. It’s also easier to disperse than a chunky salt.
• Baking Soda: Baking soda does three things to cookies: it helps them brown, makes them dense and chewy and also helps the dough spread in width and height.
• Baking Powder: Acting as a leavening agent, baking powder allows cookies to rise.
• Blueberries: The best blueberries are fresh and in season, but the good news is that grocery stores also sell blueberries grown in other climates. Fresh is preferred over frozen blueberries in this recipe.

Directions

Step 1: Mix wet ingredients together

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In a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar until they’re combined. Next, beat in egg and vanilla.    

Editor’s Tip: Using a hand mixer or stand mixer ensures there are no clumps in the batter and it’s smooth throughout.

Step 2: Combine dry ingredients and add to the creamed mixture

Nicole Perry for Taste of Home

In another large bowl, combine oats, flour, cinnamon, salt, baking soda and baking powder. Once they’re evenly mixed, gradually add this to the creamed mixture.

Step 3: Stir in the blueberries

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Fold in blueberries to your batter by stirring until they are evenly distributed.

Editor’s Tip: In a pinch, frozen blueberries will work, but you need to use without thawing. Otherwise, excess liquid forms and your cookies will be watery. Defrosted blueberries will color your batter, giving you blue cookies.

Step 4: Bake

Nicole Perry for Taste of Home

On a lightly greased cookie sheet, drop heaping teaspoonfuls of the batter two inches apart. Bake at 350°F for 12 to 14 minutes or until golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool before serving.

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Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies Variations

• Add glaze: To further amp up the beauty in these cookies, drizzle each cookie with a lemon-y glaze after they’ve cooled but are still slightly warm. We like the lemon glaze used for our glazed lemon blueberry muffins.
• Turn them into cookie sandwiches: Like with our oatmeal sandwich cookies, all you need is the filling, where the key ingredient is marshmallow crème, along with confectioner’s sugar, shortening and 2% milk.

How to Store Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies

It’s super easy to store these cookies. Leave them out at room temperature on a plate or in an air-tight container. Note that keeping them in an air-tight container makes them last longer.

Can you freeze blueberry oatmeal cookies?

Simply drop these cookies into an air-tight container or reusable freezer bag. Cookies containing oatmeal last for about four to six months in the freezer.

How long do blueberry oatmeal cookies last? 

After about two or three weeks, the cookies will start to taste dry so it’s best to eat them within that amount of time.

Can you make blueberry oatmeal cookies ahead of time?

If you want that fresh-out-of-the-oven taste to your cookies, but won’t have time to prepare the batter just prior, it’s totally fine to mix the ingredients a day before. Because there’s raw egg in this recipe, it’s best to finish the recipe by baking the cookies within 24 hours.

How do you reheat blueberry oatmeal cookies?

Pop a cookie or a few in the microwave for 30 seconds if you want that “just out of the oven” taste and texture. Baking them in the oven for a second round won’t have the same effect.

Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies Tips

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Can I swap out blueberries for another fruit?

While you might prefer strawberries, raspberries or cherries, none of those is close to blueberries in terms of their size and density. Cookies aren’t like a pie where the fruit is the main star in its filling. This recipe also has other ingredients to consider, and how they all work together.

Will dried blueberries work?

No, dried blueberries will not work. Your first choice should be fresh blueberries but if you aren’t able to find those, frozen blueberries that are not thawed are a good substitute.

Can I make these gluten-free?

This is a difficult recipe to modify and not it’s gluten-free because most oats contain gluten. However, you can find gluten-free oats from Bob’s Red Mill and Quaker Oats.