From Brandon’s kitchen: the chewy oatmeal cookie, before its chai cream cheese icing.
Brown butter · Apple butter · Rolled oats
A little spice. A fudgy chew.
A dense oatmeal-blondie center, finished with a thin layer of soft icing.
Makes 14–16 cookies
For consistency, use the gram weights; cup measurements and small spice weights are approximate. Keep each portion at 40 g and bake in separate batches as needed; chilling and baking times do not multiply with the recipe.
Gather
Ingredients
Cookies
Chai cream cheese icing
Mix · Chill · Bake · Ice
Method
1
Check the apple butter
The apple butter should mound on a spoon rather than pour. If yours is loose, gently cook it down, then cool completely before measuring ¼ cup / 60 g. If it is heavily spiced, reduce the cookie cinnamon to ¼ teaspoon / about 0.6 g.
2
Brown the butter
Melt the cookie butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the milk solids turn golden brown and smell nutty. Scrape everything into a mixing bowl. You should have approximately 4–4 ¼ ounces / 115–120 g remaining. Don’t replace the evaporated water. Cool until barely warm.
3
Prepare the oats
Briefly pulse about one-third of the oats in a food processor, or chop them with a knife. Leave the rest whole for a chewy, recognizable oatmeal texture.
4
Mix the wet ingredients
Whisk both sugars into the browned butter. Whisk in the apple butter, egg yolk, and cookie vanilla until smooth, without beating in much air.
5
Add the dry ingredients and chill
Stir together the flour, oats, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon. Fold into the butter mixture just until combined. Refrigerate for 45–60 minutes.
6
Shape
Heat the oven to 350°F / 175°C, conventional, and line baking sheets with parchment. Portion the dough into 1.4-ounce / 40 g scoops—roughly 2 generous tablespoons each. Press into thick discs about ½ inch / 1.3 cm tall, leaving about 3 inches / 7.5 cm between them.
7
Bake one test cookie
Bake one test cookie using the timing and doneness cues in the next step. If it stays too domed, flatten the remaining portions a little more. Keep one egg yolk per batch and omit baking powder to help maintain that dense, oatmeal-blondie center.
8
Bake and cool
Bake for 10–13 minutes. The edges should be set and lightly golden; the centers should look soft but no longer wet. Let the cookies rest on the hot baking sheet for 10 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.
9
Make the chai cream cheese icing
Use equal weights of cream cheese and icing butter: 57 g each. Beat the butter until smooth, then mix in the cream cheese just until combined. Mix in ¾ cup / 90 g powdered sugar to start, followed by the icing vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, cloves, black pepper, and salt. Add more powdered sugar 1 tablespoon (about 8 g) at a time until the icing is soft and spreadable but holds a thin layer on the cookies.
10
Ice the cookies
Spread a thin layer over completely cooled cookies, leaving a little cookie exposed around the edges. The icing will stay soft. Refrigerate the iced cookies in an airtight container, and let them soften briefly at room temperature before eating for the best fudgy chew.
A few kitchen notes
Getting that chewy center
Let the apple butter guide you
It should mound on a spoon rather than pour. Cook down loose apple butter, then cool completely before measuring. If yours is heavily spiced, halve the cinnamon in the cookie dough.
Start with one test cookie
If it stays too domed, flatten the remaining portions a little more. Keep one egg yolk per base batch and omit baking powder to maintain that dense, oatmeal-blondie center.
Equal parts, by weight
The icing uses equal weights of cream cheese and butter. Start with the listed powdered sugar, then add a tablespoon (about 8 g) at a time until soft and spreadable. It should hold a thin layer and will stay soft.
Storage & serving
Refrigerate iced cookies in an airtight container. Let them soften briefly at room temperature before eating for the best fudgy chew.
